Ray and Sylvia feel privileged to be able to fulfill their calling to the people of Latin America through the Francis Asbury Society. They met in ministry while in Central America many years ago, and God continues to lead them down this incredible path. Over the years they have ministered in the USA, Costa Rica, Honduras, Colombia, and most recently in Bolivia, SA. Ray is a professor of Bible and Theology while Sylvia shares her talents in art and homemaking.
Sylvia has a bachelor’s degree in Art from Asbury College and an MFA in Painting & Drawing from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. Ray has a bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Asbury College, a master’s degree in Divinity/Pastoral Theology from Asbury Theological Seminary, and a master’s and PhD in Systematic Theology from Trinity International University in Deerfield, IL. They are both graduates of the Spanish Language Institute in San Jose, Costa Rica.
Ray has been a pastor for several years in both United Methodist and Nazarene churches, but his main ministry now is in the classroom as a theology professor. The academic and spiritual formation of both hearts and minds is his primary calling. He also sings and plays both trumpet and guitar.
Sylvia loves to paint. Her specialty is portraits in oil and watercolor. She also enjoys doing chalk presentations of Bible stories for children and adults. She loves cooking for Ray and the students of our theology classes. Sylvia enjoys sewing and gardening, and nurturing her flowers wherever she goes.
Ray’s primary area of theological focus is the area of personhood. His doctoral dissertation, called Participatory Personhood, was on the interaction between divine and human personhood. He desires to publish this work as well as a Theology of Salvation.
Sylvia is originally from Kentucky though she spent much of her childhood and youth in Michigan. She was raised in a Christian home, the daughter of a UM pastor, Rev. and Mrs. Zeke Moore. She has one sister, Norma. Ray was raised in a Christian home, but on a farm in western Pennsylvania. He is the second of four children. Ray and Sylvia are living in the state of Indiana and are semi-retired. They have no children.
Ron Smith’s special burden is for mentoring students in higher education. He and his family have hosted a weekly meeting for spiritual growth and study with college and seminary students for many years. Ron has written articles for many denominational and missional publications and has a special interest in producing substantive theological literature for the Church today.
Ron earned a B.A. degree in Biblical Studies at Asbury College (now University) in 1977, an MDiv degree from Asbury Theological Seminary in 1982, the ThM degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in The History of Christian Doctrine in 1990, and the Masters of Philosophy degree and Doctor of Philosophy degree from the Casperson School of Graduate Studies, Drew University in 2005.
Ron is an ordained deacon and elder in the Greater New Jersey Conference of the United Methodist Church since 1982. Ron has served the local church as youth pastor, associate pastor, senior pastor, and church planter. Ron served The Francis Asbury Society from 1993–1998 as a Fellow and for two years as Executive Director. In 1998, he was elected as the fifth president of Wesley Biblical Seminary in Jackson, MS, where he served for thirteen years. Upon retiring from the presidency, Ron rejoined The Francis Asbury Society in January of 2011, serving as Executive Director, as President, then as a speaker, a Board member, and then as President again in 2020–2022. Ron is currently the president at Ohio Christian University.
Ron has been a speaker, lecturer, and/or preacher in a wide array of settings in the U.S. and around the world. He has served as a keynote lecturer/preacher in a variety of regional, national and international meetings for denominations and consortiums in the pan-Wesleyan world. Ron has also delivered several different distinguished lecture series at different colleges, universities, and theological seminaries such as The Chamberlain Lectures, The Cox Lectures, The Cowman Lectures, and the Thomas F. Staley Distinguished Lectures.
Ron has served on the boards of World Gospel Mission, The Francis Asbury Society, and, for several years, was Chairman of the Board for One Mission Society. As OMS Board Chairman, he also served as Chairman of the Theological Committee and member of the Executive Committee.
Ron served as Chairman of the Faculty and as Professor of Christian Thought at Wesley Biblical Seminary. His work focused on the History of Christian Doctrine; Evangelicalism and Modernity; the Intellectual History of the Nineteenth Century; Forging the American Evangelical Tradition; Perfectionism and Pre-millenialism; the Theological Lifework of Henry Clay Morrison; and Evangelistic Preaching.
Ron has been married to his wife Dorena since 1982, and they have two adult, married daughters, Katie and Laura Jane.
Fekadu Amanu came to Christ in Ethiopia under the military socialist Derg regime, at the height of its persecution of the evangelical church. Coming from a traditional religious background, he counted the cost of faith from the start, and that conviction has shaped everything since.
Fekadu is an evangelist at heart: apostolic and mission-minded, drawn to people of other faiths, and always looking to break new ground where the church has not yet taken root. He planted churches in some of Ethiopia’s least-reached regions, and those congregations have since multiplied into many more in the remotest places. Later, he planted a congregation among the Ethiopian diaspora in North America. He has built an extensive network among Ethiopian diaspora communities worldwide, including Ethiopian workers across the Gulf. Closer to home, he continues to support the rural school his father once mobilized their community to rebuild for four decades the only middle school in the village.
In Ethiopia and in the United States, Fekadu’s ministry has always run alongside a career in health. He began as a professional registered nurse and head nurse in eastern Ethiopia, serving with a Ministry of Health hospital and with Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), where he directed outbreak response in low-resource settings. He then led integrated community-based public health programs with international NGOs such as the Lutheran World Federation and CARE International in Ethiopia. After relocating to the United States, he spent nearly two decades in acute and critical care nursing, as a clinician, in hospital administration, and as a mentor to nurses new to the profession.
Fekadu’s partnership with the Francis Asbury Society began with an invitation. He brought the FAS team to Ethiopia, where together they held conferences in many parts of the country. He later joined the Society as staff.
Fekadu holds a Master of Divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary and a Master of Public Health in International Health from Boston University. He is completing a PhD in Leadership at Taylor University.
An ordained minister, Fekadu serves as an elder at Great Commission Fellowship, a Vineyard church. He and his wife, Mimi, have been married for more than two decades and live in Wilmore, Kentucky, with their three children: Sifaan, Naatol, and Simalee.
I wear many hats at FAS including office manager, administrative secretary to the Board of Directors, and executive assistant to the president. I am the proud mother of three children: Kenzie, Keturah and Kyle. They are my greatest source of joy and greatest source of stress, and I wouldn’t trade the experience of parenting them for anything (most days)! I am delighted to serve in a Christian ministry dedicated to spreading the message of eternal salvation and holy [wholly] living, which is equally my goal as a Christian parent.
Jim Harriman obtained his Bachelor of Arts (History) from Asbury College (now University) and his Master of Arts in Religion from Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, KY. He received his Ph.D. in Old Testament Studies from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY.
He was a missionary with World Gospel Mission (Assignment: Paraguay) from 1988 to 1994. He has been a member of The Francis Asbury Society since 1997. Jim preaches in churches and camp meetings across the United States as well as ministering internationally.
In August 2012, Jim took on the responsibility of being the international representative for the Bolivian Evangelical University (UEB) in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. He serves on the school’s Board of Directors and helps raise funds for its various projects and programs. As a professor, Jim teaches theology and Old Testament.
Jim and his wife, Mayoli, currently reside in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
For 17 years, Jerry and his wife, Jan, served as missionaries in Europe with the Free Methodist Church. The last 11 years he served as the overseer for continental Europe. Since joining FAS in 2013 Jerry’s call to the nations is becoming more realized as he has had the opportunity to preach and teach in over 70 countries in the world.
A career in his family’s business was redirected when Jerry felt a call to full-time ministry in the early 1980s. He was ordained in 1987 in the Free Methodist Church and pastored two churches in the USA. Jerry served as the assistant director of VISA and personnel for Free Methodist World Missions before moving with his family to Europe in 1996.
Jerry is a graduate of Greenville College, now University (Greenville, IL), and Asbury Theological Seminary (Wilmore, KY).
Jan Coleman’s training and experience is in education. She taught English in public schools and English as a foreign language to adult learners. Jan uses her platform as a teacher of English as a stepstool for evangelism. As a member of the church planting team in Budapest, Hungary, she also had regular opportunities to teach, preach, and lead worship in the Hungarian language. Since returning to the USA in 2013, Jan has had the privilege of traveling with Jerry both as companion and as a fellow evangelist.
Jerry and Jan have three married children: Sarah (Russell), Kristin (Spencer), and David (Alison); and seven grandchildren.
To hear more of their story, read Jerry’s book, One Way Ticket: Leaving Home for Good.
