Gathered. Nurtured. Sent.
Panel
Exploring Global Partnerships
SESSION DESCRIPTION
Explore best practices in building global partnerships through sending, going, partnering, and mobilizing. Representatives from the Diocese of Central Florida will share practical insights and answer both prepared and audience questions, offering guidance for faithful and effective global engagement. Join us to discuss how global partnerships shape our common life of faith and service.
The Rev. Stephen & Mrs. Mary Dass
Stephen and Mary are diocesan missionaries to the homeless children and youth in the streets of São Paulo, Brazil. Stephen is originally from Singapore and Mary is from Maine. They met in São Paulo while serving as lay missionaries with Youth With A Mission from 1993-1999 working with homeless youth in the same area. Mary was a kindergarten teacher in Maine when she received an invitation from a missionary to serve as a summer volunteer in Brazil. She took up the challenge and went for a month. She immediately fell in love with the ministry to the homeless children and decided to return as a full-time missionary. Stephen was ordained in Brazil where he served several years as a parish priest and then moved to Florida where he served as vicar in Coventry Episcopal Church in Ocala and also as a missioner to help set up a children’s program at St Anne’s Episcopal Church, Crystal River. They have been married since 1995. They have been working as missionaries to the homeless since 2013. They spend Mondays to Fridays in the streets with the homeless young people sharing about God’s love and connecting people with the lessons they learn from the gospel through their ministry.
The Rev. Elliott Drake
Since 2005, Rev. Elliott Drake has developed ministry partnership with international and domestic churches, businesses, and non-profits. Previously, he and his wife lived in Latin America and cared for cross-cultural workers serving around the world. Elliott serves as Associate Rector at All Saints Church in Winter Park, fostering parish engagement in outreach and mission. He and his wife, Lindsay, have three children: Avery, Lucas, and Linton.
The Rev. Loren & Mrs. Linda Fox
The Rev. Loren Fox lives in Thailand, training and developing strategies for work in communities where there is no visible Church of any kind. Two key interests are, 1) developing capacity for innovation, and 2) pressing into the cultural dynamics of planting new churches. His Innov-Asia summer program has now attracted participants from Latin America, Japan, and the States.
Linda Fox coordinates spiritual, emotional, and relational care for cross-cultural workers serving Jesus in Asia. She is a popular trainer and conference speaker, focusing on the qualities that promote healthy, effective, and long-lasting ministry with global impact. She and her husband, Fr. Loren Fox, currently live in Thailand. They have two sons, David and Tim, who remain in the US.
The Revs. Koko & Kyle Wisdom
The Rev. Koko Wisdom is the Vice President of People Care at Pioneers, based in Orlando, with 11 years of cross-cultural experience in Southeast Asia. She is ordained as a priest under the Diocese of Cape Coast, Ghana, and is pursuing a PhD in Theology of Suffering. Koko and her husband, Kyle, have three children: Elisha, Lydia, and Caleb.
The Rev. Dr. Kyle Justin Wisdom is an ordained priest under the Cape Coast diocese in Ghana serving the global Church through scholarship and leadership. He is co-director of the International Institute for Religious Freedom and holds a PhD in Political Philosophy from the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies. He is the author of Civil Religious Pluralism as Political Philosophy: Insights from Nurcholish Madjid (De Gruyter, 2025). His work equips Christian leaders to engage questions of religious freedom, pluralism, and public faith, and he currently serves as Director of Global Advocacy for the World Evangelical Alliance.