If the term “Missions Conference” immediately brings to mind windy speakers and slides, card tables covered with relics and short conversations with the people behind them, then “WorldFest” might surprise you.

Developed by Stefanie Allen, whose father and mother, Cletis and Tammy Titus, are missionaries themselves (to Jamaica), WorldFest is Triad’s new take on the important effort to connect church members with missionaries and missions—including their own.

World Fest opens 7 p.m. Nov. 5 in Triad’s new Worship Center with a new Parade of Nations opening ceremony. Children from Triad’s Kids Street Children’s Ministry will carry the flag and wear the clothing of a missionary’s country as the missionary’s image appears on the large digital screens.

“We feel that this will be a great way to open up WorldFest and introduce and reacquaint all of our missionaries to Triad, as well as be a fantastic way for the children to take ownership of and be involved in WorldFest,” Allen said.

“Our goal with WorldFest is to help connect the people of Triad Baptist Church with their missionaries on a personal level. Once people make a personal connection with a missionary or missionaries, they are more likely to pray for them consistently and be actively involved in encouraging and supporting them long after WorldFest is over.

“The WorldFest theme is ‘Beautiful Feet: Where Will Your Feet Take You?’ which we’re also using in hashtag form (#beautifulfeet) to promote WorldFest through social media,” she said. “The theme comes from a verse in Romans which says, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things’ (Romans 10:15b).

“We’ll bring the theme to life with fun, family-oriented, multicultural activities that will hopefully get people thinking about the world around them and how God's desire is that all people would come to know Him.”

Also new for 2014 in WorldFest

• A keynote speaker. Dr. Jerry Kroll, pastor emeritus at Heritage Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va., will speak at the Nov. 5 and Nov. 9 services.
  
  
• A special missions-themed Kids Street service. Once children participate in the Parade of Nations in Triad’s new Worship Center, they’ll go to the Kids Street Worship Center for their own missions-themed service.
  
  
• The Passport Adventure. Held in conjunction with Triad Baptist Christian Academy, which timed its Missions Emphasis Week in 2014 to synch up with WorldFest, the Passport Adventure takes participants on ‘flights’ to Africa, Australia, and Indonesia from 6 to 8 p.m. Nov. 7 in the Youth Room and surrounding classrooms. While people wait for their ‘flights’ to depart, Passport Adventure travelers and community members can enjoy native foods at a reduced cost from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. at an international bazaar staffed by Academy students. The Academy will experience the Passport Adventure during school hours.
  
  
• Family Feud: Missionary Edition. Modeled after the popular game show, the Sunday evening activity Nov. 9 offers another way to get to know the missionaries and ministries the church supports in Kernersville and beyond. (AWANA missionaries will be on hand to speak to AWANA clubbers during the normal AWANA club time.)

The new additions join such annual event staples as missionary visits and guest teaching at Sunday School classes on Sunday, Nov. 9, the Men’s Fellowship annual dinner with missionaries on Thursday, Nov. 6 (from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Youth Room), and other events.

During WorldFest, Triad will host: James and Lauren Peavey, missionaries to Australia; Adam and Faith Drake, missionaries to Togo, West Africa; the Tituses; Bruce and Grace Snavely from Global Baptist Training Foundation, which trains missionary pastors in Biblical theology and interpretation through four-week modules in their countries of services; Santiago and Jackie Olortegui, from Pathway College Outreach in Burlington, N.C.; Kathy Hoffner of Crisis Control Ministry in Kernersville; David and Liz Roach from AWANA International in Winston-Salem, N.C.; Carl Vonnoh of Baptist International Missions, which helps independent Baptist churches plant churches around the world; and Ken and Linda Heater of the Winston-Salem Rescue Mission.