Board of World Mission Staff and Offices
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Lisa Mixon
Director of People in Mission
Lisa has assisted in our Bethlehem office since 2004. Prior to that, she worked for over twenty years as a Director of Human Resources in a facility for persons with developmental disabilities. Lisa and her husband Joe are graduates of Moravian College. They have two daughters, Ariel and Chelsea. The Mixons are active members of East Hills Moravian Church.
The Rev. Dr. Robert E. Sawyer
Interim Executive Director
Bob is an ordained Moravian minister who served for 28 years as the pastor of congregations in New York City, Philadelphia, Upper Marlboro (MD), and Winston-Salem (NC). From 1995 to 2006 he served as President of the Provincial Elders’ Conference, Moravian Church in America, Southern Province. During those years he was a Director of the Board of World Mission and a member of the worldwide Moravian Unity Board and its Executive Committee, serving as President from 2005 to 2006. In those positions he visited many of the Unity provinces, including Board of World Mission partner provinces.
Bob is also serving as Executive Director of Pilgrims of Ibillin, a U.S. organization supporting peace-building through education in Israel and Palestine. The primary partnership is with the Mar Elias Educational Institutions in the village of Ibillin. The schools were founded by the Melkite Archbishop Elias Chacour, author of Blood Brothers and other books. Bob has traveled to Israel-Palestine numerous times as pilgrim, group leader, church representative, and grant administrator.
Bob graduated from Lehigh University (B.S. in Chemistry) and Moravian Theological Seminary (M.Div.). He earned an S.T.M. and D.Min. degree from New York Theological Seminary.
Bob lives in Winston-Salem, NC, with his wife Jill. They have two married sons and one grandchild. He also enjoys playing trombone, baritone, and tuba in local music groups.
The Rev. Samuel J. Gray
Director of Intercultural Ministries
Sam was born in Winston-Salem, NC. His intercultural experience began at an early age when his parents, the Rev. and Mrs. Joe Gray, took him to Nicaragua when he was 5 weeks old. He lived in Nicaragua for 11 years; his mother taught her five children all through elementary school. He gave his life to Christ at an old fashioned revival service at Grace Moravian Church in Mt. Airy, NC in 1968.
After graduating from The Stony Brook School (Long Island, NY) in 1972, Sam attended Moravian College from 1972 – 1976, majoring in Religion. He was active in choir, band, the Campus Christian Association and a jazz band, “The Brethren.”
He worked for the Moravian Church in Honduras for one year, organizing a student group in Tegucigalpa.
In 1978 he returned to Moravian College for further study in Elementary Education and then attended Fuller Seminary (Pasadena, CA) in the summer of 1979.
In January 1980 he began full-time service for the Board of World Mission in Honduras as a high school teacher, Director of the Bible Institute, Christian Education Director, Student Group Organizer, and founding pastor of Israel Moravian Church in Tegucigalpa, serving there for 13 1/2 years. During that time, he married Lorena Alvarez, a Registered Nurse, from Cocobila, Honduras.
Sam returned to Moravian Theological Seminary in 1993, graduating in 1996 with a M.Div. and was ordained as a deacon in May, 1996. He served as Assistant Pastor of Emmaus Moravian Church and Director of Youth Ministries for the Eastern District of the Northern Province.
Sam and Lorena have three sons: Luke, Tim and Christian David, as well as two grand-daughters, Rachel and Gabriella Marie.
Mark Ebert
Director of Volunteer Resources
Mark has worked for the Board of World Mission since 2004 coordinating and preparing teams to serve in the mission field. Currently acting as Director of Moravian Volunteer Resources (MVR), Mark, his wife Terresa, and their two sons, Daniel and Christian, continue to actively seek the Heart of God.
Sheila Beaman
Working in the Winston-Salem office, Sheila has served the BWM for 20 yeas, previously working in secular business administrative positions. As a member of Macedonia Moravian, she serves as an adult Sunday School teacher, choir member, and band member. She is currently serving as VP of the Southern Province Moravian Mission Society. She is married to Charles and has two sons, David and Jonathan, and three grandchildren, Abigail, Joshua, and Tabitha.
Jill Kolodziej
Jill primarily serves mission in two capacities with the Moravian Church, one as a representative of the Antioch Project of the BWM as well as the mission coordinator of the Sturgeon Bay Moravian Church in Wisconsin. These and other denominational ministry involvements overflow into approximately fifteen years of service with the greater Moravian Church. She works from and resides in Sturgeon Bay with her husband John.
Mailing address for Bethlehem office:
Board of World Mission
PO Box 1245
Bethlehem, PA 18016-1245
Street address for Bethlehem office:
1021 Center Street
Bethlehem PA 18018
Telephone: 610.868.1732
Fax: 610.866.9223
Mailing and street address for Winston-Salem office:
500 South Church Street
Winston-Salem, NC 27101
Telephone: 336.773.1732
Fax: 336.725.1893