Members of the Old German Baptist Brethren -- "the Dunkers" -- gather at a Kansas farm this weekend for their annual conference.

Tents and wooden buildings erected in a field near Lawrence waited Friday for an estimated 5,000 people. The conference begins Saturday morning with the first of 10 worship services.

The meeting is being held on the farm of Charles Beeghley, one of four ministers in the Lawrence-area congregation. Members of the church's 56 congregations nationwide believe in the literal translation of the New Testament. They wear plain dress, bonnets or hats, and the men have beards. They shun television, radio and the Internet.

To join, a person must be baptized by immersing the body in water three times in the name of the Holy Trinity -- hence the nickname "the Dunkers."