SEVIERVILLE — Former President George W. Bush couldn’t make it to Sevier County during his two terms in office, but he’s scheduled to be here Wednesday as part of a Christian conference.

Bush will speak at the Sevierville Events Center Wednesday evening as a guest speaker for the “Celebrate America!” day in the Celebrators conference. Literature on their event calls Celebrators “the leading Christian conference for older adults and mature believers.” It is an outreach of Phi Waldrep Ministries.

The event is sold out and will be closed to the news media, said Sam McElroy, executive director of Phil Waldrep Ministries.

“The event’s been sold out for months,” he said. “People really responded well to it.”

Bush spokesman David Sherzer confirmed the president is scheduled to make the trip.

“He’ll offer some reflecting from his presidency as well as lessons he learned about leadership and decision making, and I’m sure he’ll talk about the impact of his faith on his decision to run for the presidency and on his decisions as president,” Sherzer said.

Bush was scheduled to visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for Earth Day in 2005, but canceled the visit due to bad weather. He spoke at the Knoxville airport instead.

The Celebrators conference has been coming to Sevier County for many years.

“It’s a Christian conference that we have annually,” McElroy said. “We used to have it in Gatlinburg.”

Next week’s conference runs from Monday through Thursday.

In addition to the address from Bush, it will feature a concert by singer Sandi Patty, music from worship leader Charles Billingsley and daily addresses by David Jeremiah.

Celebrators will host a second event here Oct. 19 to 22 at the Smoky Mountain Convention Center in Pigeon Forge.