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VIRELLE KIDDER is a full-time writer and conference speaker who has proclaimed the love of God for more than 25 years, and once hosted her own daily radio talk show in New York's capital district. She is the author of six books, including The Best Life Ain't Easy and Meet Me at the Well. Virelle and her husband, Steve, have four grown children and eight grandchildren and live in Sebastian, Florida. For more information, visit www.virellekidder.com.
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RYAN DOBSON is the founder of KOR ministries and the author of four books, incuding Be Intolerant. Through his podcasts, speaking engagements, and books, Dobson seeks to call Christians deeper into the ultimate adventure of following Christ.
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H.B. CHARLES, JR. is the pastor-teacher at the Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Florida, where he has served since the fall of 2008. He is primarily responsible for preaching-teaching, vision casting, and leadership development. Prior to coming to Shiloh, he led the Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church of Los Angeles for almost eighteen years. Succeeding his late father, he began his pastorate at Mt. Sinai at the age of seventeen.H.B. Charles regularly speaks at churches, conferences, and conventions around the country. He has contributed to several books and journals, and is the author of It Happens After Prayer. H.B. and his wife, Crystal, have three children: H.B. III, Natalie, and Hailey.
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WESS STAFFORD From the poor of Africa's Ivory Coast to President and Chief Executive Officer of Compassion International, Dr. Wesley K. Stafford — Wess — has maintained one simple belief: God's children are priceless resources. To that end, Wess leads Compassion's efforts to break the cycle of poverty for children everywhere. Wess joined the staff of Compassion International in 1977 and has worked with the ministry, both overseas and at headquarters, for 34 years. He has served as president since 1993. Wess lives on a small ranch near Colorado Springs, Colorado with his wife, Donna, of 32 years who was a Compassion sponsor even before she met Wess! They have two daughters, Jenny and Katie — the two children in the world for whom Wess is the greatest advocate of all.
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ABRAHAM KURUVILLA is Professor of Pastoral Ministries at Dallas Theological Seminary. He centers his ministry around the art and science of preaching: exploring preaching through research and scholarship, explaining preaching by training the next generation of church leaders, and exemplifying preaching in regular pulpit engagements in the U.S. and elsewhere. He has served as the interim preacher at churches in Texas, Massachusetts, and as President of the Evangelical Homiletics Society. In addition, he has written several preaching commentaries and he blogs regularly at www.homiletix.com. In his other life, Dr. Kuruvilla is a Diplomat of the American Board of Dermatology, and he maintains an active clinical schedule seeing patients and taking care of their skin, hair, and nails. Single by choice, Abe has a special interest in the theology of Christ-centered singleness and celibacy.
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KEVIN BELMONTE holds a B.A. in English from Gordon College, an M.A. in Church History from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a second Master's Degree in American and New England Studies from the University of Southern Maine. He has twice been a Finalist for the John Pollock Award for Christian Biography, and in 2003, his book, William Wilberforce: A Hero for Humanity, won that award. For five years, his biography of William Wilberforce has been taught as part of a course on leadership and character formation at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. On several occasions, he has served as a script consultant for the BBC, and also for the PBS documentary, The Better Hour. For six years, he was the lead script and historical consultant for the critically acclaimed film, Amazing Grace. Kevin resides in a seaside village in Maine with his wife, Kelly, and their seven-year-old son, Sam.
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JEAN ANDRIANOFF might easily have been chosen "Person Most Likely to Spend Her Life Behind a White Picket Fence in Mid-America" by fellow students at Geneva College. Instead, God took her and her husband David to Thailand, Laos, Mongolia, and Malaysia over a twenty-five year period of ministry under the Christian and Missionary Alliance and World Concern. They now live in the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, where Jean finds inspiration for writing from God's creation, family, life experiences and her faith in Jesus. She is the author of Chosen for a Special Joy, the story of David's parents and a people movement to Christ among the Hmong of Laos. The Sunday School curriculum she developed for the Lao church is widely used in Cambodia as well. David and Jean have two daughters and two grandchildren.
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STEPHAN BAUMAN is the President and CEO of World Relief, an international relief and development organization partnering with the global Church to serve more than five million vulnerable people each year. World Relief is also the founder and convener of The Justice Conference. Stephan's pursuit of justice led him to transition from a successful career in the Fortune 100 sector to Africa where he directed relief and development programs for nearly a decade before returning to the United States to lead World Relief's global operations. He holds degrees from Johns Hopkins University, Wheaton College, and the University of Wisconsin. He is a poet, an author, an ordained minister and a strategist. He considers his African friends his most important teachers, and his wife, Belinda, his most important mentor. Stephan, Belinda, and their two sons, Joshua and Caleb, live near Washington, D.C.
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RICHARD A. ROBINSON serves as Senior Researcher at Jews for Jesus in San Francisco and is a Jewish believer in Jesus who came to faith in 1973. He has served with Jews for Jesus since 1978, beginning with the mobile evangelistic music team, The Liberated Wailing Wall, and subsequently as a missionary at the Los Angeles, New York, and Boston branches. He holds an M.Div. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (1978) and a Ph.D. from Westminster Theological Seminary (1993).Rich is the author of The Messianic Movement and Christ in the Sabbath. He edited God, Torah, Messiah: The Messianic Jewish Theology of Dr. Louis Goldberg and co-authored Christ in the Feast of Pentecost with David Brickner. He has contributed chapters to various scholarly books, conferences papers (Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism--North America, Evangelical Theological Society), and is a frequent contributor to the journal Mishkan. Rich also edits Havurah, a publication for Jewish believers in Jesus.
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HAROLD MYRA served as the CEO of Christianity Today International for 32 years. Under his leadership, the organization grew from one magazine to a communications company with a dozen magazines, copublished books, and a major Internet ministry. Myra started his journalistic career with "Youth for Christ" magazine, which under his leadership became "Campus Life" magazine. Author of five novels, numerous children's and nonfiction books, and hundreds of magazine articles, Myra has taught writing and publishing at the Wheaton College Graduate School in Illinois. He holds honorary doctorates from several colleges, including Biola University in California and Gordon College in Massachusetts. Myra has received various awards, among them the prestigious Magazine Publisher's Award and the James Deforest Murch Award from the National Association of Evangelicals. The Evangelical Press Association presented him with its highest honor, the Joseph T. Bayly Award, for his triple career as an editor, author, and publishing executive. Harold and his wife, Jeanette, are the parents of six children and grandparents of five. They reside in Wheaton, Illinois.
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ISSAM SMEIR is a clinician, author, and advocate committed to serving refugees and trauma-affected communities worldwide. He holds a doctorate in Clinical Supervision and Educational Counseling from Northern Illinois University, a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from Wheaton College, and completed post-doctoral training at Harvard University in Global Mental Health. Issam bridges research, clinical practice, and humanitarian work, applying his expertise to create meaningful, trauma-informed interventions.He is the author of the Amal series, a collection of therapeutic children’s books, and the Amal for Children animation series, both used globally to help children navigate and heal from trauma. An expert in the Narrative Exposure Therapy approach, Issam blends storytelling with evidence-based guidance to support caregivers and professionals in their work with vulnerable populations.Through his work, Issam centers the voices and experiences of those he serves, believing that every story carries the power to restore dignity and hope. He and his wife, Stephanie, are raising four boys who remind them every day of the importance of faith, resilience, hope, and the enduring strength of the human spirit.
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WESLEY K. WILLMER is the former vice president of university advancement and professor at Biola University. He currently serves as senior vice president with the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA). He has been author, co-author, or editor of twenty-one books, including A Revolution in Generosity: Transforming Stewards to Be Rich Toward God, God and Your Stuff: The Vital Link Between Your Possessions and Your Soul, and The Prospering Parachurch: Enlarging the Boundaries of God's Kingdom. He has also contributed to many professional publications.
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JIM SHADDIX (BS, Jacksonville State University; M.Div., D.Min., Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; Ph.D., New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary) serves as Professor of Preaching at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC, occupying the W. A. Criswell Chair of Expository Preaching. He has pastored churches in Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Colorado, and also served as Dean of the Chapel and Professor of Preaching at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in New Orleans, LA. Jim is the author of The Passion Driven Sermon (Broadman & Holman, 2003) and co-author of Power in the Pulpit with Jerry Vines (Moody, 1999). Jim and his wife, Debra, focus much of their attention on discipling and mentoring young leaders and spouses. They have three grown children.
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DON WHITNEY (Arkansas State University; Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is the founder and president of The Center for Biblical Spirituality and is Associate Professor and Dean of Biblical Spirituality at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Don is the author of Spiritual Disciplines within the Church, How Can I Be Sure I'm A Christian, and Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. Don and his wife, Caffy, have one daughter and live near Louisville, Kentucky.
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H. NORMAN WRIGHT (M.R.E., Fuller Theological Seminary; M.A., Pepperdine University; 1937-2023) was a Research Professor of Christian Education at Talbot School of Theology and a licensed Marriage, Family, and Child Therapist. He taught on the graduate school level for more than twenty-five years and was the founder and director of Christian Marriage Enrichment in Tustin, California. Dr. Wright was the author of more than seventy books, including The Premarital Counseling Handbook, Pressure Points, Communication: Key to Your Marriage, and the best-selling Always Daddy's Girl. Dr. Wright was married to his wife of 49 years and lived in Bakersfield, CA.
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CARRIE E. GRUHN was born Carrie E. Meyers on April 3, 1907 in Clarinda, Iowa. After completing high school, she attended Iowa State Teacher’s College for a year. She married a printer named Stanley Gruhn on May 18, 1929 at the age of twenty-two. Later the family moved to Ogle County, Illinois with their two boys. She is best known as the author of several books including An Unwanted Legacy (1953), Happy is the Man (1963), and The Lost City (1969).
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