Vicki Rose

VICKI ROSE is a strong Bible teacher with a relevant, life-changing message. She was born and raised in New York City and upon graduating from Sarah Lawrence College in 1975, Vicki began her retail career at Saks Fifth Ave and went on to marry Bill Rose in 1977.After almost 10 years of marriage, Vicki found herself the single mother of a 1 ½ and 4 year old, separated from her husband who was addicted to cocaine, woman and work. 1 ½ years later, Vicki accepted Christ through an outreach dinner at age 35 and became a passionate follower of Jesus Christ with a deep hunger for His word. As Vicki began to pray for her husband to also know Christ, her heart toward him changed and they were reconciled after he accepted Christ, entered rehab and they spent time in counseling. They had been separated for 5 ½ years. Both Vicki and Bill are Jewish believers though neither was raised in a religious Jewish home. Vicki has taught, facilitated and led many Bible Studies for women in her church as well as acted as Prayer Coordinator for the Women’s Ministry and has taught and shared her testimony all across the U.S. as well as in Nicaragua, Poland, Russia, Bulgaria and Italy.

Maxine Marsolini

MAXINE MARSOLINI is a free-lance writer, author, poet, pastor’s wife and homemaker. Maxine, author of Raising Children in Blended Families: Helpful Insights, Expert Opinions, True Stories and Blended Families: Creating Harmony as You Build a New Home Life, writes from what she calls “wisdom born of pain” through the difficult soil of a blended home. She and her husband Charlie, reside in the state of Oregon where they serve in ministry together working with couples who are struggling with relationship and financial issues. Maxine and Charlie have seven children in their blended family.

William Dyer

REVEREND WILLIAM DYER was born in England in 1632. During his earlier ministry he was a pastor with the Church of England at Chesham and Cholesbury. He and many other pastors were known as “Puritans” because of their desire to purify and reform the state church. However, in 1662, Dyer and over two thousand other Puritans pastors were ejected from their parishes because of a lack of compliance to the new policies of the church. In the year following his dismissal from the church he wrote two of his most enduring books, A Cabinet of Jewels and Christ’s Famous Titles. In his later life he worked alongside the Quakers because of their zeal for Christ and passion for souls. He was buried among them in Southwark, England in April of 1696. From his writings he is seen to have been a man of great character, earnest to win men to the Lord, and eager to build up the saints in the love and confidence of Christ.

Nicholas Skytland

NICHOLAS SKYTLAND is co-founder of Quite Uncommon, a technology firm that helps organizations build, test, and launch new and innovative ideas. He is also the Deputy Chief of the Exploration Technology Office at NASA. His technical and leadership experience has helped him build high-performing teams and pioneer new ways of doing business in both government and industry for over two decades. He has trained astronauts, designed next-generation spacesuits, developed open-source technology, led missional movements, and created some of the largest purpose-driven collaborations in history. Outside of work he is an experienced diver and avid triathlete, having completed more than twenty Ironman races. He lives in Houston with his wife and three kids, and serves as an elder at Clear Creek Community Church.

Tim Downs

TIM DOWNS is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Indiana University in Graphic Design. After graduation in 1976 he created a comic strip, Downstown, which was syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate. His cartooning has appeared in more than a hundred newspapers worldwide. In 1979 he joined the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ, where he founded and directed the Communication Center, a communication training facility. He continues to serve as a speaker and writer. He and his wife, Joy, have spoken at FamilyLife Marriage and Parenting Conferences since 1985. He is author of First the Dead, Less Than Dead, Chop Shop, Head Game, Plague Maker, Shoo Fly Pie, and Finding Common Ground, which was awarded the Gold Medallion Award in 2000. He is also co-author of Fight Fair and The Seven Conflicts: Resolving the Most Common Disagreements in Marriage along with his wife Joy. Tim lives in Cary, North Carolina, with his wife and three children.

Christmas Carol Kauffman

CHRISTMAS CAROL KAUFMAN received her unique name in honor of her Christmas morning birth in 1901 in Elkhart, Indiana. She was raised in a Mennonite home and spent some time as a student at Goshen College. When she was 22, she married Norman Hostetler. However, tragedy struck when two months after their second anniversary, Norman was killed in an electrical accident. She worked in a sewing shop following the wake of her loss, but in 1928, her bishop recommended that she get away for a while and enroll as a Bible student at Hesston College. It was there that she met the man who would be her life partner—Nelson Kaufman. The two were married in 1929. Five years later they were commissioned by the Mennonite General Mission Board to start a mission church in Hannibal, Missouri. It was in their 22-year ministry in Missouri that she found the inspiration to write her many novels. In 1956, they returned to Elkhart where Kaufman wrote her last several books. She died in Elkhart on January 30, 1969.

A. Morgan Derham

ARTHUR MORGAN DERHAM was born in Hertfordshire, England in 1915. He was converted when he was fourteen. After some time as a business man and four years serving with the Metropolitan Police Force, he entered the Strict Baptist Bible Institute in Brockley, London, in 1938. Derham took the pastorate of the West Ham Baptist Tabernacle in west London, and it was there that the weight of Hitler’s blitz fell in 1940. The area bore attacks throughout the war, and within a few weeks eighty percent of the congregation disappeared because of damage to their homes. The church services were continued underground until 1944. After the war he began writing in addition to part-time pastoral work in other churches in England. He was also married and the father of a son and a daughter. During his life he authored one book and two small publications published in London as well as contributed to a number of magazines and papers.

Jill Garner

JILL GARNER is an accomplished speaker, advocate, and founder of Manners of the Heart, a nonprofit reawakening respect in our society for the sake of the next generation. She is the author of the award-winning Raising Respectful Children in a Disrespectful World, Raising Unselfish Children in a Self-Absorbed World, and Manners of the Heart, an elementary school curriculum that helps children see beyond themselves to become all God created them to be. Her work is endorsed by Focus on the Family, FamilyLife Today, Dr. Kevin Leman, and many others.When Jill is not writing, you will find her digging into in-depth word studies in Scripture, baking a batch of her famous Double Delight Chocolate Chip Cookies, counting down to Christmas, planning the next great adventure, and occasionally casting a fly rod. Her greatest joy is time spent with her husband, grown children, and seven beloved grandchildren.

Geraldine Taylor

Andrew Murray

ANDREW MURRAY (1828-1917) was a church leader, evangelist, and missionary statesman. As a young man, Murray wanted to be a minister, but it was a career choice rather than an act of faith. Not until he had finished his general studies and begun his theological training in the Netherlands, did he experience a conversion of heart. Sixty years of ministry in the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa, more than 200 books and tracts on Christian spirituality and ministry, extensive social work, and the founding of educational institutions were some of the outward signs of the inward grace that Murray experienced by continually casting himself on Christ. A few of his books include The True Vine, Absolute Surrender, The School of Obedience, Waiting on God, and The Prayer Life.

Anthony G. Bollback

ANTHONY G. BOLLBACK Anthony Bollback was born into a Christian home that always entertained missionaries. He received Christ at age 16 after a near-drowning incident at a summer youth conference. Beginning his missionary career in China, he and his wife Evelyn, were forced to evacuate when the Communists took over, and three years later began serving in Japan for five years. The remainder of his 24 years in Asia was spent in Hong Kong where he planted and directed 10 chapels and schools with 10,000 students. He served as Field Chairman of the China-Hong Kong Field of The Christian and Missionary Alliance for four years. Unexpectedly, God changed his direction and sent him to Honolulu for a most effective ministry as pastor of Kapahulu Bible Church. He retired from active ministry after serving as District Superintendent of the Mid-America District C&MA for 9 very productive years. Following retirement in Florida, he began an active writing career and the publishing of a very popular series of 6 books based on his experiences in China for children entitled Jack and Jenny Mystery Series. His most popular adult books based on the persecution of the church in China are the two-book series entitled The Persecuted Church in China: Red Runs the River, Vol. 1 and Exiles of Hope, Vol. 2.He continues a very active ministry of writing and speaking that includes a monthly e-letter called China Clippings. In addition he serves on the Church Board and is an Elder in the church.

Roberta Kells Dorr

ROBERTA KELLS DORR is the author of seven books: six novels, one biography. She majored in creative writing at the University of Maryland and received her master’s in Religious Education from the Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. For seventeen years Dorr lived in the Middle East as the wife of a busy missionary surgeon and the mother of five children. On her return to the United States she carried with her the manuscript of the first novel she had written and researched extensively over the years. She claimed that the years in the Middle East, the exposure to their culture, and the experiences she had while there profoundly influenced what she wrote.