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AARON MENIKOFF is the Senior Pastor of Mount Vernon Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA. Before entering pastoral ministry, he served as a legislative assistant for the late United States Senator Mark O. Hatfield. He earned an M.Div. and a Ph.D. at Southern Seminary where he studied Christian social engagement during the Second Great Awakening. He is the author of Politics and Piety: Baptist Social Reform in America, 1770-1860 (Pickwick, 2014). Aaron has a heart for encouraging pastors. He organizes a yearly conference called Feed My Sheep, leads a monthly pastors fellowship in his area, and is Visiting Lecturer in Church History at Reformed Theological Seminary in Atlanta. He is married to Deana and is the father of Rachel, Jonah, Natalie, and Tori.
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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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TESSA AFSHAR’s books have been on Publishers Weekly, CBA, and ECPA bestseller lists and have been translated into many languages. Her Bible study, The Way Home: God’s Invitation to New Beginnings, won the ECPA Christian Book of the Year in the Bible Study category. Tessa’s novels have been the recipient of the ECPA’s Bronze Milestone, Christy, and INSPY Awards. She holds a master of divinity from Yale, where she was elected to serve as co-chair of the Evangelical Fellowship for one year. Tessa is a devoted wife, a mediocre gardener, and an enthusiastic cook of biblical recipes. Learn more at TessaAfshar.com.
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DR. JERRY VINES (B.A., Mercer University; Th.D., Luther Rice Seminary; PhD, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) retired as pastor of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida in 2006, where he served for 40 years. He served two terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Jerry is author of a number of books including Power in the Pulpit: How to Prepare and Deliver Expository Sermons, and A Practical Guide to Sermon Preparation. He and his wife, Janet, have four adult children and five grandchildren.
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NELL BRANUM is a former editor and elementary school librarian who is the daughter of both a World War II paratrooper and a Rosie the Riveter and believes God still uses lessons from history. She was married for 43 amazing years to her minister husband, and now she writes from a small town near Birmingham, Alabama, where she keeps chickens in the backyard, likes to go on adventures with her grown kids and their families (including nine grandkids), and enjoys watching sunsets on her front porch while drinking blueberry-flavored coffee.
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DAVID THOMPSON was born in the U.S. but grew up in Cambodia where his parents worked for 16 years. When he was 14 he and his father tried unsuccessfully to save a Cambodian man who was seriously injured when a truck and a bus collided. God used the incident to plant in David's young heart a desire to become a doctor and help people who had limited access to healthcare. David graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 1973 with a M.D. degree and eventually completed five years of residency in general surgery in southern California. In 1977 he and his wife Rebecca moved to Gabon, Africa and for the next 34 years built a 150-bed full-service hospital to provide medical services to Gabon's least served provinces. In 1966, Dr. Thompson helped establish the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS), an organization that trains African surgeons at Christian hospitals throughout the continent. Since 2014, Dr. Thompson has been working as a volunteer to train Egyptian surgeons at Harpur Memorial Hospital.
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JIM NICODEM has been the senior pastor of Christ Community Church since its start in 1984. Beginning with a group of six families, the church has grown to over five thousand weekend attendees at four campuses. A significant focus on reaching spiritual explorers has resulted in scores of new believers being baptized each year.Born and raised in the Midwest, Jim received his BA in Biblical Studies from Wheaton College, and his MDiv and DMin from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. In keeping with Christ Community Church’s mission to "make passionate disciples of Jesus Christ", Jim loves to mentor others in prayer and the study of God’s Word. With that goal in mind, he has authored Prayer Coach: For All Who Want to Get Off the Bench and Onto the Praying Field (2008) and the four-book Bible Savvy series (2013).Jim and his wife, Sue, have been married for more than thirty years. They have three adult children, and are the proud grandparents of four grandchildren. Jim enjoys biking, hiking and kayaking for recreation. He loves to hang out in Chicago, where he can watch the Cubs play (no better park than Wrigley) or listen to the world-class Symphony Orchestra.
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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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PATRICK MORLEY founded Man in the Mirror in 1991, a ministry that has helped 35,000 churches impact the lives of twelve million men worldwide. Their vision is "for every church to disciple every man". He is the author of Man in the Mirror which was selected as one of the hundred most influential Christian books of the twentieth century. Patrick has written twenty books, 750 articles, has appeared on several hundred radio and television programs, and has a daily one minute radio program on 700 stations. He graduated from the University of Central Florida as well as Reformed Theological Seminary. He has earned a Ph.D. in management, completed through postgraduate studies at the Harvard Business School and Oxford University. He lives in Winter Park, Florida, with his wife, Patsy. His ministry websites are www.maninthemirror.org and www.PatrickMorley.com.
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RON BLOCK has been banjoist guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for Alison Krauss & Union Station since 1991. He wrote many of the band's gospel songs: "There is a Reason," "In the Palm of Your Hand," "Jesus, Help Me to Stand," and his playing has been featured on albums by Dolly Parton, Vince Gill, Reba McEntire, Randy Travis, Alan Jackson, Brad Paisley, Fernando Ortega, and others. He's received 14 Grammy Awards for his work with Alison Krauss, Vince Gill, and the O Brother, Where Are Thou soundtrack, and received a Dove Award for his song "A Living Prayer." He has also written on spiritual and musical topics for the Rabbit Room website since its inception in 2007, rabbitroom.com.He married Sandra in 1988 and they live in rural Tennessee. They have two grown children, Ethan and Erica.
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ROBERT E. CLARK (Omaha Baptist Bible College; Wheaton College; Omaha University; University of Denver) served for 22 years as professor of Christian education at Moody Bible Institute, Chicago. He is now engaged in Christian education ministry at the local church level. He is the general editor of Childhood Education in the Church. Clark resides in Lakewood, Colorado.
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DENNIS SHERE was a reporter, editor, and then publisher for the Dayton Daily News before becoming the senior media manager at Moody Bible Institute. He is currently an attorney working on behalf of death penalty defendants in Illinois. He is author of Cain's Redemption: A Story of Hope and Transformation in America's Bloodiest Prison. He resides in North Aurora, Illinois.
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HARRY SHIELDS has served pastorates in Illinois and Colorado and currently serves on the graduate school faculty of the Moody Bible Institute. He is co-author of Caring for Souls: Counseling under the Authority of Scripture. He and his wife have two adult sons, who are also involved in local church ministries. Harry and his wife, Carol, reside in Crystal Lake, Illinois.
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SAMUEL NAAMAN (BSW, University of Sind; M.Div., Asian Center for Theological Studies and Missions; Th.M., Chongshin University; D.Miss. from Asbury Theological Seminary) is Professor of Intercultural Studies at Moody Bible Institute. He is also president of the South Asian Friendship Center. He has an international ministry profile and relationships across the world. He lives with his wife and two sons in the Chicago suburbs.
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MARK TOBEY (Moody Bible Institute; Dallas Theological Seminary) is a pastor, freelance writer, and editor. Previously he served in publishing and as an adjunct professor of pastoral studies. Mark is co-author of Strike the Dragon with Dr. Charles Dyer and is a collaborator for The Trouble with Jesus Study Guide with Dr. Joe Stowell. He and his wife, Tracy, have three children.
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PHIL RAWLEY is a former Moody Publishers textbook editor, one of the founding editors and writers for Today in the Word, and a free-lance writer living in Rockwall, Texas. He is a graduate of the University of South Florida (B.A., 70) and Dallas Theological Seminary (Th.M., 80). Phil and his wife Sarah have two children and a grandson.
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