Ella K. Lindvall

ELLA K. LINDVALL was a mother and former elementary school teacher. She spent 20 years teaching Kindergarten, first, and second grades in Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States. Ella was a skilled children’s editor and writer, and served until retirement as the managing editor for Moody Publishers. Among her many children’s books are The Bible in Pictures for Toddlers and the acclaimed Read-Aloud Bible Stories series, the first volume of which is an ECPA Gold Medallion winner and C.S. Lewis Honor Book.

Patricia Ennis

PAT ENNIS taught Home Economics for the San Diego Unified School District while developing the Home Economics Department at Christian Heritage College (now San Diego Christian College). She moved to The Master's College in 1987 to establish the Home Economics Family and Consumer Science Department. Pat relocated to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in fall 2011 to assume the position of Distinguished Professor of Family and Consumer Sciences, after having served as its consultant for five years. Visit her blog at www.theeverydayhomemaker.com.

Christine Hoover

CHRISTINE HOOVER is a pastor's wife, mom, speaker, and the author of The Church Planting Wife (Moody, 2013) and From Good to Grace (Baker, 2015). She has written for The Gospel Coalition, Desiring God, and Christianity Today. She enjoys encouraging ministry wives and helping women apply the gift of God's grace to their daily lives. She lives in Virginia. For more information, visit christinehoover.net.

Gary Keisling

Dr. Gary Keisling is the senior pastor of The Alliance Church in Bryan, Ohio. He has served in pastoral ministry with The Christian and Missionary Alliance for more than 25 years. He is also a professor with Crown College on-line. He and his wife Susan have been married for more than 35 years and have two grown children.

Gerald B. Smith

Samy Tanagho

SAMY TANAGHO has shared the Gospel with Muslims for over thirty years. He speaks on God's love towards sinners and how we can communicate the Gospel effectively to the people we meet, including Muslims. Samy's passion is to encourage every member of the body of Christ to be active in fulfilling the Great Commission. His wife, Hala, often joins him to share her story of imprisonment in Egypt for converting from Islam to Christianity. He ministers as an evangelist to Muslims through the Salvation Army with a radio program on more than ninety stations.

Becky Harling

BECKY HARLING has a degree in Biblical Literature and is a speaker and Bible teacher. The host of The Connected Mom podcast, Becky has a passion for helping women find hope, healing, freedom, and life transformation through Jesus Christ. She is the author of many books and Bible studies, including Our Father, The Extraordinary Power of Praise, Who Do You Say That I Am, Psalms for the Anxious Heart, The 30-Day Praise Challenge, How to Listen So People Will Talk, and How to Listen So Your Kids Will Talk. Becky and her husband reside in Colorado.

Pat Cimo

PAT CIMO has led a dynamic children's ministry and coached children ministry leaders domestically and internationally for nearly twenty-nine years. She is currently the director of Marriage and Family Life at Willow Creek Community Church in the suburbs of Chicago, and for many years this included direct leadership and oversight with Willow's Children's Ministry. She has a deep passion to own the game she most wants to win: influencing and developing champions of faith. Pat and her husband Dave live in the northwest suburbs of Chicago near their two married children and four grandchildren.

Erica Wiggenhorn

ERICA WIGGENHORN is the founder of Every Life Ministries, bringing the truths of Scripture to transform lives. She teaches in various local and national venues and serves on the women's ministry leadership team for her church. She's also taught women in the Arizona State Prison system, and overseas. She loves to bring God's Word through Bible teaching, conferences, seminars and retreats. A graduate of Azusa Pacific University, Erica lives in Phoenix with her husband, Jonathan, and their two children, Eliana and Nathan. For more information about Erica, her Bible studies, and writing/speaking ministry, visit www.EricaWiggenhorn.com.

Matthew Soerens

MATTHEW SOERENS serves as the U.S. Director of Church Mobilization for World Relief. He previously served as the Field Director for the Evangelical Immigraton Table, a coalition of evangelical organizations of which World Relief is a founding member. He is the co-author of Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion & Truth in the Immigration Debate (InterVarsity Press, 2009), and a graduate of Wheaton College (IL) and DePaul University. Matt lives in Aurora, Illinois with his wife Diana and their two children.

Dr Issam Smeir

DR. ISSAM SMEIR is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor who specializes in trauma treatment for refugees, victims of torture, and severely abused and neglected children. He holds a Master's Degree in Clinical Psychology from Wheaton College and a Doctoral Degree in Counseling and Clinical Supervision from Northern Illinois University, and has done post doctorate training in trauma and refugee issues at Harvard University. He has worked for World Relief since 2001, serving refugees and other immigrants from dozens of countries of origin. Prior to joining World Relief, Issam worked with several missions and relief organizations. Originally from the country of Jordan, Issam now lives in Suburban Chicago with his wife and four sons.

Crickett Keeth

CRICKETT KEETH is the Women's Ministry Director at First Evangelical Church in Memphis, Tennessee, where she writes and teaches the women's Bible studies. She is the author of several published Bible studies, including The Gift of Rest and Sumatra with the Seven Churches (co-authored with Sandra Glahn). Crickett was on staff with Cru for ten years and is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary. In addition to teaching regularly at her own church, she also speaks at women's conferences and retreats. She offers free resources for discipleship and encourages others in their own walk with God through her website at www.crickettkeeth.com. Her life purpose is to encourage others to passionately pursue Jesus Christ.

Charles Stone

DR. CHARLES STONE (MDiv, DMin, PhD) has served for forty-three years in vocational ministry, thirty of those years as a senior pastor. He recently completed a nine-year role as lead pastor of West Park Church in London, Ontario, Canada, a multicultural congregation with over a thousand attendees. He has authored eight books and now serves as a coach-consultant to pastors and leaders. Over three hundred of his articles have appeared in magazines and online in publications such as Outreach Magazine, Leadership Journal, Pastors.com, SermonCentral.com, and Churchleaders.com. Charles and his wife, Sherryl, have been married for forty-five years and have three adult children and five grandchildren. You can reach him through his website at www.charlesstone.com.

Ron L Deal

RON L. DEAL is one of the most widely read and viewed experts on blended families in the country. He is founder of Smart Stepfamilies™, Director of FamilyLife Blended® for Family Life®, the author of numerous videos and books on stepfamily living including the bestselling The Smart Stepfamily, and is consulting editor for the Smart Stepfamily Series of books. Ron is a licensed marriage and family therapist, popular speaker, and host of the podcast FamilyLife Blended. He and his wife, Nan, have three sons and live in Little Rock, Arkansas. Find events and resources at RonDeal.org.

Syd Brestel

SYD BRESTEL (B.A. Moody Bible Institute; M.A., Western Seminary) is a retired pastor who served a number of congregations for nearly fifty years. He has taught biblical classes at Kilns College in Bend, OR and is passionate about creating opportunities for lay people to receive biblical and theological training. He has ministered in several countries including India, Pakistan, UAE, Uganda, and Ireland. God has given him a passion to proclaim and defend both His grace and His holiness and wrath.

Joshua Michael Weidmann

JOSH WEIDMANN has traveled the world speaking to churched and un-churched crowds about the truth of the Gospel from the authority of God’s Word for more than a decade (since his late teen years). Josh started preaching at a young age and soon found himself living out God’s calling on His life to communicate the Bible through whatever means possible. After the 1999 Columbine high school shooting tragedy in his hometown, God used Josh as a voice of hope to his generation around the nation. Over the last decade, Josh has continued to preach the truth around the world. He has had the privilege of speaking for some well-known ministries such as Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Youth for Christ, and others.His years as a student at Moody Bible Institute served to deepen his understanding of God’s Word and equipped him for a long-term role in serving the church. Josh has had the privilege of fulfilling several pastoral roles in various churches in Colorado and Illinois, including a recent role as a lead pastor in Aurora, Colorado. He currently serves as the Discipleship pastor of Mission Hills Church in Littleton, CO. He also leads and writes for a web ministry called Honest To God. He and his wife, Molly, live in the suburbs of Denver with their two kids and enjoy loving Christ, loving each other, and loving on God’s people.