William O. Levi

WILLIAM OCHAN LEVI is the founder of Operation Nehemiah Missions International, an organization dedicated to rebuilding the minds, bodies, and spirits of the Sudanese people. He is active in Christian education and humanitarian service in South Sudan and the Ugandan refugee camps. Mr. Levi, a Messianic believer from an African Hebrew tribal group, is a native of Sudan and grew up as a refugee. Following persecution, arrest, and torture, his miraculous escape from jihad forces ultimately led to life in the United States. He has written a book on his story entitled The Bible or the Axe: One Man's Dramatic Escape from Persecution in the Sudan. He is a frequent guest on Christian radio and has told his story nationwide, even testifying before representatives of the United States government regarding human rights abuses in the Sudan. Mr. Levi lives in Massachusetts with his wife, Hannah, and their six children.

Ele Parrott

ELE PARROT, a Biblical Counselor by profession, is the Director of Member Care for the Paraclete Mission Group. She worked as a missionary in the Latin community with OCI for 12 years, has worked in women’s and children’s ministry in her local church and has also been involved in Christian Camping ministry. She continues to lead Bible studies and is the head Mentor Mom at Sun Valley Community Church in Gilbert, Arizona. In addition to Transforming Together, Ele has authored a Spanish-language musical, El Futboles es mi Vida as well as Spanish materials for use in Christian homes and Sunday School classes.Ele Parrot and her husband of 35 years, Don, the President and CEO of Finishers Project, have four grown children and three grandchildren.

David Brickner

DAVID BRICKNER is the Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors for Jews for Jesus. He previously served as the Executive Director and CEO from 1996 – 2024. Born in Massachusetts to Jewish parents, he comes from five generations of Jewish followers of Messiah Yeshua. David considers himself living proof that following Jesus does not require abandoning one’s Jewish identity. David received his theological training at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and earned a BA in Judaica from Northeastern Illinois University. He went on to earn his MA in missiology with an emphasis on Jewish studies from the Fuller School of Intercultural Studies. He is the author of several books, including Christ in the Feast of Tabernacles, Future Hope—A Jewish Christian Look at the End of the World and Does the Jewish Bible Point to Jesus? David has been interviewed on secular and Christian national radio and television shows, including Larry King Live and In the Market with Janet Parshall. David is married to Sabra Brickner and is the proud father of Isaac, Ilana, and Sivan. He is also the proud grandfather of Norah, Levy, and Itai.

Michelle Van Loon

C. Donald Cole

C. DONALD COLE served as a host and commentator on Moody Radio’s Open Line for 26 years before retiring in 2008. He previously served on the faculty at Emmaus Bible College and as a missionary in Angola with his wife, Naomi. Pastor Cole is the author of a number of books, including How to Know You’re Saved and All You Need to Believe: The Apostle’s Creed. Pastor and Mrs. Cole live in Carol Stream, Illinois.

William D. Hendricks

BILL HENDRICKS is cofounder and president of The Global Centre for Giftedness, which resources a worldwide movement aimed at unleashing people’s giftedness, for human flourishing. Bill also serves as the Executive Director for Christian Leadership at The Hendricks Center, a leadership development initiative at Dallas Theological Seminary. He is the author of numerous books and other resources, including The Person Called YOU and So How Do I Parent THIS Child?, both available from Moody Publishers. Bill holds degrees from Harvard University, Boston University, and Dallas Theological Seminary, and is currently a doctoral student at Bakke Graduate University. He is married to Lynn Turpin Hendricks and is the father of three grown daughters.

Thomas A'Kempis

THOMAS A’KEMPIS (1380-1471) was a Dutch priest, monk, and writer born in Kempen, Germany. He attended a school near Deventer in Holland. Thomas of Kempen, as he was known at school, was so impressed by his teachers that he decided to live his own life according to their ideals. When he was 19, he entered the monastery of Mount St. Agnes and spent the rest of his long life behind the walls of that monastery. Thomas wrote a number of sermons, letters, hymns, and lives of the saints. The most famous of his works, by far, is The Imitation of Christ, a charming instruction on how to love God. The Imitation of Christ has come to be, after the Bible, the most widely translated book in Christian literature.

Susie Hawkins

Susie Hawkins lives in Dallas and has been actively involved in women’s ministry as a pastor’s wife, teacher and volunteer. She has also served as the Director of Women’s Ministry at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas. She has taught a weekly Bible study for business women in downtown Dallas and speaks at women’s conferences and retreats. She is also a contributor to various publications, such as Voices Behind the Veil and the soon to be released “Women’s Evangelical Library Commentary.” Susie has an MA in Christian Leadership from Criswell College as well as an MA in Theology. She is married to O. S. Hawkins, president of GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention (formerly the Annuity Board of the Southern Baptist Convention) and is the mother of two married daughters, Wendy and Holly, as well as a grandmother of five. Her favorite things to do are bargain hunting, lunching with friends and playing with her grandchildren!08/08

Virginia Jacober

SARAH "VIRGINIA" JACOBER was born in Dayton, Ohio and accepted Jesus as her Savior at age eleven. The first time she heard a missionary speak, she knew this was what God wanted her do. After graduating from Nyack College, she married Edward G Jacober. They pastored a church while he attended Dallas Theological Seminary, and then were appointed by The Christian and Missionary Alliance to do evangelistic work in India. Their four children attended school in the Himalaya Mountains. Transferred to Bethlehem, Israel, they taught the Bible and visited Bedouin tents for fifteen years. Sarah’s husband died, but she continued working and speaking in churches. After retiring, she made fifteen short term mission trips to various countries around the world.More than forty of Sarah’s articles and poems, plus six books have been published. Sarah lives near family in North Carolina, has seven grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and continues to write for God’s glory.

R. A. Torrey

RUBEN ARCHER TORREY (1856-1928), educated at Yale University and Divinity School, was renowned as an educator, a pastor, a world evangelist and an author. He pastored Moody Memorial Church in Chicago, was the superintendent of Moody Bible Institute for nineteen years, and served as the dean of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles from 1911 to 1924, when he retired to embark upon full time evangelistic campaigns around the world. Mr. Torrey wrote more than forty books including How to Pray and How to Promote and Conduct a Successful Revival. Mr. Torrey was married to Clara and together they had five children.

Bryan Loritts

BRYAN LORITTS is the Lead Pastor of the Abundant Life Christian Fellowship of Silicon Valley, California. He is the privileged husband of Korie, and the graced father of three sons -- Quentin, Myles, and Jaden. He is also an award winning author of six books including Saving the Saved: How Jesus Saves us from Try-harder Christianity into Performance-Free Love which was given the Christianity Today Award of Merit, and his newest release Insider Outsider. Bryan co-founded Fellowship Memphis in 2003, and later founded the Kainos Movement -- an organization committed to seeing the multi-ethnic church become the new normal in our world. He travels extensively throughout the world preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ at conferences and events, as well as serving on the board of trustees for Biola University and PineCove Christian Camps. His messages can be heard daily on the Salem Radio Network's KFAX station. You can follow him on Twitter @bcloritts.

Carol Barnier

CAROL BARNIER is a humorist and speaker, frequent radio guest and author, Pastor's kid, Christian. . .and former atheist. These days she admits she takes her God, her faith and her theology very seriously, but herself. . .not so much. To every task she brings along her slightly irreverent humor, whether tackling the issues of being very ADHD, the discomfort at being asked to be the older woman in a Titus program (after all, Titus rhymes with phlebitis--proceed with caution), or how to love today's "woman at the well." But in her latest project--bringing tools and hope to the parents of prodigals, Carol rolls up her sleeves and shares ideas and stories from the heart and from her own journey. In every talk, every article, every interview and every book, it is her objective to not only inspire people, but to give them something they can take home and use immediately. She lives in Connecticut with her husband of 25 years and her three kids.

Gerald W. Peterman

GERALD PETERMAN is Professor of Bible and Director of Biblical and Theological Studies at Moody Bible Institute. Before coming to Moody he taught at Palm Beach Atlantic College in West Palm Beach, FL, spent 4 1/2 years doing church planting for the Evangelical Free Church in central Florida and in south central Iowa, and also served eight years in the Air National Guard as a Chaplain. Peterman also serves part-time at his local church. For Moody Publishers he has written Joy and Tears: The Emotional Life of the Christian (2013) and Between Pain and Grace: A Biblical Theology of Suffering with Dr. Andrew Schmutzer. Research interests include New Testament Greek Language and Exegesis, Greek and Roman Background to the New Testament, and Biblical Theology. Gerald has been married to Marjory since January 1984, with two adult daughters, Bethany and Grace.

Kenneth N. Taylor

KENNETH N. TAYLOR was the founder of Tyndale House Publishers and the Christian Booksellers Association (CBA). With 10 children and more than 25 grandchildren, he had ample experience in teaching children about the Bible. Kenneth is the author of The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes, Devotions for the Childrens House, and Big Thoughts for Little People, as well as the best-selling Living Bible paraphrase. His desire was to see more and more easy-to-read, understandable, contemporary versions of the Bible in hundreds of languages overseas.