Charles Sheldon

Lin Johnson

LIN JOHNSON is Managing Editor of The Christian Communicator, Advanced Christian Writer and Church Libraries and is the author and co-author of more than 60 books, including Christian Education: Foundations for the Future, Extracting the Precious from 2nd Corinthians, Encouraging Others, and The Book of John from The Smart Guide to the Bible Series. Lin specializes in Bible curriculum and is a Gold Medallion Book Award recipient. She also directs the Write-to-Publish Conference in the Chicago area and teaches at writers' conferences across the country and internationally. Lin resides in Elgin, Illinois.

Rene Pache

DR. RENE PACHE, was reared in a Christian home under the guidance of a deeply spiritual mother (his father died when the boy was ten years old). He received his doctor's degree in law at Lausanne, Switzerland. By that time he was an out-and-out unbeliever. As a lawyer he joined the business staff of the big chemical works (CIBA) at Basle, Switzerland. It was there, at the age of 24, that he was converted through reading a Bible he had purchased. He would eventually become one of the founders of the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship in Switzerland and France. His important works include The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit and The Return of Jesus Christ.

Robert E. Picirilli

ROBERT E. PICIRILLI is the former Academic Dean of the Graduate School at Free Will Baptist Bible College in Nashville. He began teaching in 1955. He is a member of the Research Commission of the American Association of Bible Colleges and served twice as chairman of the southeastern section of the Evangelical Theological Society. Dr. Picirilli is the author of a number of books including Paul The Apostle, The Book of Romans, and Time and Order in the Circumstantial Participles of Mark and Luke. Dr. Picirilli and his wife, Clara, have five daughters, all married.

Hannah Whitall Smith

HANNAH WHITALL SMITH (1832-1911) was born in Philadelphia to a Quaker family. Her life expressed the joy that is found in complete surrender to the Lord. The secret to a happy life, according to Whitall Smith, is to trust implicitly in the promises of the Bible. Her goal was not to impress the scholar, but to elevate the simple man or woman who longed for a more consecrated way of living. Deeply practical, her writings deal directly with the day-to-day struggles of ordinary people. She is author of The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life and The God of All Comfort.

E. M. Bounds

EDWARD MCKENDREE BOUNDS (1835-1913) was born in Missouri. He studied deeply in the Scriptures and was greatly inspired by the writings of John Wesley. At the age of 24, he felt called to be a preacher and became a Methodist Pastor around the time of the American Civil War. At the age of 58, and for the next nineteen years (until he went home to be with the Lord at age 77), he began to write books. It is said that he prayed daily, from 4 A.M. to 7 A.M., before he would begin work on his writings. Bounds is author of many books, including Purpose in Prayer, The Weapon of Prayer, and The Reality of Prayer.

Mike Handler

MIKE HANDLER serves as the Chief Innovation Officer for Awana. Prior to Awana, Mike was a pastor, a church planter as well as the principle of a creative agency. Mike is a coauthor of Resilient and the cofounder of the Child Discipleship Forum. Now in the Nashville area, Mike and his family are originally from Chicagoland and miss the food there.

Eric L. Johnson

ERIC L. JOHNSON (PhD, Michigan State University) trained as an academic psychologist and is the Lawrence and Charlotte Hoover Professor of Pastoral Care at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He is the author of Foundations for Soul Care; coeditor of God Under Fire and Christianity and Psychology: Four Views; and associate editor of the Journal of Psychology and Theology. He serves on the executive board at the Institute for Christian Psychology.

F Krummacher

John MacNeil

Jennifer K. Dean

JENNIFER KENNEDY DEAN was the executive director of The Praying Life Foundation and a frequent keynote speaker for retreats and conferences, most notably at the Billy Graham Center at the Cove, specializing in prayer and spiritual growth. Jennifer is the author of When You Hurt and When He Heals: Experiencing the Surprising Power of Prayer.