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AVI SNYDER was raised in a conservative Jewish home in New York City and came to a saving faith in Jesus in 1977 with the help of a Jews for Jesus tract and the forthright witness of Christian friends. He graduated from Fuller Theological Seminary, the School of World Mission, with a Masters degree in missiology. Avi has served with Jews for Jesus since 1978 and has provided leadership for branch offices in the US, the UK, the former USSR, Germany, and Hungary. He currently lives with his wife Ruth in Budapest where he serves as the ministry director for Europe and the former USSR. He and Ruth have three grown children.
Read MoreGLENN T. STANTON is the director of Family Formation Studies at Focus on the Family in Colorado Springs and a research fellow at the Institute of Marriage amd Family in Ottawa. He debates and lectures extensively on the issues of gender, sexuality, marriage and parenting at universities and churches around the world. Stanton served the George W. Bush administration for many years as a consultant on increasing fatherhood involvement in the Head Start program. Glenn is an author and contributor to many books and is quoted as a leading spokesperson on marriage and family issues. His latest book, Loving My (LGBT) Neighbor: Being Friends in Grace and Truth, explores how Christians should interact with gay or lesbian neighbors in a Christ-honoring way. He is also the author of The Ring Makes All the Difference and Secure Daughters, Confident Sons: How Parents Guide Their Children into Authentic Masculinity and Femininity. Stanton is a graduate of the University of West Florida with graduate degrees in philosophy and history. He now makes his home in Colorado Springs with his wife and five children.
Read MoreMATT MARKINS serves as the President and CEO of Awana, a global leader in child discipleship. As a researcher in child discipleship and children’s ministry, Matt has commissioned eleven research projects since 2013, including a study conducted by Barna Group called Children’s Ministry in a New Reality. He’s a board member at large for the National Association of Evangelicals and is the author or coauthor of four books, most notably The Faith of Our Children: Eight Timely Research Insights for Discipling the Next Generation and RESILIENT: Child Discipleship and the Fearless Future of the Church. He’s also the cofounder of the Child Discipleship Forum and D6 Conference. Matt and his wife, Katie, have been involved in children’s ministry for more than 25 years and spend their time in Nashville with their two sons. For more information go to www.ChildDiscipleship.com and www.Awana.org.
Read MoreJOHN FULLER is vice president of Audio and New Media at Focus on the Family and co-host of the daily “Focus on the Family” broadcast. He leads the team that produces more than a dozen Focus programs reaching millions of listeners around the world. Many of these features and podcasts are also available at www.focusonthefamily.com. A media veteran of more than 30 years, John writes and speaks about creativity, media trends, influential leadership, excellence, and social media. As a father of six, he writes and speaks about strong marriages and effective parenting. John and his wife Dena are also advocates for orphan care and adoption. John has a M.A. from the University of Northern Colorado, and serves as an elected member of the board of the National Religious Broadcasters.
Read MoreCURT HAMNER is a pastor and cofounder along with his wife, Rhonda of Between Two Trees (betweentwotrees.org), a marriage ministry designed to resource couples and communities with tools to pursue God's design for marriage. Curt is also the founder of Bed and Breakfast with Purpose Retreats, and is a mentor with The Master's Program (a three-year marketplace leadership coaching ministry). Together Curt and Rhonda speak throughout the US and around the world helping couples enrich their marriages. They host DreamMaster Retreats for second half couples working together on vision and strategic plans for the years after career and family. Curt is a graduate of Dallas Seminary and served with Chuck Swindoll at the church they pastored in Fullerton, CA. The Hamners have three adult children and five grandchildren. They live in the mountains of southern California.
Read MoreJARED C. WILSON is Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Author in Residence at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and the Director of the Pastoral Training Center at Liberty Baptist Church in Kansas City, Missouri. He has authored over twenty books. He and his wife, Becky, has been married twenty-five years and have dedicated this latest season of their lives to the mentoring and discipling of young men and women.
Read MoreMOISHE and CEIL ROSEN are a Jewish couple who have come to know Jesus as their Messiah. Moishe is the founder and director of Jews for Jesus and Ceil is a free-lance writer. Together, Moishe and Ceil have co-authored a number of books, including Y’shua: The Jewish Way to Say Jesus, Christ in the Passover, and Witnessing to Jews. Moishe and Ceil reside in San Francisco, California.
Read MoreSANDY DENGLER is a free-lance writer who has written several articles and over 40 books for children and adults including historical fiction, biographies, and mysteries. Her latest books include The Wicked Step-Twister, The Comatose Cat, and The New Sugar Creek Gang series. She and her husband, William, live in Oklahoma and have two adult children.
Read MoreGLENN C. DAMAN is the author of Leading the Small Church, Shepherding the Small Church, Developing Leaders for the Small Church, When Shepherds Weep and Shepherding the Small Church (ECPA Gold Medallion Finalist). He grew up on a farm in Northern Idaho and attended Big Sky Bible College, Western Seminary, and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Since 1991 Glenn has served as the pastor of River Christian Church in Stevenson, Washington. He has also served small rural churches in Montana and Oregon. He has served as the director of Village Missions' Center for Leadership Development and has been an adjunct professor for a number of Bible colleges and seminaries in the area of small church studies. He has also taught in Russia, the Philippines, Canada, and Mexico. Glenn enjoys photography, woodworking, camping with his family, and spending time on the family farm.
Read MoreDERRICK MOORE is a former NFL athlete who played for the Detroit Lions, Carolina Panthers, and Arizona Cardinals following his successful college football career. Since his retirement from the NFL in 1998 he has been in demand as a motivational speaker for professional teams, civic groups, churches, and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He is on staff with FCA, serving as the chaplain of the football program at Georgia Tech. Derrick is the author of The Great Adventure and the general editor for the Strength and Honor Bible. He and his wife, Stephanie, a Christian fiction novelist, live in greater Atlanta area with their two daughters.
Read MoreJANET PARSHALL is a graduate of Carroll College in Wisconsin. She has been consistently profiled as one of the top 100 "talkers" in Talkers magazine, the leading trade publication of the talk industry. Throughout her career, Janet has been a devoted advocate of the principles and policies that strengthen the family. In February 2005, Parshall was selected by President George W. Bush to represent the White House as public delegate to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Janet is a columnist for LIFE: Beautiful magazine and the author of several books. She and her husband, Craig, live in Virginia, and have four children and six grandchildren.
Read MoreMIKE 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.
Read MoreARTHUR 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.
Read MoreELLA 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.
Read MoreAlbert Benjamin Simpson author, hymn writer, conference speaker, was an evangelist to the urban masses of New York City and a missionary statesman. Among his enduring achievements was the founding of The Christian and Missionary Alliance and what is now Nyack College.
Read MoreDR. FREDERICK HOWARD TAYLOR (1862-1946) was a British missionary to China and the son, James Hudson Taylor, the founder of China Inland Mission. He completed his diploma at the Royal London Hospital in 1888 Howard and his wife, Geraldine, wrote several books about his father’s ministry and their own experiences in China.
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