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JOHN BUNYAN (1628-1688) was a Puritan preacher and writer in England. Bunyan had very little schooling. He followed his father in the tinker's trade, and served in the parliamentary army from 1644 to 1647. In 1655, Bunyan became a deacon and began preaching. He experienced marked success from the start and was the pastor of the Bedford church.Bunyan is the author of The Pilgrim's Progress which he wrote in 1676 while imprisoned for preaching without a license. His numerous other titles include Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners and Holy War.
Read MoreW. PHILLIP KELLER (1920-1997) was born in East Africa and always loved the wildlife and the outdoors. Having spent many years in agriculture research, land management and ranch development in British Columbia, he later pursued careers in conservation, wildlife photography, and journalism. His experiences as a shepherd equipped him with the insights that are the basis for A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23. His other titles include A Layman Looks at the Lord’s Prayer, Splendor from the Sea, Lessons from a Sheepdog, and A Gardener Looks at the Fruits of the Spirit.
Read MoreTRILLIA NEWBELL is the author of several books including 52 Weeks in the Word, A Great Cloud of Witnesses, Sacred Endurance, If God is For Us, Fear and Faith and the children's books, The Big Wide Welcome, Creative God, Colorful Us and God's Very Good Idea. When she isn't writing, she's encouraging and supporting other writers as an Acquisitions Director at Moody Publishers. She is also the host of the 52 Weeks in the Word podcast and the Living By Faith weekly radio program. Trillia is married to her best friend, Thern; they reside with their two children near Nashville, TN.
Read MoreLOUIS MARKOS, is a professor in English and Scholar in Residence at Houston Baptist University and holds the Robert H. Ray Chair in Humanities. Dr. Markos is a respected and widly requested speaker on C. S. Lewis, Tolkien, and Christian worldview as well as the arts, education, the new age, apologetics and, ancient Greece and Rome. He is the author of several books and numerous lectures and articles. Dr. Markos lives in Houston, Texas, with his wife Donna, his son Alex, and his daughter Stacey.
Read MoreDOUGLAS GEHMAN attended Goshen College and Fuller Theological Seminary, and completed Master's and Doctorate degrees in Missions at Liberty Christian University in Pensacola, FL. Since 1994, Doug has served with Globe International, a mission-sending agency based in Pensacola, FL. He became the Director in 2001 and the President in 2004. Doug loves coaching and mentoring emerging leaders, helping them discover their giftings and life direction. Doug and Beth have ministered in neary sixty nations. They have four married children and eleven grandchildren. Doug is the author of three books. The most recent is their family's story, called White Picket Fences. He loves writing, surfing, cycling, walking, and spending time with his family.
Read MoreRAY RHODES, JR. serves as founding pastor of Grace Community Church of Dawsonville, GA and as president of Nourished in the Word Ministries. He has served four congregations over three decades of pastoral ministry and for fifteen years, he has led Nourished in the Word. Ray has published several books and holds theological degrees from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div.) and The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (D.Min.). He is married to Lori and they are blessed with six daughters and four grandchildren. Ray has long been a Spurgeon enthusiast, and his doctoral thesis focused on the marriage and spirituality of Charles and Susannah Spurgeon.
Read MoreNOEL CASTELLANOS has worked in full-time ministry in urban communities since 1982. He has served in youth ministry, church planting, and community development in San Francisco, San Jose, and Chicago. Noel is a highly sought after speaker, motivator, and mentor to young leaders throughout the USA, and has a deep passion to serve and invest in the lives of emerging leaders. After serving on the Board of the Christian Community Development Association for many years, he has established the new CCDA Institute, which is working to equip emerging church leaders in the philosophy of Christian Community Development, and currently serves as the CEO of CCDA. He and his wife, Marianne, have three children, and make their home in the barrio of La Villita in Chicago.
Read MoreABRAHAM KURUVILLA is Professor of Pastoral Ministries at Dallas Theological Seminary. He centers his ministry around the art and science of preaching: exploring preaching through research and scholarship, explaining preaching by training the next generation of church leaders, and exemplifying preaching in regular pulpit engagements in the U.S. and elsewhere. He has served as the interim preacher at churches in Texas, Massachusetts, and as President of the Evangelical Homiletics Society. In addition, he has written several preaching commentaries and he blogs regularly at www.homiletix.com. In his other life, Dr. Kuruvilla is a Diplomat of the American Board of Dermatology, and he maintains an active clinical schedule seeing patients and taking care of their skin, hair, and nails. Single by choice, Abe has a special interest in the theology of Christ-centered singleness and celibacy.
Read MoreHANS FINZEL (D.Miss., Fuller School of World Missions; Th. M., Dallas Theological Seminary) is the president of HDLeaders. He served for 20 years as president of WorldVenture (formerly CBInternational). He and his wife, Donna, spent ten years as missionaries in Eastern Europe, working with WorldVenture to train pastors behind the Iron Curtain. Hans is the author of ten books, including Change is Like a Slinky, Launch Your Encore, The Power of Passion in Leadership, Unlocking the Scriptures, and his bestseller The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make. He co-authored The Top Ten Ways to Love Your Wife with his wife. He is the host of the Leadership Podcast, The Leadership Answer Man and is a widely sought-after speaker as an expert in leadership development, change management and international studies. The Finzels make their home in Highlands Ranch, Colorado and have four children.
Read MoreDANIEL DARLING is an author, pastor, and leader. He was recently appointed as the director of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dan is a bestselling author of several books, including The Original Jesus, The Dignity Revolution, The Characters of Christmas, The Characters of Easter, and A Way With Words. He is the general editor, along with Trillia Newbell, of a small group study on racial reconciliation, The Church and the Racial Divide and is a contributor to The Worldview Study Bible. Dan is an award-winning writer whose work has appeared in numerous publications. He is a columnist for World Magazine, and a regular contributor to USA Today. His work is often featured in Christianity Today and The Gospel Coalition and his op-eds have appeared in The Washington Post, CNN, Washington Times, Time, Huffington Post, National Review, First Things, and other leading outlets. Publisher's Weekly called his writing style "substantive and punchy."Dan speaks and preaches around the country and is regularly interviewed on radio and television, including MSNBC's Morning Joe, CNN, and Fox. He is the host of a popular weekly podcast The Way Home where he interviews Christian leaders, politicians, and journalists. He holds a bachelor's degree in pastoral ministry from Dayspring Bible College, has studied at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and is a graduate of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has served churches in Illinois and Tennessee. He and his wife Angela have four children.
Read MoreBEV HISLOP (D. Min., Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) has recently served as Professor of Pastoral Care for Women and the Executive Director of the Women's Center for Ministry at Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon. She also served on the board of Network of Women in Leadership and was the former host of the weekly radio program Western Connection for Women. Bev has authored Shepherding Women in Pain: Real Women, Real Issues, and What You Need to Know to Truly Help, and Shepherding a Woman's Heart: A New Model for Effective Ministry to Women. She is also a contributing author to Tending the Soul and Women's Ministry Handbook. Bev and her husband, Jim, have two married children and six grandchildren.
Read MoreDAN DEHAAN (1943-1982) was the director and founder of Training Church Leaders, Inc., a division of Ambassadors For Christ, Inc. The author of The God You Can Know, Intercepted By Christ: Biography of Steve Bartkowski, and Principles of Spiritual Growth and Leadership, Dan also served as a conference speaker, and minister of the Word before his accidental death in February, 1982.
Read MoreW. H. GRIFFITH THOMAS (1861-1924), a minister with the Church of England, was one of the founders of Dallas Theological Seminary. Saved at the age of 17, he had an energetic ministry in the Unites States, Canada and in England. Thomas wrote many books, including commentaries on Genesis, Luke, Matthew and Hebrews, as well as Principles of Theology, And God Spake These Words, and How We Got Our Bible.
Read MoreJAMIE ERICKSON can be found encouraging and equipping a growing tribe of mothers all across the globe on the Mom to Mom podcast, through her blog The Unlikely Homeschool, and in her books Holy Hygge and Homeschool Bravely. She’s been married to her college sweetheart for over twenty-two years. Together, they’re raising and launching their five second-generation homeschooled kids along the shores of Lake Superior in Minnesota.
Read MoreVERMON PIERRE (BA, Princeton University; MDiv, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is the lead pastor at Roosevelt Community Church, a diverse multiethnic congregation in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. He is the author of Gospel Shaped Living and a contributor to The New City Catechism Devotional, 15 Things Seminary Couldn't Teach Me, and Revisiting 'Faithful Presence': To Change the World Five Years Later. He and his wife, Dennae, live in downtown Phoenix and have five children.
Read MoreSTEVE DEWITT has served as Senior Pastor of Bethel Church since 1997. Bethel is a nondenominational church located in NW Indiana/Chicagoland and ministers to its community across multiple campuses. Steve is on the council of The Gospel Coalition and is a board member of Global Action. His teaching ministry can be heard on his popular podcast and media ministry The Journey. Steve and his wife, Jennifer, are the proud parents of two daughters.
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