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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.
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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.
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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.
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FRANCENA H. ARNOLD was a schoolteacher, talented storyteller, mother of four children, and author of ten novels. Her first, Not My Will, was originally written "just for the eyes of the family" and has since sold more than 500,000 copies. Her other novels include Then Am I Strong, Three Shall Be One, Brother Beloved, Straight Down Crook Lane, The Road Winds On, Fruit for Tomorrow, and Light in My Window. Raised in rural Illinois, Francena lived with her husband, Frank, in the Chicago area.
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GLADYS AYLWARD (1902-1970) served as a missionary to China for many years. She partnered with an older missionary to run an inn where they entertained guests with Bible stories. Gladys also began an orphanage that cared for hundreds of children. While in England on furlough, she frequently stayed at the home of Christine Hunter, who wrote down the stories Gladys told. Her life was also told in a 1958 Hollywood film, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, a somewhat fictional account that Gladys disliked. She viewed her book with Christine Hunter as the authorized account of her life.
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HANNAH R. ANDERSON lives in the haunting Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. She spends her days working beside her husband in rural ministry, caring for their three children, and scratching out odd moments to write. In those in-between moments, she contributes to a variety of Christian publications and is the author of Made for More (Moody, 2014), Humble Roots (Moody, 2016), and All That's Good (Moody, 2018). You can connect with her at her blog www.sometimesalight.com and on Twitter @sometimesalight.
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FAITH COXE BAILEY (1924–1972) was a writer and pastor’s wife who lived in Syracuse, New York. Born in Hackensack, New Jersey, she graduated from the Simmons College school of publications in Boston, studied writing at Boston University, and took courses at Andover Newton Seminary. During her long writing career she worked as a commercial copywriter, wrote for many magazines, and developed Sunday school curriculum. She also wrote for Moody Radio’s Stories of Great Christians and Moody Monthly magazine. She died of ovarian cancer at 48.
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MARK I. BUBECK is the founder of ICBC, Inc., now Deeper Walk International. He is a graduate of Moody Bible Institute and Denver Seminary, and earned his D.Min. degree from Talbot Theological Seminary. Serving as a pastor for more than 40 years Bubeck is the author of The Adversary, Warfare Praying: Biblical Strategies for Overcoming the Adversary, Fire From Heaven, and many other resources on prayer and our victory in Christ. Known as a prayer warrior with a shepherd's heart, Mark Bubeck passed away in 2017.
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CHARLES CAUSEY is a recipient of the Bronze Star for his military service in Iraq. He is the author of several books including Words and Deeds and Unbreakable: Forging a Marriage of Contentment and Delight. Married with four children, Charles graduated from the University of Colorado and holds several advanced degrees. He formerly served at the Pentagon as a senior army chaplain for the chief of chaplains in Washington, D.C., and is currently serving as a command chaplain in Honolulu, Hawaii. His website is www.causeybooks.com.
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GILBERT KEITH CHESTERTON (1874-1936) is the author of 100 books, including Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man, which led young atheist C.S. Lewis to become a Christian. He is probably best known for his series about the priest-detective Father Brown and was also known as a poet and a playwright. In spite of his literary accomplishments, he primarily considered himself a journalist, writing over 4,000 newspaper essays for papers such as Illustrated London News and Daily News, as well as his own G. K.’s Weekly.
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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.
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ANTHONY DELANEY served as a police officer in inner city Manchester, England, for ten years before going into church leadership. He now leads Ivy Church, a multiplying movement that meets at various sites and lectures on church planting and leadership. He founded LAUNCH: Church Multiplication Catalyst, a global community drawing together hundreds of church and network leaders to be inspired and commissioned to multiply disciples, leaders, churches, and movements. Anthony's books include The Man You Were Made To Be, also published by Moody. He has been married to Zoe for 36 years and they have three adult children and six grandchildren.
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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.
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BILL DILLON serves as founder and President of People Raising which focuses on providing fundraising training for missionaries, church planters and Christian organizations. He also is the founder and Executive Director of Inner City Impact in Chicago. Bill's family has served Chicago's Inner City since 1918 and he is third generation inner city minister. In 2005 he was honored by Moody Bible Institute as Alumnus of the Year. He is married, has three grown children and seven grandchildren. He resides in Des Plaines, Illinois.
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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.
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