Steve Stroope

STEVE STROOPE (B.A., Hardin Simmons University; M.Div., Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) served as the Lead Pastor for 40 years at Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall, Texas. He is now the Founding Pastor. Church attendance under his leadership grew from 53 at its inception to over 11,000 today. Steve also provides coaching to partnership churches and missionaries in Africa, Australia, New Zealand, China, Cuba, Russia, Mexico, France, South Africa, and North America. He is a sought-after speaker, both nationally and internationally, and is co-author of Money Matters in the Church. He and his wife, Marsha, have two grown daughters and five grandchildren.

Penny Thrasher

PENNY THRASHER- Penny Thrasher was raised in a home given to hospitality and feels privileged to carry on that tradition, especially in hosting large holiday celebrations. She contributed to her husband's book, Believing God for His Best -- How to Marry Contentment and Singleness. Penny is in her 17th year of home schooling and enjoys serving in their church, being part of a prayer group which supports missionaries, and mentoring younger women. Bill and Penny have three sons, Will, Michael, and David.

Harry Verploegh

John Van Sloten

JOHN VAN SLOTEN is a Calgary-based writer, teacher, and pastor who is passionate about helping people engage God everywhere. Over the past ten years he has preached dozens of creation/bible-based sermons on topics like radiation therapy, DNA repair mechanisms, river hydrology, chemical catalysts, tree branches, human knees, and the Giant Squid. John is a regular columnist with the Calgary Herald and his books include The Day Metallica Came to Church and Every Job a Parable. Over the past ten years, he has been awarded three John Templeton Foundation subgrants for preaching science, has been part of an Ambrose Seminary Science for Seminaries, and has been a Sinai and Synapses fellow. www.johnvansloten.com

Donald S. Whitney

DON WHITNEY (Arkansas State University; Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is the founder and president of The Center for Biblical Spirituality and is Associate Professor and Dean of Biblical Spirituality at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Don is the author of Spiritual Disciplines within the Church, How Can I Be Sure I'm A Christian, and Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. Don and his wife, Caffy, have one daughter and live near Louisville, Kentucky.

G Christian Weiss

H. Norman Wright

H. NORMAN WRIGHT (M.R.E., Fuller Theological Seminary; M.A., Pepperdine University; 1937-2023) was a Research Professor of Christian Education at Talbot School of Theology and a licensed Marriage, Family, and Child Therapist. He taught on the graduate school level for more than twenty-five years and was the founder and director of Christian Marriage Enrichment in Tustin, California. Dr. Wright was the author of more than seventy books, including The Premarital Counseling Handbook, Pressure Points, Communication: Key to Your Marriage, and the best-selling Always Daddy's Girl. Dr. Wright was married to his wife of 49 years and lived in Bakersfield, CA.

Neighbor

06.01.2022

Leah Boden

LEAH BODEN is wife to Dave and mother to four children. With over two decades of experience in church leadership, she has also devoted herself to youth, children's, and family work within the church and for the local education authority. Leah is a respected speaker, podcast host, and coach who passionately shares the transformative beauty of the Charlotte Mason approach to childhood, motherhood, and education. She is the author of Modern Miss Mason and lives with her family in the West Midlands, England.

Linda Barrick

LINDA BARRICK is a wife, mother, author, Bible teacher, and founder of Hope Out Loud Ministries. Her daily radio feature, Hope Out Loud, is heard on 733 stations in the US, Canada, and overseas. A graduate of Liberty University, Linda is a dynamic speaker who has conducted a weekly Bible study for 500 women at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA, for the past ten years. Linda and her daughter Jen Barrick, travel across the country sharing their miraculous story of faith, hope and forgiveness. Jen suffered a traumatic brain injury over a decade ago when her family's van was struck head-on by a drunk driver going 80 miles per hour. Though Jen still suffers from vision impairment and memory loss, she knows there is no limit to what God can accomplish through her life. Connect with Linda and Jen at hopeoutloud.com.

Nell Branum

NELL BRANUM is a former editor and elementary school librarian who is the daughter of both a World War II paratrooper and a Rosie the Riveter and believes God still uses lessons from history. She was married for 43 amazing years to her minister husband, and now she writes from a small town near Birmingham, Alabama, where she keeps chickens in the backyard, likes to go on adventures with her grown kids and their families (including nine grandkids), and enjoys watching sunsets on her front porch while drinking blueberry-flavored coffee.

Syd Brestel

SYD BRESTEL (B.A. Moody Bible Institute; M.A., Western Seminary) is a retired pastor who served a number of congregations for nearly fifty years. He has taught biblical classes at Kilns College in Bend, OR and is passionate about creating opportunities for lay people to receive biblical and theological training. He has ministered in several countries including India, Pakistan, UAE, Uganda, and Ireland. God has given him a passion to proclaim and defend both His grace and His holiness and wrath.

Brittany Cragg

BRITTANY CRAGG has been editing and authoring marriage curriculum as the Director of Content for Grace Marriage since 2015. She has a degree in English Literature from Wheaton College and a law degree from Emory University, where she won the Golden Pen Award for excellence in legal editing. She has worked as an editor at Christianity Today in the preaching resources department and for investment firms in Chicago and Dallas. Brittany and her husband, Mark, have been married for over eleven years and live with their three children in Prosper, Texas.

Aaron Damiani

AARON DAMIANI (MA, Biblical Exegesis) serves as the lead pastor of Immanuel Anglican Church in Chicago and is the author of The Good of Giving Up: Discovering the Freedom of Lent and Earth Filled with Heaven: Finding Life in Liturgy, Sacraments and other Ancient Practices of the Church. Aaron writes and speaks regularly about spiritual formation, leadership, and recovering the gifts of the ancient church for today's challenges. Aaron and his wife Laura live with their four kids in Chicago's Irving Park neighborhood.

C Fred Dickason

C. FRED DICKASON JR., (Th.D., Dallas Theological Seminary; B.S., Iowa State College) served on the faculty of the Moody Bible Institute for thirty-four years. He was professor and chairman of the theology department until his retirement in 1995. An author and lecturer on angelology and the spirit world, he counsels many who have been involved in the occult. Dr. Dickason is the author of Names of Angels, Demon Possession and the Christian, Angels: Elect and Evil, The Spirit of Grace, Angels: Studies in the Biblical Doctrine of Angels, and From Bondage To Freedom Studies in the Epistle to the Galatians. Dr. Dickason resides in Carol Stream, Illinois.

Claire Diaz-Ortiz

Claire Diaz-Ortiz (@claire) is an author, speaker and Silicon Valley innovator who was an early employee at Twitter. Named one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company, she holds an MBA and other degrees from Stanford and Oxford and has been featured widely in print and broadcast media. She writes a popular business blog at ClaireDiazOrtiz.com and is the author of the new book Hope Runs: An American Tourist, a Kenyan Boy, a Journey of Redemption. For more information, visit clairediazortiz.com.