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AARON MENIKOFF is the Senior Pastor of Mount Vernon Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA. Before entering pastoral ministry, he served as a legislative assistant for the late United States Senator Mark O. Hatfield. He earned an M.Div. and a Ph.D. at Southern Seminary where he studied Christian social engagement during the Second Great Awakening. He is the author of Politics and Piety: Baptist Social Reform in America, 1770-1860 (Pickwick, 2014). Aaron has a heart for encouraging pastors. He organizes a yearly conference called Feed My Sheep, leads a monthly pastors fellowship in his area, and is Visiting Lecturer in Church History at Reformed Theological Seminary in Atlanta. He is married to Deana and is the father of Rachel, Jonah, Natalie, and Tori.
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DAVID & BARBARA LEEMAN have been professional musicians for over fifty years—David was music director for churches in California, Oregon, Illinois, and Texas.; Barbara was a music educator in her private studio and a private Christian school. They are both graduates of Biola University School of Music. Together they have written Hosanna in Excelsis and Our Hymns, Our Heritage, a student hymnal that is widely used in churches, Christian schools, and homes. They are now retired and living in Greenville, South Carolina. They have four grown children and twelve 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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DAVID & BARBARA LEEMAN have been professional musicians for over fifty years—David was music director for churches in California, Oregon, Illinois, and Texas.; Barbara was a music educator in her private studio and a private Christian school. They are both graduates of Biola University School of Music. Together they have written Hosanna in Excelsis and Our Hymns, Our Heritage, a student hymnal that is widely used in churches, Christian schools, and homes. They are now retired and living in Greenville, South Carolina. They have four grown children and twelve grandchildren.
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RICK LAWRENCE is Executive Director of Vibrant Faith, a ministry resourcing, training, coaching, and research organization. He’s an award-winning author, journalist, cultural researcher, editor, and national speaker. For many years he led Group Publishing’s Youth Ministry Resourcing Team, and helped launch its “Jesus-Centered” line of adult resources. He also leads a “home church” for young people: Pursuing the Heart of Jesus, Not His Recipes. He’s the general editor of the bestselling Jesus-Centered Bible, and author of many books, including The Suicide Solution, Jesus-Centered Daily, and The Jesus-Centered Life. He’s host of the popular podcast Paying Ridiculous Attention to Jesus. He’s married to Beverly Rose and has two young-adult daughters, Lucy and Emma.
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Dr. Gary Keisling is the senior pastor of The Alliance Church in Bryan, Ohio. He has served in pastoral ministry with The Christian and Missionary Alliance for more than 25 years. He is also a professor with Crown College on-line. He and his wife Susan have been married for more than 35 years and have two grown children.
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DM FREED, M.Ed. is a former elementary teacher and has been employed for the last 18 years as a school counselor with Central Valley School District. He holds an Elementary Education Degree from Boise State University and two Masters Degrees in education from Whitworth University. His school and district have been recognized with numerous awards by Washington State for “Outstanding Educational Excellence”. D.M. believes that a student’s academic success hinges on the positive relationships they build with other students, their family and school faculty. When he’s not working, he enjoys spending time with his family at the lake and playing golf.
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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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JOHN SMED is the founding director of Prayer Current, an organization that helps leaders make multiplying disciples through prayer and evangelism. Since 2000 John and his team have developed prayer training materials and conferences for church planters, pastors, and network teams in North America, Cuba, India, China, and Russia. His book 7 Days of Prayer with Jesus has been translated into ten languages. His conviction for prayer was born out of thirty years of experience in church planting and urban mission.John and his wife Caron have 5 children, 11 grandchildren, and live in Lake Country, British Columbia, Canada.
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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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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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A former English teacher, AMBER LIA has authored multiple bestselling books, including Food Triggers and Parenting Scripts. In her popular book, Triggers: Exchanging Parents’ Angry Reactions for Gentle Biblical Responses, Amber and coauthor Wendy Speake guide parents toward peaceful parenting. She and her husband own a production company in Chattanooga, TN, and are parents to four boys ages 8 to 18. A certified independent health coach, Amber helps clients looking to live life to the full! When she's not searching for Nerf darts around her house, you can find Amber writing to encourage families on her website at AmberLia.com.
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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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KEN R. CANFIELD, Ph.D. (B.A., Friends University; M.C.S., University of British Columbia; Ph.D., Kansas State University) is founder of the National Center for Fathering, and served as NCF's president and CEO from 1990 through 2005. In January 2008, he accepted an appointment as Executive Director of the Boone Center for the Family at Pepperdine University. He is the author of The Heart of a Father and numerous other books including the award-winning 7 Secrets of Effective Fathers. Ken and his wife, Dee, have been married over 30 years and have five children and three grandchildren.
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MARK H. SENTER III contributed to or edited three generations of Moody Press youth ministry text books, the most recent of which is the Gold Medallion Book Award winning, Reaching a Generation for Christ, co-edited with Richard R. Dunn. He has authored five other books. Recognized as the leading historian of Protestant youth ministry in America, Senter was honored by the Association of Youth Ministry Educators with the Distinguished Youth Ministry Educator Award in 2011. A graduate of Moody Bible Institute who earned his PhD at Loyola University, Chicago, Senter is Professor Emeritus at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois.
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DR. CHARLIE DYER served for thirty-three years on the faculty and in the administration of three different institutions, including twenty years at Dallas Theological Seminary and ten years as Provost of the Moody Bible Institute. In 2010, Charlie became Professor-at-Large of Bible for Moody Bible Institute and host of The Land and the Book radio program, which is heard on more than 350 stations across the United States. For much of his time in ministry, Charlie has taken groups to Israel and the other lands of the Bible. In addition to his speaking, teaching, and guiding, Charlie has authored or coauthored numerous books, including The Rise of Babylon, What’s Next?, The Christian Traveler’s Guide to the Holy Land, 30 Days in the Land with Jesus, 30 Days in the Land of the Psalms, A Voice in the Wilderness, The ISIS Crisis, and Clash of Kingdoms. He also contributed to The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Nelson’s Old Testament Survey, and The Moody Bible Commentary.
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