Richard Ellsworth Day

RICHARD ELLSWORTH DAY was born in the United States in 1884. In his early life he was an apprentice at the Terre Haute Gazette in Indiana serving as an associate reporter. His first book was a biography on the famous preacher Charles Spurgeon entitled The Shadow of the Broad Brim, which he published with Judson Press in 1934. The book was an immediate success which led to subsequent biographies on Charles Grandison Finney (1942), D.L. Moody (1944), and Henry Parsons Crowell (1946). Richard Day and his wife Deborah would begin each project with extensive research and study and then retreat to their little cottage in Sunnyvale, California to write. In his day he was a noted Christian biographer, and between projects, traveled around speaking in churches and schools until his death in 1965.

Moody Publishers

Lee Eclov

LEE ECLOV is Senior Pastor of the Village Church of Lincolnshire (Evangelical Free) in the northern suburbs of Chicago where he has served since 1998. Previously, he served for 14 years as senior pastor of Chippewa Evangelical Free Church, Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, and for five years as an Assistant Pastor at North Suburban Evangelical Free Church, Deerfield, Illinois. His columns on preaching and his sermons appear regularly at www.PreachingToday.com and he is a Contributing Editor of Leadership Journal. He has been an adjunct professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School for over ten years, currently teaching pastoral counseling. Lee is a native of South Dakota and the product of a rural church. He and his wife Susan have been married for nearly 40 years and have one son, Anders.

Lincoln Brunner

LINCOLN BRUNNER has been a journalist for 22 years. After cutting his teeth as a sportswriter and general assignment reporter in central Wisconsin in the early 90s, he went on to edit a small daily paper in Illinois. He then served as an editor for several trade magazines. In 2004, he felt a strong call to do full-time reporting about Christian missions work and went on to report on missionaries around the world for two different missions organizations. These days, he works as managing editor for a Bible translation organization. Lincoln and his wonderful wife, Ann, have three daughters and live in Texas.

Lois Walfrid Johnson

LOIS WALFRID JOHNSON is a speaker, teacher of writing, and former instructor for Writer's Digest School. She is the author of 38 books, including Girl Talk, the Gold Medallion Book Award winning Let's-Talk-About-It Stories for Kids series, the bestselling Adventures of the Northwoods mysteries, and the much-loved Riverboat Adventures. In her exciting Viking Quest series Lois' characters travel from Ireland to Norway, Iceland, and Greenland, then sail with Leif Erickson to what is now America. Lois' husband, Roy, is a gifted teacher and idea person for her writing. They enjoy time with their family, friends, and readers who have written from more than 40 countries to say, "I love your books. I can't put them down."

Andrew Murray

ANDREW MURRAY (1828-1917) was a church leader, evangelist, and missionary statesman. As a young man, Murray wanted to be a minister, but it was a career choice rather than an act of faith. Not until he had finished his general studies and begun his theological training in the Netherlands, did he experience a conversion of heart. Sixty years of ministry in the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa, more than 200 books and tracts on Christian spirituality and ministry, extensive social work, and the founding of educational institutions were some of the outward signs of the inward grace that Murray experienced by continually casting himself on Christ. A few of his books include The True Vine, Absolute Surrender, The School of Obedience, Waiting on God, and The Prayer Life.

Susie Larson

SUSIE LARSON is a national speaker, bestselling author, and the host of the daily talk show, Susie Larson Live heard on the Faith Radio Network. Susie has written 17 books and many articles. She's been a guest on Focus on the Family, The Life Today Show, Family Life Today, and other media outlets. Voted twice as a top-ten finalist for the John C. Maxwell Transformational Leadership Award, she is also a veteran of the fitness field. Susie has been married to her dear husband Kevin since 1985 and together they have three sons, three daughters-in-law, two beautiful grandchildren, and one adorable pit bull named Memphis. Susie's passion is to see people everywhere awakened to the value of their soul, the depth of God's love, and the height of their calling in Christ Jesus.

John C. Whitcomb

JOHN C. WHITCOMB (A.B., Princeton University; B.D., Th.M., Th.D., Grace Theological Seminary) is a former President of the Board of Spanish World Gospel Missions Inc and also served as Professor of Theology and Old Testament at Grace Theological Seminary Winona Lake, Indiana for 49 years. He has lectured around the world and is the author of Daniel and Esther from the Everyday Bible Commentary series, among other titles.

John Townsend

DR. JOHN TOWNSEND is a psychologist, relational expert, business consultant, and leadership coach. He has written or co-written over 20 books, selling 5 million copies, including the 2 million best-seller Boundaries; Leadership Beyond Reason; and Handling Difficult People.For more than twenty years Dr. Townsend has engaged with audiences, organizations and leaders around the world, providing practical solutions to their problems. He is a co-host of the nationally-syndicated talk show New Life Live John is a visiting professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, and is Clinical Director of the American Association of Christian Counselors. He is active on the Board of Directors of Mustard Seed Ranch www.mustardseedranchtn.org, a residential program for abused children. He, his wife, and their children reside in Newport Beach, CA. John’s passion is playing in a band which performs at southern California lounges and venues.

Harry Schaumburg

HARRY W. SCHAUMBURG, MA, MS, DMin, LMFT, speaker, author and counselor, is the founder and Executive Director of Stone Gate Resources, Inc., a ministry that has addressed the problems of sexual sin within the church for more than eighteen years. Offering real change, his pioneering Brief Intensive CounselingSM program has drawn over two thousand five hundred laity and clergy from the U.S. and eighteen foreign countries. For nearly thirty years, Dr. Schaumburg has been involved in pointing people away from sexual sin to restored intimacy with God and others. He is the author of False Intimacy: Understanding the Struggle of Sexual Addiction, the first book on the subject from a biblical perspective, and Sexual Redemption. Married forty years to his wife Rosemary, they have two adult sons.

Renaut van der Riet

RENAUT VAN DER RIET loves to go zip-lining with his eight kids through the adventure course they built together. He walks quickly. He talks with his hands and arms. And if you find him at home, you're likely to see him tilling soil because Brooke, his wife of 25 years, loves gardening. In 2002, Renault founded Mosaic Church in Winter Garden, FL. It has become a nationwide pacemaker for fostering and adoption and a model for trauma care. He is also the founder of Axum Coffee Company, named after the Ethiopian city from which he and Brooke adopted four of their children. Renault is developing The ReStory, a project aimed at providing Gospel clarity to followers of Christ and inviting them to consider how their lives might be different if they dared to believe Galatians 5:1: "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free."

Hans Finzel

HANS 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.