This site uses cookies to provide you with more responsive and personalized service and to collect certain information about your use of the site. You can change your cookie settings through your browser. If you continue without changing your settings, you agree to our use of cookies. See our Privacy Policy for more information.
CURT HAMNER is a pastor and cofounder along with his wife, Rhonda of Between Two Trees (betweentwotrees.org), a marriage ministry designed to resource couples and communities with tools to pursue God's design for marriage. Curt is also the founder of Bed and Breakfast with Purpose Retreats, and is a mentor with The Master's Program (a three-year marketplace leadership coaching ministry). Together Curt and Rhonda speak throughout the US and around the world helping couples enrich their marriages. They host DreamMaster Retreats for second half couples working together on vision and strategic plans for the years after career and family. Curt is a graduate of Dallas Seminary and served with Chuck Swindoll at the church they pastored in Fullerton, CA. The Hamners have three adult children and five grandchildren. They live in the mountains of southern California.
Read MoreLOIS 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."
Read MoreSTEPHAN BAUMAN is the President and CEO of World Relief, an international relief and development organization partnering with the global Church to serve more than five million vulnerable people each year. World Relief is also the founder and convener of The Justice Conference. Stephan's pursuit of justice led him to transition from a successful career in the Fortune 100 sector to Africa where he directed relief and development programs for nearly a decade before returning to the United States to lead World Relief's global operations. He holds degrees from Johns Hopkins University, Wheaton College, and the University of Wisconsin. He is a poet, an author, an ordained minister and a strategist. He considers his African friends his most important teachers, and his wife, Belinda, his most important mentor. Stephan, Belinda, and their two sons, Joshua and Caleb, live near Washington, D.C.
Read MoreLAURA DINGMAN spends most of her time creating and leading worship experiences that help connect people with the story of God. She has served in vocational ministry as the Creative Arts Director at The Creek, a large church in Indianapolis, for over a decade. She loves to show people where their story intersects with God's story. She enjoys belting Broadway, laughing hysterically, reading great books, and living life with her favorite two people in the whole world, her husband, Matt, and her spunky daughter, Abigail. She is the author of Life Rhythms: Learning to Live in God-Centered Time and I Am Found: Quitting the Game of Hide and Seek with God, Ourselves, and Others. You can learn more about her journey and connect with her at www.lauradingman.com.
Read MoreROBERT WOLGEMUTH grew up in a Swiss-German home where truth-telling was a big deal. Even exaggerations were verboten. Writing a book denouncing lies spoken and believed makes perfect sense. He is the bestselling author of over twenty books, including She Calls Me Daddy, The Most Important Place on Earth, Like the Shepherd, Gun Lap, Finish Line, and You Can Trust God to Write Your Story, cowritten with his wife, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, founder of Revive Our Hearts. Robert is the General Editor of the Men’s Daily Bible. He is a 1969 graduate of Taylor University, where he received an honorary doctorate in May 2005. Dr. Wolgemuth has two grown daughters, two sons-in-law, one grandson-in-law, five grandchildren, and two great grandchildren named Ezra and Ruby. Robert is a dogguy, but doesn’t currently own one.
Read MoreTIM DOWNS is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Indiana University in Graphic Design. After graduation in 1976 he created a comic strip, Downstown, which was syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate. His cartooning has appeared in more than a hundred newspapers worldwide. In 1979 he joined the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ, where he founded and directed the Communication Center, a communication training facility. He continues to serve as a speaker and writer. He and his wife, Joy, have spoken at FamilyLife Marriage and Parenting Conferences since 1985. He is author of First the Dead, Less Than Dead, Chop Shop, Head Game, Plague Maker, Shoo Fly Pie, and Finding Common Ground, which was awarded the Gold Medallion Award in 2000. He is also co-author of Fight Fair and The Seven Conflicts: Resolving the Most Common Disagreements in Marriage along with his wife Joy. Tim lives in Cary, North Carolina, with his wife and three children.
Read MoreMARK JONES (PhD, Leiden Universiteit) is the Senior Minister at Faith Vancouver Presbyterian Church (PCA). He is the author and editor of many books and speaks all over the world on topics related to the Christian life.
Read MoreRENAUT 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."
Read MoreBECKY WILSON has nearly twenty years experience in Christian publishing, having served in the retail division of Lifeway Christian Resources. She has served many years as a pastor's wife and is currently a homemaker.
Read MoreD. J. MAROTTA is a priest in the Anglican Church in North America and the founding Rector of Redeemer Anglican Church in Richmond, Virginia. His wife is gracious and his children are clever.
Read MoreJOHN GILLIES was a missionary in Brazil, concert soloist, actor, and freelance writer. He wrote numerous articles, books—including Martyrs of Guanabara—and award–winning scripts for films, filmstrips, and television.
Read MorePATRICIA ST. JOHN (1919-1993) was a nurse, missionary and author. She earned a nursing degree at St. Thomas' Hospital in London in 1946. In the early 1950s she moved to Tangier, Morocco where she served as a missionary nurse for 27 years. Throughout her life, she travelled extensively in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, as the settings of her novels reflect. In 1977, she returned to England, where she cared for elderly relatives and ministered from her home to youths, single parents, and the elderly. Patricia authored numerous books, including Treasures of the Snow, The Tanglewoods' Secret, The Secret at Pheasant Cottage, and Star of Light.
Read MoreDERRICK MOORE is a former NFL athlete who played for the Detroit Lions, Carolina Panthers, and Arizona Cardinals following his successful college football career. Since his retirement from the NFL in 1998 he has been in demand as a motivational speaker for professional teams, civic groups, churches, and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He is on staff with FCA, serving as the chaplain of the football program at Georgia Tech. Derrick is the author of The Great Adventure and the general editor for the Strength and Honor Bible. He and his wife, Stephanie, a Christian fiction novelist, live in greater Atlanta area with their two daughters.
Read MoreDR. GEORGE SWEETING (1924-2024) was the former president and chancellor of the Moody Bible Institute (1971-1999). As a world-renowned evangelist, pastor, teacher, and writer, few were better equipped to explain how to grow in your salvation. How to Begin the Christian Life is a modern classic with more than a million copies in print in English and other languages.
Read MoreJOY DOWNS is a 1979 graduate of Indiana University in Journalism. After graduation, she joined the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ where she served as a radio writer and producer and helped direct the Communication Center, a communication training facility of Campus Crusade. Joy and her husband, Tim, have spoken at FamilyLife Marriage and Parenting Conferences. Together they have co-authored two books entitled The Seven Conflicts: Resolving the Most Common Disagreements in Marriage and Fight Fair!: Winning at Conflict without Losing at Love. Joy lives in Cary, North Carolina, with her husband and three children.
Read More