Mark Sayers

MARK SAYERS is a cultural communicator, writer, and speaker. He is passionate about spiritual renewal and the future of the church. Mark is the author of a number of books, including Disappearing Church, Facing Leviathan, and Reappearing Church. He is the senior leader of Red Church in Melbourne, Australia, and is one of the hosts of the Rebuilders podcast. Mark lives in Melbourne, Australia, with his wife, Trudi, his daughter, Grace, and twin boys, Hudson and Billy.

Kitti Murray

Kyle Tennant

KYLE TENNANT is the Director of Student Ministries at the Village Church of Bartlett in Bartlett, IL. He is a graduate of the Moody Bible Institute and is currently pursuing an M.A. in Christian Formation and Ministry from Wheaton Graduate School. Kyle lives in Chicago's west suburbs, and enjoys reading, writing, preaching, eating, cooking, and good conversation.

Jonathan Pearson

JONATHAN PEARSON is the Orangeburg Campus Pastor at Cornerstone Community Church and Assistant Director of The Sticks, an organization that empowers small town leaders. Jonathan is also co-host of the Next Up Podcast and author of Next Up: 8 Shifts Great Young Leaders Make and The Productive Pastor Handbook. He is married to Melissa and has a son named Riley. They live in Orangeburg, S.C. Find Jonathan online at www.JonathanPearson.net.

D.A. Horton

D.A. HORTON currently serves on staff at Summit Church in Durham, NC while he and his family are preparing to plant a church in Los Angeles. Prior to his current role he served as an urban church planter, pastor, and Lead Teaching Elder in Kansas City, MO for nearly six years; a National Coordinator of Urban Student Ministries and the Urban Initiatives Team at the North American Mission Board (NAMB); and the Executive Director at ReachLife Ministries, the non-profit arm of Reach Records. D.A. is currently working on his Ph.D. at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Applied Theology with a North American emphasis. With a heart to provide local churches with quality Bible-centered tools and resources for evangelism and discipleship, D.A. wrote two books: G.O.S.P.E.L. and DNA: Foundations of the Faith both published by Moody Publishers. His third book, Bound to Be Free: Escaping Performance to be Captured by Grace will be released through NavPress in spring 2016. He and his wife Elicia have two daughters, Izabelle and Lola and one son, D.A. Jr. (aka Duce).

Sarah Cunningham

SARAH CUNNINGHAM is an idea junkie who blogs about extraordinary friendships in a sometimes too ordinary world. She and her husband, Chuck, live in southern Michigan, where they serve as chief servants to the Emperor Justus, her 3 year old son and his newly-appointed chief of staff, the 5-month old, Malachi. She has authored three other books, does freelance event and communications work and attends a Wesleyan church plant that meets at her city's YMCA.

James L. Nicodem

JIM NICODEM has been the senior pastor of Christ Community Church since its start in 1984. Beginning with a group of six families, the church has grown to over five thousand weekend attendees at four campuses. A significant focus on reaching spiritual explorers has resulted in scores of new believers being baptized each year.Born and raised in the Midwest, Jim received his BA in Biblical Studies from Wheaton College, and his MDiv and DMin from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. In keeping with Christ Community Church’s mission to "make passionate disciples of Jesus Christ", Jim loves to mentor others in prayer and the study of God’s Word. With that goal in mind, he has authored Prayer Coach: For All Who Want to Get Off the Bench and Onto the Praying Field (2008) and the four-book Bible Savvy series (2013).Jim and his wife, Sue, have been married for more than thirty years. They have three adult children, and are the proud grandparents of four grandchildren. Jim enjoys biking, hiking and kayaking for recreation. He loves to hang out in Chicago, where he can watch the Cubs play (no better park than Wrigley) or listen to the world-class Symphony Orchestra.

Joy McClain

JOY MCCLAIN Through song writing, publishing (over 150 short stories, Bible studies and articles), teaching, counseling and public speaking Joy passionately helps women understand their redemptive position in Christ. Joy has a unique call, marrying what women desire to express to words that give them a voice in which to do so. Married for 26 years, 20 of which involved a battle against her husband Mark's alcoholism, she and Mark have four children and live in Greenwood, Indiana. To learn more, visit joy-apassionatepursuit.blogspot.com.

Joseph E. Gorra

JOSEPH E. GORRA is engaged in content development and research, editing, and publicity for Biola University’s graduate program in Christian apologetics, the Evangelical Philosophical Society, and is a tutor for Vineyard Bible Institute. He is also the founder and director of Veritas Life Center, a religious nonprofit devoted to translating and transmitting the Christian tradition as a knowledge and wisdom tradition for flourishing well (www.VeritasLifeCenter.org). Twitter: @GorraResearch.

Scott McClellan

SCOTT MCCLELLAN is the Communications Pastor at Irving Bible Church and an active voice in the conversation about church communication, creativity, and technology. Scott lives with his wife and two young daughters in the Dallas area where they are involved with Tapestry, a ministry to adoptive and foster families.

Christine Hoover

CHRISTINE HOOVER is a pastor's wife, mom, speaker, and the author of The Church Planting Wife (Moody, 2013) and From Good to Grace (Baker, 2015). She has written for The Gospel Coalition, Desiring God, and Christianity Today. She enjoys encouraging ministry wives and helping women apply the gift of God's grace to their daily lives. She lives in Virginia. For more information, visit christinehoover.net.

Vicki Rose

VICKI ROSE is a strong Bible teacher with a relevant, life-changing message. She was born and raised in New York City and upon graduating from Sarah Lawrence College in 1975, Vicki began her retail career at Saks Fifth Ave and went on to marry Bill Rose in 1977.After almost 10 years of marriage, Vicki found herself the single mother of a 1 ½ and 4 year old, separated from her husband who was addicted to cocaine, woman and work. 1 ½ years later, Vicki accepted Christ through an outreach dinner at age 35 and became a passionate follower of Jesus Christ with a deep hunger for His word. As Vicki began to pray for her husband to also know Christ, her heart toward him changed and they were reconciled after he accepted Christ, entered rehab and they spent time in counseling. They had been separated for 5 ½ years. Both Vicki and Bill are Jewish believers though neither was raised in a religious Jewish home. Vicki has taught, facilitated and led many Bible Studies for women in her church as well as acted as Prayer Coordinator for the Women’s Ministry and has taught and shared her testimony all across the U.S. as well as in Nicaragua, Poland, Russia, Bulgaria and Italy.

Mary Frances Bowley

MARY FRANCES BOWLEY is the Founder of Wellspring Living, an organization fighting childhood sexual abuse and exploitation since 2001. She has been a leader in bringing the fight against child sex-trafficking to Atlanta and is a founding member of the Georgia Statewide Human Trafficking Task Force. Mary Frances is the author of The White Umbrella and A League of Dangerous Women. She resides in Peachtree City with her husband, Dick.

Edwin Blum

DR. EDWIN A. BLUM (D. Theol, University of Basel; ThD, Dallas Theological Seminary) for many years was Professor of Theology and New Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary. He served as Senior Pastor of several churches in Houston and Dallas, TX and was the Executive Director of the Christian Medical Society. The author of several commentaries and multiple articles, Ed also was the General Editor of the Holman Christian Standard Bible translation and the General Editor of the CSB Study Bible. Ed and his wife Ann live in Prescott, AZ and are the parents of five adult children.

Richard Hunt Jr.

RICHIE HUNT is the Director of Children and Youth Ministries at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Georgia. He co-authored Big Truths for Little Kids, My ABC BIble Verses, and My ABC Bible Verses from Psalms. Richie is married and the father of three children.

Matt Appling

MATT APPLING teaches Pre-Kindergarten through sixth grade art, as well as high school art history. He has taught and ministered in a variety of school and church settings. He has also been a popular blogger for four years, as the author of www.thechurchofnopeople.com, and as a featured contributor to many other online publications. Matt lives with his wife, Cheri in Kansas City, Missouri.