History

08.25.2015

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.

Kathy Koch, PhD

DR. KATHY KOCH ("cook"), is the founder of Celebrate Kids, Inc., based in Fort Worth, Texas, and Ignite the Family, their conference ministry. She has influenced thousands of parents, teachers, and children in thirty countries through keynote messages, seminars, chapels, banquet talks, and other events. She is a regular speaker for Care Net, Summit Ministries, the Colson Center, and Teach Them Diligently. She is also a popular guest on Focus on the Family radio, she was featured in Kirk Cameron's movie, Connect, and she has published five books with Moody Publishers.

Vickie Kraft

VICKIE KRAFT (M.A., Dallas Theological Seminary) served as Minister to Women at Northwest Bible Church in Dallas for over 13 years. She is also co-founder of Titus 2:4 Ministries Inc., a ministry established to encourage and equip women to mentor and disciple the generation following them, and to help local churches start effective, relevant women's ministries. She travels to speak nationally and internationally and is the author of Women Mentoring Women: Ways to Start, Maintain and Expand a Biblical Women's Ministry, The Influential Woman, and Facing Your Feelings.

Candy McVicar

CANDY MCVICAR is an author, educator, speaker, and devoted advocate for parents who experience the loss of a baby or child. After the stillbirth of her daughter Grace in 2001, she committed to enhance the care bereaved families receive while in the hospital, to facilitate healing holistically, and to optimize outcomes for subsequent pregnancies. Candy is the founder of the Missing GRACE Foundation, a national nonprofit that provides support, resources, and education for families and professional care providers when there is loss of a baby, infertility, or adoption challenges. Find out more about Candy at www.candymcvicar.com.

William P. Dillon

BILL DILLON serves as founder and President of People Raising which focuses on providing fundraising training for missionaries, church planters and Christian organizations. He also is the founder and Executive Director of Inner City Impact in Chicago. Bill's family has served Chicago's Inner City since 1918 and he is third generation inner city minister. In 2005 he was honored by Moody Bible Institute as Alumnus of the Year. He is married, has three grown children and seven grandchildren. He resides in Des Plaines, Illinois.

Lee Ellis

LEE ELLIS is the President and Founder of Leadership Freedom and FreedomStar Media. He serves as a management consultant in leadership development and team-building. Lee is the author of a number of books, including Finding the Career that Fits You, Your Career in Changing Times, and Leading Talent Leading Teams. He and his wife, Mary, reside in Dawsonville, Georgia. They have four children and six grandchildren.

Ron L Deal

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.

Jimmy Dodd

JIMMY DODD (B.A. Wheaton College; M.Div., Gordon-Conwell Seminary) is the founder and CEO of PastorServe. This organization works across denominational lines to strengthen the church by serving pastors. He is the author of Survive or Thrive, 6 Relationships Every Pastor Needs, and Pastors Are People Too, co-authored with Larry Magnuson. Jimmy and his wife Sally have five children and three grandchildren. He enjoys reading, taking walks with his wife Sally and dog Finn, and cheering on his beloved Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, KS.

Alicia Llewellyn

ALICIA LLEWELLYN is co-founder of Quite Uncommon, a technology firm that helps organizations build, test, and launch new and innovative ideas. She is also a strategist and collaboration leader at NASA, currently directing the 1958 Coworking Space at the Johnson Space Center. She has more than two decades of cross-sector experience in growing effective teams and building engaged communities with resiliency and foresight--including for some of the largest hackathons in the world. Ali has served as a teacher, a team trainer, a youth pastor, and the Director of Ministries at Antioch Community Church in Houston, TX. This background in education, communication, and theology provides the clarity and articulation necessary to help organizations and communities take their mission to the next level.

Dan Paterson

DAN PATERSON is a Christian thinker and the founder of Questioning Christianity, a ministry connecting the Christian story to life's deepest questions. With a personal background of wrestling through the problem of evil, he has earned several university qualifications in Theology and Apologetics in Australia and Oxford, fueled by a passion to help others process their doubts and discover the relevance and reasonableness of faith in Jesus. Speaking regularly to audiences around Australia and beyond, Dan is based in Brisbane, where together with his wife, Erin, their favorite job is raising three boys.

Dann Spader

DANN SPADER (Moody Bible Institute, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) has dedicated his life to disciple-making, teaching others how to take someone from seeker to making disciples themselves. More than 750,000 people in 90 plus countries have been trained to make disciples through organizations he has led. He is the Founder of Sonlife ministries and currently serves as President of Global Youth Initiative, an alliance of organizations in 95 countries committed to "equipping young leaders for movements of multiplication." He is also author of Walking As Jesus Walked and co-author of Growing a Healthy Church and The Everyday Commission, among other titles. For free online videos visit www.4chairdiscipling.com.

Kenneth N. Taylor

KENNETH N. TAYLOR was the founder of Tyndale House Publishers and the Christian Booksellers Association (CBA). With 10 children and more than 25 grandchildren, he had ample experience in teaching children about the Bible. Kenneth is the author of The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes, Devotions for the Childrens House, and Big Thoughts for Little People, as well as the best-selling Living Bible paraphrase. His desire was to see more and more easy-to-read, understandable, contemporary versions of the Bible in hundreds of languages overseas.

Jim Van Yperen

JIM VAN YPEREN (B.A. ,Wheaton College; M.A., Wheaton Graduate School) is the Founder and Executive Director of Metanoia Ministries, a non-profit Christian ministry serving evangelical churches in conflict reconciliation and leadership formation. Jim is the author of Making Peace: A Guide to Overcoming Church Conflict. He and his wife, Sharon, reside on a small sheep farm in East Washington, New Hampshire. They have two adult children.

H. Norman Wright

H. NORMAN WRIGHT (M.R.E., Fuller Theological Seminary; M.A., Pepperdine University) is a Research Professor of Christian Education at Talbot School of Theology and a licensed Marriage, Family, and Child Therapist. He has taught on the graduate school level for more than twenty-five years and is the founder and director of Christian Marriage Enrichment in Tustin, California. Dr. Wright is 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 has survived his wife of 49 years and lives in Bakersfield, CA.

Michelle Van Loon