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JOSH WEIDMANN has traveled the world speaking to churched and un-churched crowds about the truth of the Gospel from the authority of God’s Word for more than a decade (since his late teen years). Josh started preaching at a young age and soon found himself living out God’s calling on His life to communicate the Bible through whatever means possible. After the 1999 Columbine high school shooting tragedy in his hometown, God used Josh as a voice of hope to his generation around the nation. Over the last decade, Josh has continued to preach the truth around the world. He has had the privilege of speaking for some well-known ministries such as Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Youth for Christ, and others.His years as a student at Moody Bible Institute served to deepen his understanding of God’s Word and equipped him for a long-term role in serving the church. Josh has had the privilege of fulfilling several pastoral roles in various churches in Colorado and Illinois, including a recent role as a lead pastor in Aurora, Colorado. He currently serves as the Discipleship pastor of Mission Hills Church in Littleton, CO. He also leads and writes for a web ministry called www.HonestToGod.net. He and his wife, Molly, live in the suburbs of Denver with their two kids and enjoy loving Christ, loving each other, and loving on God’s people.
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RICH BROWN Rich and his wife Janet have served together in churches in the Midwest and the Seattle area. He and Janet have three adult children; Rich III, Jenna, and Ryan. In 2003, Rich transitioned from serving as Pastor of Student Ministries to become Associate Professor within the Department of Church Ministries at his alma-mater, Liberty University. It is in this context of mentoring, equipping, and teaching the next generation of youth ministry leaders where he ministers to the college students God has placed in his life. Along with his residential teaching load, he also teaches online to adult learners. He has developed a number of youth ministry courses, including published work texts.
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MATTHEW CORK has served in a number of key roles over his many years at Friends Church, including: WorshipPastor, Executive Pastor and the position he currently holds, Lead Pastor. Matthew’s focus since 2003 has been on therenewal of Friends Church. He has a strong pastor’s heart that has led him to be a key part of transitioning a church incrisis. On a trip to India in 2007, Matthew saw firsthand the plight of the Dalit people and the impact education canhave on improving their lives. Since then, Friends Church has launched a new vision called Global Freedom and hasbeen instrumental in building a large number of Education Centers throughout India. Matthew lives in Yorba Lindawith his wife Mardi and their three children: Nolan, Sophie and Ella.
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LIANNA DAVIS is a student of the Word with a B.A. in Ministry to Women from Moody Bible Institute. She and her husband, Tyler, reside outside of Dallas, Texas and have two dear daughters, one who lives in heaven and one who lives on earth. More of her writing can be found at www.liannabdavis.com.
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VERNON DOERKSEN (B.A., Pacific College; B.D., Th.M., Talbot Theological Seminary; Th.D., Grace Theological Seminary) was dean of students and professor of Bible and theology at Arizona Bible College.
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DIANE LYNN ELLIOT is an author, professional photographer and business administrator. With a heart for people and a passion for ministry she has worked and volunteered with children, teens, women, and short-term missions and relief projects. Diane's interest in the global orphan crisis started many years ago with a trip to a hospital for terminally ill children in Siberia, and later to an orphanage in Mexico. Seeing a small snapshot of the great need started her journey and fueled her passion for the orphaned child. For the research of the book Diane also traveled to Peru and Haiti which continued to expand your vision and passion for orphaned children. Diane has a BA in Communication from Trinity International University and an M.B.A. in Global Management from the University of Phoenix. Professionally she has co-written two youth management books, and has spent many years as a freelance meeting and events planner and business manager in both not-for-profit and corporate settings. Diane, her husband David, along with their trained Alaskan Klee Kai therapy dog named Kody, live in Wauconda, Illinois and attend Willow Creek Community Church.
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ASHLEY HOLLEMAN and his wife, Heather, are on staff with Cru, where Ashley serves as the national director of Cru's graduate student ministry. Prior to this assignment Ashley completed a Master's in chemistry at the University of Michigan and then joined Cru staff to minister locally to grad students -- first at the University of Michigan and then at Penn State. In his spare time, he enjoys building furniture, gardening, working on his house, and watching UNC-Chapel Hill basketball and football. He and Heather have two daughters -- Sarah and Kate.
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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).
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DAVE HATAJ is the second-generation president and owner of Edgerton Gear, Inc., a Wisconsin-based custom gear manufacturer. As a journeyman machinist by age twenty-one, he then earned a Bachelor's Degree from the University of California-Irvine. He completed his Master's Degree from Regent College in Vancouver, BC. His graduate work focused on Systems Theory in a Family Business context. In 2014 he earned a Doctorate of Transformational Leadership from Bakke Graduate University, developing a curriculum called Craftsman with Character. The course introduces high school students to the trades and manufacturing as an excellent career path, while developing character and soft skills.
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HEATHER HOLLEMAN is a speaker, teacher, and author who loves helping people connect with Jesus, especially through scripture. People have called her a "walking exclamation point," and she's known as a lover of vivid verbs and semicolons. Heather currently directs the Advanced Writing in the Humanities courses at Penn State, and she devotes herself to building authentic writing communities and helping students gain confidence and joy in writing. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia and earned her Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Michigan. She has received numerous teaching awards in the past 20 years including the Moscow Prize for Excellence in Teaching Composition and most recently the Residence Life Mentor award for her work in the English department at Penn State University. Heather has written eight books, her most recent being Sent: Living a Life that Invites Others to Jesus which follows her trilogy of favorite verbs in scripture (Seated With Christ: Living Freely in a Culture of Comparison; Guarded by Christ: Knowing the God Who Rescues and Keeps Us; and Chosen for Christ: Stepping Into the Life You've Been Missing). Heather and her husband, Ashley, also serve with Faculty Commons (Cru) with Ashley in the role of Executive Director for Graduate Student Ministry. They have two teen daughters and three cats. Her podcast is "The Verb with Heather Holleman," and she blogs daily at www.HeatherHolleman.com.
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BILL HENDRICKS is Co-Founder and President of Global Centre for Giftedness, which seeks to mobilize a worldwide movement of Giftedness Guides -- people who know how to help others discover their giftedness and then apply those insights to the major areas of their lives. This is an outgrowth of his longtime consulting practice, the Giftedness Center, which helps individuals think through strategic life and career decisions. In addition, Bill serves as the Executive Director for Christian Leadership at The Hendricks Center, a leadership development initiative of Dallas Theological Seminary. He holds degrees from Harvard University, Boston University, and Dallas Theological Seminary, and is currently a doctoral student at Bakke Graduate University. He is married to Lynn Turpin Hendricks and is the father of three accomplished daughters.
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CHRISTMAS CAROL KAUFMAN received her unique name in honor of her Christmas morning birth in 1901 in Elkhart, Indiana. She was raised in a Mennonite home and spent some time as a student at Goshen College. When she was 22, she married Norman Hostetler. However, tragedy struck when two months after their second anniversary, Norman was killed in an electrical accident. She worked in a sewing shop following the wake of her loss, but in 1928, her bishop recommended that she get away for a while and enroll as a Bible student at Hesston College. It was there that she met the man who would be her life partner—Nelson Kaufman. The two were married in 1929. Five years later they were commissioned by the Mennonite General Mission Board to start a mission church in Hannibal, Missouri. It was in their 22-year ministry in Missouri that she found the inspiration to write her many novels. In 1956, they returned to Elkhart where Kaufman wrote her last several books. She died in Elkhart on January 30, 1969.
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DAVID & BARBARA LEEMAN are both graduates of Biola University School of Music. David is a retired director of music and worship, and Barbara teaches elementary age music at a private Christian School in Dallas, TX. Together they wrote and published Hosanna, Loud Hosannas a student hymnal that is widely used in churches, Christian schools, and homes.
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ANDREW SEIDEL (West Point Military Academy, University of Illinois, Dallas Theological Seminary) serves as the executive director of the Center for Christian Leadership as Dallas Theological Seminary. He also works in Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia with the mission organization Entrust. A graduate of West Point and a veteran of the U.S. Army, Dr. Seidel previously served as senior pastor at Grace Bible Church in College Station, Texas for 14 years. He is the author of Charting a Bold Course. Dr. Seidel and his wife have been married for more than 40 years and have two grown children and six grandchildren.
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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.
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