Matt Markins

MATT MARKINS serves on the Global Leadership Team at Awana as the Vice President of Ministry Resources as well as the Vice President of Marketing and Strategy. Prior to joining the Awana executive leadership team, Matt served in leadership roles with Thomas Nelson Publishers, Randall House Publishers and was the co-founder of the D6 Conference (a discipleship and family ministry community). Matt's ministry in organizational leadership has been marked by leading and influencing change from within by casting vision, forging strategic partnerships, nurturing healthy culture, developing organizational alignment and implementing sustainable plans toward ministry effectiveness, health and growth. He and his wife Katie have been volunteering and growing in children's ministry for more than twenty years. As Nashville transplants, they live and play in the Chicago suburbs with their two sons tolerating dreadful winters, but soaking up refreshingly mild weather the other seven months of the year.

Aaron Damiani

AARON DAMIANI is the lead pastor of Immanuel Anglican Church, in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood. Damiani has degrees from Moody Bible Institute and Wheaton College and writes regularly for Leadership Journal and Preaching Today. He lives in Chicago with his wife, Laura, and their four children.

David Finkbeiner

DAVID B. FINKBEINER is Professor of Theology at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, IL, where he has taught since 1998. He served as Chair of the Theology Department for several years and he ministers in Chicago-area churches through preaching, teaching, and serving as an elder. David earned his Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He and his wife, Kathy, have three daughters, Katie, Emily, and Rebecca.

S. Franklin Logsdon

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."

Jonathan Armstrong

JONATHAN J. ARMSTRONG is Professor of Bible at Moody Bible Institute, where he lectures in New Testament studies and church history. He consults at the intersection of faith and technology and serves as the president of the Aqueduct Project (www.aqueductproject.org). He lives in the Chicago area with his wife and three children.

Andrew J. Schmutzer

ANDREW SCHMUTZER (PhD, Trinity International University) is Professor of Biblical Studies at Moody Bible Institute (Chicago, Illinois). In addition to numerous articles and essays on the Old Testament, he has written the exegetical theology Be Fruitful and Multiply and two forthcoming commentaries on Ruth and Esther.

Mark Jobe

MARK JOBE is the president of Moody Bible Institute and host of Moody Radio's Bold Steps. He is the author of Unstuck: Out of Your Cave into Your Call. He is also the founding pastor of New Life Community Church, a Chicago-based ministry with 27 locations throughout Chicago. Mark has a Master's degree from Moody Theological Seminary and a Doctorate in transformational leadership from Bakke Graduate University. He and his wife, Dee, have three adult children.