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Mark Mittelberg
Mark Mittelberg is a best-selling author, sought-after speaker, and a leading strategist in evangelism and apologetics. He is the primary author (with Lee Strobel and Bill Hybels) of the updated Becoming a Contagious Christian Training Course, through which more than a million people have learned to effectively and naturally communicate their faith to others.
Mark was the evangelism director at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago for seven years and for the Willow Creek Association for a decade. He is a frequent contributor for Outreach magazine, and was an editorial consultant and periodic guest for Lee Strobel's “Faith Under Fire” television show. He and Strobel have been ministry partners for more than 20 years. After receiving an undergraduate degree in business, Mark earned a master's degree in philosophy of religion from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. In recognition of his achievements in the areas of evangelism and apologetics, he recently was honored with a doctor of divinity degree from Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina. Mark and his wife, Heidi, have two teenage children, and live near Denver, Colorado. |
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Nelson Searcy
Nelson Searcy is founder and lead pastor of The Journey Church of the City, an innovative, multicultural church located in New York City. Founded in 2002, The Journey grew to over 1,200 people in weekly attendance and more than 1,400 involved in weekly small groups during its first six years. A multi-site church with locations across the metro New York City area, The Journey continues to grow and innovate and serve the people of NYC.
An experienced strategist, coach and speaker, Searcy serves as a regular consultant for churches across America. He is the author of dozens of articles and training resources on leadership, evangelism, church planting and church growth. In addition, he is an author of many Christian books on church leadership and numerous resources for pastors and other church leaders. He also is the founder of Church Leader Insights, an organization that provides training and resources for pastors.
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Efrem Smith
Efrem Smith is an internationally recognized leader who uses motivational speaking and preaching to equip people for a life of transformation. He also consults on issues of multi-ethnicity, leadership and community development for churches, educational institutions and other organizations.
Efrem has held positions with church and para-church organizations as well as community foundations. He also is founding pastor of The Sanctuary Covenant Church and president of the Sanctuary Community Development Corporation in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Currently, Efrem is superintendent of the Pacific Southwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church. In this role he provides leadership to some 160 churches and other ministry initiatives in California, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah. He is the author of the books, “Raising-up Young Heroes” and “The Hip Hop Church.”
Efrem is married to Donecia and has two daughters, Jaeda and Mireya. They reside in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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Dan Kimball
Dan Kimball’s current role with Vintage Faith Church is overseeing Sunday gatherings and teaching as well as the missional aspects of the church. He also serves on the Vintage Faith church leadership council. Dan's role includes extending the mission of the church through writing and speaking.
Dan was born and raised in New Jersey, and earned a BS degree in landscape architecture from Colorado State University. Dan was a drummer in a rockabilly/punk band for many years and lived in London for a year playing with the band. After the band ended, Dan lived in Israel for several months studying the Bible on his own to see whether Christianity was a valid faith, or simply the religion of American suburbia. Most of his closest friends were not Christians, so he desired to be able to intelligently explain and know why Christianity was a faith that made sense. He graduated from Multnomah Biblical Seminary in Portland, Oregon with a graduate certificate in Bible.
Dan has been married to Becky since 1990 and they have two daughters, Katie and Claire. He is the author of the books “Do You Like Jesus but Not the Church?: Exploring Uncomfortable Questions about Christianity and the Church,” “Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches,” “They Like Jesus but not the Church,” “Emerging Worship: Creating Worship Gatherings for New Generations” and “The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations.”
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Larry Wynn
Larry Wynn is vice president of evangelization at the North American Mission Board (NAMB). He said he views his role as helping churches develop a passion for evangelism. Evangelism is not just a job for Larry – it’s his lifestyle. Prior to coming to NAMB, Larry was pastor of Hebron Baptist Church in Dacula, Georgia. In his three decades at Hebron – which attracts some 4,800 each week for Sunday worship – Wynn and the church recorded more than 10,000 baptisms.
Wynn believes God prepared him for his NAMB evangelism post through his 33-year history at Hebron Baptist.
He and his wife, Ethel, have three grown children – Amanda Leigh, Dana Renee and Adam. They also have twin grandchildren, Ryleigh Lynn and Avery Lavon.
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Dennis Pethers
Dennis Pethers is founder of Viz-A-Viz Ministries and international director of “More to Life.” He grew up in the East End of London and for the early part of his life knew nothing of church, Jesus or the Christian faith. He discovered the amazing truth about Jesus whilst reading “Mere Christianity,” by C.S. Lewis, sitting on a train outside Liverpool Street Station.
Since coming to know Jesus, Dennis has travelled extensively across the UK and around the world telling people about Jesus and equipping churches and Christians to engage in effective evangelism. Dennis is an author and creator of numerous creative resources that are being been used by churches to help people discover the truth about Jesus. He has also written and presented a number of evangelistic videos, with the recent “More to Life” DVD selling 100,000 copies in the UK alone.
Dennis communicates the message of Jesus with passion and clarity. Always down-to-earth, he is known for his ability to present the truth about Jesus in ways that make sense to people who are not familiar with church. He has a passion that the church in the Western world will rediscover what it means to live for Jesus and impact lost people with the great news of the gospel.
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Montia Setzler
Montia Setzler has served at Magnolia Avenue Baptist Church (MABC) in Riverside since 1998. As senior pastor, Montia sees his role largely centered around three areas: vision-casting, leadership development and proclamation of the Word. He encourages the people at MABC to discover the five purposes of the church: worship, ministry, evangelism, fellowship and discipleship. Montia combines humor with great spiritual truths to make each worship experience a joy to attend.
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Travis Ryan
Travis Ryan is a worship leader for Saddleback Church in San Clemente. He has a passion for leading worship and serving the Lord. Travis and his wife have a son, Hudson.
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