David Kinnaman is the author of the bestselling books, Faith For Exiles, Good Faith, You Lost Me and unChristian. He is president of Barna Group, a leading research and communications company that works with churches, nonprofits, and businesses ranging from film studios to financial services. Since 1995, David has directed interviews with more than 1.5 million individuals and overseen hundreds of U.S. and global research studies. He and his wife live in California with their three children.

Pete Scazzero is the pioneer of Emotionally Healthy Discipleship, a ground-breaking global ministry that transforms church culture through the multiplication of deeply changed leaders and disciples. Pete hosts the weekly Emotionally Healthy Leader Podcast for pastors and church leaders exploring the practices needed to transform their church culture.

He is also the author of a number of bestselling books, including The Emotionally Healthy Leader and Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. Pete and his wife Geri authored The Emotionally Healthy Discipleship Course (Part 1 and 2), a countercultural resource that moves people from shallow Christianity to depth in Christ.

Anita has spent her career blending faith with individual and group therapy for a wide range of issues including depression, anxiety, grief, addiction, and child sexual abuse.

She holds a Masters in Clinical Social Work from the University of Maryland, a Ph.D. in Counselor Education & Supervision from the Regent University School of Psychology & Counseling, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She has co-authored papers in Public Health Reports, the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, and the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved and currently leads the Master of Arts in Professional Counseling degree program on the Maryland campus of Lancaster Bible College.

Anita serves the Body of Christ alongside her husband, Pastor Michael Phillips, at Kingdom Life Church in Baltimore, MD. They have been married for more than 20 years and have two beautiful children.

Rebekah Lyons is a national speaker and bestselling author of Rhythms of Renewal: Trading Stress and Anxiety for a Life of Peace and Purpose, You Are Free: Be Who You Already Are and Freefall to Fly: A Breathtaking Journey Toward a Life of Meaning. An old soul with a contemporary, honest voice, Rebekah reveals her own battles to overcome anxiety and depression—and invites others to discover and boldly pursue their God-given purpose from a place of freedom. Finding joy in raising a special needs child—Rebekah wears her heart on her sleeve, a benefit to friends and readers alike. Her work has been featured on The TODAY Show, Good Morning America, CNN, Huffington Post, The Tennessean, Publisher’s Weekly, and more.

Alongside her husband, Gabe, she serves as co-founder of Q Ideas, a nonprofit organization that helps Christian leaders winsomely engage in culture. The organization’s global livestream events feature thought leaders such as David Brooks, Malcolm Gladwell, Soledad O’Brien, and Tim Keller. Gabe and Rebekah are raising their four children in Franklin, Tennessee.

Michael Cox is a licensed professional counselor, the cofounder of Whole Life Priorities, and a trainer for the National Council for Behavioral Health in Mental Health First Aid. Ordained into the ministry in 2001, he has served as a youth pastor, domestic missionary, and lead pastor. Cox travels nationally to train instructors, and his areas of focus include suicide ideation recognition in adolescents, parent and child relationships, youth development, and working with individuals struggling with their faith and mental health.

David Robbins became President of FamilyLife in December 2017. David and Meg’s desire is to leverage FamilyLife’s resources and build upon the over four-decade foundation of the organization while looking to reach new audiences and generations to come.

Prior to his role with FamilyLife, the Robbins lived in Manhattan and David served as a national co-facilitator for Cru’s Millennials Ministry, which he and Meg helped launch in 2012. The initiative ministering to 20-somethings quickly grew to reach a network of 1,000 millennials in New York City and spread nationwide, establishing teams in 15 other cities across the U.S. Their passion for families drove David and Meg to provide extensive pre-marital and marriage counseling to dozens of millennial couples, using FamilyLife resources.

David and Meg, married Nov. 16, 2001, currently live in Little Rock, Arkansas with their four children.

Barna Group’s Senior Vice President of Research, Brooke Hempell, manages the firm’s research studies, from semi-annual polls that track the pulse of Americans’ beliefs and practices, to custom studies for para-church ministries, denominations, businesses and non-profit organizations. Through this work, Barna helps leaders gain insights into faith groups and the general population’s perspectives on faith and cultural issues.

Prior to joining Barna, Brooke led market research engagements for clients in the pharmaceutical, financial services and retail industries for more than 15 years. She earned her B.S. in Business and Marketing from Cornell University. Brooke is active in church planting and racial reconciliation ministries and lives in Atlanta, GA.

Sharon is a licensed marriage and family therapist in California and Texas. She is the founder of RelateStrong, a multifaceted program for individual and married leaders. (RelateStrong | Couples was formerly known as MarriageStrong.) An affiliate faculty member in the Marriage and Family Therapy department at Fuller Theological Seminary, Sharon was in private practice for over 18 years and specializes in working with couples and intergenerational issues.

Terry D. Hargrave, PhD is the Evelyn and Frank Freed Professor of Marital and Family Therapy at Fuller Seminary. He came to Fuller with 19 years of teaching experience at the University of Mississippi, Amarillo College, and West Texas AandM University, and over 20 years of experience counseling couples, families, and individuals.

With interests in forgiveness, aging, and intensive marital therapy, Hargrave has authored or coauthored 11 books. His most recent books are Restoration Therapy: Understanding and Guiding Healing in Marriage and Family Therapy (2011) and Five Days to a New Marriage (2011), and others include Boomers on the Edge: Three Realities that Will Change Your Life Forever (2008), The Essential Humility of Marriage: Honoring the Third Identity in Couples Therapy (2000), and Families and Forgiveness: Healing Wounds in the Intergenerational Family (1994).

Terry serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy and Marriage and Family: A Christian Journal and has also published articles in the Journal of Family Therapy, Journal of the Texas Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, the Journal of Psychology and Christianity, and Journal of Professional Counseling. He is a member of the American Counseling Association and the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and has appeared on ABC’s 20/20 and Good Morning America and CBS’s Early Morning.

Dr. Thema Bryant-Davis, PhD, a professor at Pepperdine University, is a past president of the Society for the Psychology of Women. Her contributions to psychological research, policy, and practice have been honored by national and regional psychological associations. She earned her doctorate from Duke University, completed her post-doctoral training at Harvard Medical Center, and is a past American Psychological Association representative to the United Nations.

She has served as a mental health media consultant for numerous print, radio, and television media outlets, including but not limited to the Huffington Post, NPR, CBS, Oxygen, CNN, BET, TV One, Lifetime, and We TV.

Dr. Thema has edited and co-edited books on recovery from sexual violence, spirituality and religion in women’s lives, and womanist and mujerista psychologies. She is the author of the critically-acclaimed books Tweets for the Soul: When Life Falls Apart, Thriving in the wake of trauma: A multicultural guide, Mangos and Manna and The Birthing of a Lioness and is the recording artist on the CD Sky: An upbeat black girl’s song. Her work is based in an interdisciplinary understanding of spirituality, gender, culture and psychology.

Kelly Maxwell Haer has a PhD in family therapy from Saint Louis University, a master’s degree in counseling from Covenant Theological Seminary, and a bachelor’s degree from Furman University. She has a wealth of experience working with young adults in a variety of contexts including counseling sessions, undergraduate and graduate classrooms, and the church community.

Ralph Delgado is the Pastor of Community Life and Thrive at Christian Assembly of Los Angeles. He and Janna, his wife of 18 years, live in Monrovia, CA. He has three grown children and two beautiful grandchildren. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Management from Pepperdine University. In January, 2013 he left a 26 year career with Anheuser-Busch, and his job as a Regional Director, to pursue his Master’s Degree in Marriage & Family Therapy at Azusa Pacific University.

Ralph and Janna began attending Christian Assembly in 2007, but he has felt called to “pastor” since coming to Christ in 1980 and has done so in various volunteer capacities while working in the marketplace. While at CA he has lead several Thrive Ministry leading classes, co-lead a Life Group, and together with Janna has lead several Marriage classes including “5 Days to a New Marriage” and “Love and Respect.”

He loves to hit golf balls (notice he didn’t say “golf”), pleasure reading at the beach, hiking, spend time at Starbucks with his wife or friends, and any/all time with his kids and grandkids.

Pastor Kalvin E. Cressel has served as the senior pastor of the GMS Baptist Church for over 19 years. Prior to being called to pastor the church, he served as the Minister of Youth for 7 years. Pastor Cressel received a Certificate in Christian Education from Caleb School of Theology. Pastor Cressel has traveled extensively and preached in many states throughout the United States of America. Pastor Cressel and his wife Pamela have traveled to and participated in Operation Andrew, a Missionary crusade sponsored by International Crusades in Machakos, Kenya.

Pamela Smith–Cressel has been married to Pastor Kalvin Cressel, Sr. for over 3 decades years. She is the biological mother of two children, Kaprisha, a Lawyer, Kalvin Jr, a Entertainment Manager. The mother of three adopted children, Kizzie (a Cosmetologist), Vashon (served in the U.S. Army) and Quron (a Professional Dancer). Pamela has two beautiful grandchildren, Joy and Isabella.

Pamela has served as the as First Lady of Greater Mt Sinai Missionary Baptist Church for 20 years of service. For 20 years, Pamela has spearheaded the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program, which annually prepares approximately 500 Income Tax Returns for needy people free of charge.

Rev. Dr. Frank Liu was called into pastoral ministry in college and received his MDiv and DMin degrees from Fuller Theological Seminary after working as an engineer for seven years. He then served as the English Congregation and Executive Pastor of First Evangelical Community Church for 30 years. Upon retirement from pastoral work, he was invited to serve as the Associate Dean of Administration and Director of Doctor of Ministry Program at China Evangelical Seminary North America (CESNA), which is his current workplace. His passion is to mentor the next generation of disciples and ministers for God’s Kingdom. He also cares for Chinese immigrant pastors through a pastor care ministry (Chinese Pastor Care Ministries) that provides spiritual, educational, relational and mentoring services to current pastors.

He is trained as a Marriage/Relate Strong Facilitator and participated in a pastor couples retreat sponsored by the Boone Center. He has co-led Marriage Strong groups for pastors and seminarians. He also attended level 1 training for Restoration Therapy. He has been married 32 years to his seminary classmate Anita and blessed with two wonderful daughters.

Dr. Anita Meng Liu received her MA in Christian Formation & Discipleship as well as Marriage and Family Therapy from Fuller Seminary. After practicing as a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist for more than a decade, she felt called to get a PhD in clinical psychology to train Christian counselors. Upon graduation, she has been serving at China Evangelical Seminary North America (CESNA) as a full time counseling professor. For a decade, she also spearheaded the seminarians’ personal and ministry formation program as the Director of Field Education & Advising. Through her teaching, advising and small group leading (including Marriage Strong groups), she introduces seminarians to spiritual formation practices, psychological understanding and relationship enhancement learning to propel them towards wholeness in Christ.

On the church front, after 30 years of partnering with her husband in pastoral ministry, they now jointly contribute to a pastor care ministry to enhance the spiritual, physical, emotional, and relational health of Chinese immigrant church pastors. She is trained as a Marriage/Relate Strong Facilitator and participated in a pastor couples retreat sponsored by the Boone Center. She has led Marriage Strong groups for pastors and seminarians. She also was the chief editor of the Chinese translation of Marriage Strong Leaders’ Manual. She is also Level 1 Restoration Therapy Training.

Luke, his wife Lindsay, and their three daughters live in Austin, TX where Luke is the senior minister of the Westover Hills Church. He is the author of God over Good and Befriending Your Monsters. He also hosts Newsworthy with Norsworthy,  a weekly podcast discussing spirituality, Christianity, and anything else that seems newsworthy.

Rev. Kimberly Deckel serves as the pastor of mission at All Souls, an Anglican Church Plant in Phoenix, Arizona. Kimberly’s role with All Souls focuses on forming and guiding the mission of All Souls and equipping congregants to be on mission for God in all of life. Additionally, Kimberly does operations for the Surge Network. Surge Network is a movement of local churches working to put Jesus on display in our cities. As a part of her work with Surge Network, Kimberly takes part in hosting a podcast called Faith, Work, and Rest.

Kimberly attended the University of Missouri where she obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work She is currently working on her M.A. in Missional Theology through The Missional Training Center through Covenant Seminary. Kimberly worked as a clinical social worker, providing therapy, support, and assessments in various settings for 12 years. Kimberly has served in ministry in various capacities, leading community groups, building a foster care ministry, and working with urban entrepreneurs in building their businesses.

Shane has been involved in student ministry for over a decade in both volunteer and staff roles. He continues to learn from and be inspired by the next generation. He’s passionate about leading teenagers to find thriving life in Jesus and the continued progress of the local church. He currently has the privilege of leading high school students as the InsideOut Director at Gwinnett Church in Sugar Hill, GA (a campus of North Point Ministries). Shane’s most important roles are husband and father. He loves his wife, Heather, sons, Asher, Oliver and Elliot and still aspires to one day dunk a basketball.