Craig Ott (PhD, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is associate professor of mission and intercultural studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, where he occupies the ReachGlobal Chair of Mission. Gene Wilson (DMin, Westminster Theological Seminary) is church planting director for ReachGlobal, the international mission of the Evangelical Free Church of America, and director of their annual Cross-Cultural Planting School. He lives in Plantation, Florida.
Evangelical pastor Richard Duane "Rick" Warren was born in San Jose, California on January 28, 1954 and grew up in Ukiah, California. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from California Baptist University, a Master of Divinity degree in 1979 from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and his Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary. Warren worked at the Texas Ranch for Christ before founding the megachurch Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California in 1980. He has written or co-written several Christian books, including the bestselling guide to church ministry and evangelism, The Purpose Driven Church, and The Purpose Driven Life. Warren has lectured as a… theologian at many noted universities and seminaries and was chosen in 2008 by President-elect Obama to give the invocation at his inauguration ceremony.