David Staal serves as the president of Kids Hope USA, a national non-profit organization that partners local churches with elementary schools to provide mentors for at-risk students. Prior to this assignment, David led Promiseland, the children's ministry at Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington, Illinois. Other leadership roles he held at Willow Creek include director of communications and director of children's ministry for the Willow Creek Association. David authored Word Kids Need to Hear (2008), Leading Your Child to Jesus and Leading Kids to Jesus (2006), and Making Your Children's Ministry the Best Hour of Every Kid's Week (2004, co-authored with Sue Miller). David also serves… as the senior editor of Today's Children's Ministry, an electronic publication and web site from Christianity Today International. He lives in Grand Haven, MI, with his wife Becky, son Scott, and daughter Erin.
Bill Hybels was born in 1951 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He received hs BA degree in Biblical Studies from Trinity International University near Chicago. He also has an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Bill Hybels is the senior pastor at Willow Creek Community Church in the Chicago suburb of South Barrington, Ill. Hybels founded the church after surveying the community and designing Sunday morning services for non-believers, with services for believers held on another day. He is the creator of the Global Leadership Summit. His book, Rediscovering Church: The Story and Vision of Willow Creek, written with his wife Lynne, outlines the successful formula he… used. His other books include Honest to God: Becoming an Authentic Christian; The God You're Looking For; Too Busy Not to Pray: Slowing Down to be With God; Making Life Work and Power of a Whisper.
George Barna is the president and founder of Barna Research Group. Barna has developed seminars for clients such as The Billy Graham Association, Campus Crusade for Christ, and The Prison Fellowship. His other clients include Prudential, Sothwestern Bell, The Walt Disney Company, and Visa USA. He has also served as a pastor of a southern California church. Barna has written many books on the church and culture including The Habits of Highly Effective Churches, User Friendly Churches, and Marketing the Church. His work has been quoted in Newsweek, Time, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal.