John Burke serves as lead pastor at Gateway Community Church in Austin, Texas, a congregation dedicated to helping unchurched people become a unified community of growing Christ-followers, no matter what their background or past. He is also the president of Emerging Leadership Initiative (ELI), a non-profit organization founded to help establish a multiplying network of missional churches that envision, equip, and empower young emerging leaders to plant innovative churches. Before starting Gateway, John was the executive director of ministries at Willow Creek Community Church. He and Kathy are the parents of two children, Ashley and Justin.

John is the author of No Perfect People Allowed and Soul Revolution
Find out more at www.soulrevolution.net

Mark Batterson serves as lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington, DC. In 2007 Outreach Magazine recognized NCC as one of the 25 Most Innovative Churches in America. One church with eight services in four locations, NCC is focused on reaching emerging generations. 73% of NCCers are single twenty-somethings and 70% come from an unchurched or dechurched background. The vision of NCC is to meet in movie theaters at metro stops throughout the metro DC area. NCC also owns and operates the largest coffeehouse on Capitol Hill. In 2007, Ebenezers was recognized as the #2 coffeehouse in the metro DC area by AOL CityGuide.

Mark is the author of In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day and Wild Goose Chase: Reclaiming the Adventure of Pursuing God.

A native Alabamian, Heather Zempel invested her parent’s money and six years of her life at Louisiana State University earning bachelors and masters degrees in biological engineering. She finally left Cajun country to apply her newly acquired skills as a consultant at an environmental engineering firm and later as a policy advisor in the United States Senate. She now engineers environments that foster community and spiritual growth as the discipleship pastor at National Community Church in Washington, DC. Heather and her amazing husband Ryan can be found on Capitol Hill enjoying theater (from the audience or the stage) and settling arguments with Webster’s Dictionary. Check out her daily ramblings at www.discipleshipgroups.blogspot.com.

Hear Heather Zempel in Main Session 2 and Breakout B145.

Dr. Will Miller is from New York City and is an ordained minister, a hospital and police chaplain, and a psychotherapist. He has worked in community mental health centers and drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs. Will has served as a spokesman for the National Institute of Mental Health. He is one of the country's foremost media and popular culture analysts, and has been profiled on NBC's Dateline and in People Magazine.

Simultaneously, for 16 years, Will had a successful career as a stand-up comedian, opening for Aretha Franklin and hosting Nick-At-Nite. Currently, Dr. Miller is a therapist and campus minister at Purdue University where he lectures on media effects. He holds a Masters Degree and a Doctorate in Urban Education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a Masters in Clinical Social Work from Columbia University.

Will's books include Why We Watch: Killing The Gilligan Within; and Refrigerator Rights.

Hear Will Miller in Main Session 3 and with co-author Glen Sparks in Breakout PL1054.