Cups of Coffee

Walt Mueller is the founder and President of the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding (CPYU) and has been working with young people and families for 32 years. As a result of his work with CPYU, Walt has become an internationally recognized speaker and author on contemporary youth culture. He has written extensively on youth culture and family issues and is the author of many books, including his most recent, Opie Doesn't Live Here Anymore: Where Faith, Family, and Culture Collide.

Scott Rubin is the director of Elevate, the junior high ministry at Willow Creek Community Church. He is the co-author of the recently released Middle School Survival Series books My Family, My Changes and My Future, as well as Kurt & Scott's Jr. High Adventure.

Glenn Westburg has been in student ministry for over 22 years. He has been at Parkview Community Church for 10 years serving as Pastor of Student Ministries. Glenn and his wife Julie have 3 kids and live in Wheaton, IL. Glenn is passionate about creating a healthy environment where adult volunteers can thrive in their respective ministries. Glenn is also an avid Chicago White Sox and Philadelphia Eagles fan!

Paul Jansen Van Rensburg has had his hand in student ministries from 93 - 06 in South Africa & Willow. From 06 - 08 I was the director of nextgen / arts at willow DuPage. I am currently director of evangelism at Willow Creek South Barrington. have a great wife, Deirdre, and we just celebrated our 10th anniversary and we love every moment with our 11month old Yane.

LEAD222 coach, Bruce McEvoy, has been strategically engaged in early adolescent ministries since beginning in Student Ministry in 1994. He has served as Pastor of Student Ministries at First Baptist Church of Geneva IL for the last 13 years and has recently completed his doctorate in Youth and Family Ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary writing his final project titled -- A Strategy and Model for an Orthopraxis of Early Adolescent Ministry in a Congregational Context. Which honestly is an "academic title" for a 130 page paper researching how critical it is to get ministry RIGHT for ten to fourteen year olds and even better setting up your High School Ministry for success. When asked who are the most unreached people group on the planet he responds, "Middle School Students!" Join us for a discussion about what makes Early Adolescents so special and an area that Student Ministry must not babysit or ignore...but transform!

David A. Zimmerman is the author of Deliver Us from Me-Ville. He speaks regularly on issues related to culture and discipleship, and writes on related topics for www.burnsidewriterscollective.com, www.loud-time.com and http://strangelydim.ivpress.com. He is also an editor for InterVarsity Press.

Richy Fisher has over 20 years of youth ministry experience in various youth ministry settings and has served in churches ranging from small to large, rural to urban. He currently serves as the executive director of student ministries for Sugar Creek Baptist Church which serves grades 6th through college. His passion is for effective student ministries and for most of his career has been developing youth leaders through internship, mentoring and coaching. He has served as a consultant and contributor to numerous ministries both inside and outside the local church and currently serves as a director for LEAD 222 and on the advisory team for SHIFT. Richy and his wife, Susan have been married for 16 years and live in Richmond, TX with their three boys, Ryan (12), William (9), and Nathan (3).

Having a heart for teenagers, Candace (Hargett) Stephenson, a former recording artist from Nashville, Tennessee pours into the lives of students and student ministries around the country. She speaks to a variety of audiences, ranging from students about self esteem and seeing themselves through God’s eyes to student leaders and the tools to be an effective leader. A graduate of Anderson University, Anderson, IN, Candace has her bachelor’s degree in communication with an emphasis in journalism and specialization in Christian Ministries. She is currently the Student Ministry Director at Northeast Community Church in Fishers, IN, a House church pastor, worship leader and a women’s coach for Lead 222 (a partner with the Willow Creek Association and ministry that is seeking to change the culture of student ministry). Candace has been married for 3 years and they have a one year old daughter. Candace resides in Fishers, IN with her husband, Andy and baby Mackenzie.

John Zylka is the Director of Campus Community at Washtenaw Christian Academy in Saline, Michigan. Washtenaw Christian is a Willow Creek Association independent school that is on the cutting edge of spiritual formation with students, providing a unique and culturally relevant atmosphere that facilitates and encourages spiritual growth on a daily basis through carefully developed curriculum and personal relationships. John has a daily front row seat as he observes and interacts with students, staff, and parents to help create and maximize opportunities for individual growth. He is passionate about the need to make certain that every student is on someone's radar that can mentor them in their walk with Jesus Christ.

Rob Bergman is a youth pastor at Windsor Crossing Community Church in St. Louis, Missouri where he helps oversees the middle school and high school ministries. He is currently 29 years old and has been doing ministry for a decade, which gives him enough experience to be experienced and not enough experience to ensure he doesn’t have it all figured out.

Rob has written many articles for Group Publishing such as, Are You Average, Communicating with Middle School Students, and The Do’s and Don’ts of Parent Ministry.

Rob has been married to his wife Rachel for 8 years. They have two children; Caden and Claire who are beautiful.

You can keep up with him at www.youthcrossing.blogs.com/rob

Jody Skogen is a 10 year veteran in youth ministries. She has served full-time through various life stages: being single, married and in parenthood. She understands the realities of balancing ministry and the rest of life and has a passion for guiding and encouraging ministry professionals as they navigate this somewhat treacherous and often fulfilling path. Jody desires to grow in her capacity to live an "abundant" life while she serves as Director of Youth Ministries at St. Mark's Faith and Life Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Kyle Cooper has been involved in youth ministry for the past 18 years.. . Currently, Kyle is the Youth Pastor at Fairfax Community Church outside Washington DC He has been there since 1992. Kyle believes students can lead now, and is passionate about seeing them reach their friends for Christ. Kyle and his wife Loretta were married in 1991 and have 2 children. Carson born in 1999 and Bennett born in 2001. When not hanging out with students Kyle can be found on his boat ( in the summer) He also enjoys running and any kind of junk food available.

Tim Homa~ 41 years old...married to Angie, I have two daughters Jordan and Jensen, both of whom are in my ministry.
I am the Student Ministries Pastor at Bay Pointe Community in Traverse City Michigan
I have been in youth ministry since 1988
I started as an intern in the Student Ministries at WillowCreek
I was a youth pastor in Las Vegas for 10 years
I was an assistant principal at a christian school in las vegas for several years before moving to Michigan in 2006.
I have a BS in Psychology and a MA in Educational Counseling

My name is Kristi Hayes and I have been working with junior high youth for the past 10 years. My husband Grant, 8-month-old son Holden and I have just moved back to Oklahoma City from Washington, DC. I have been on multiple church staffs as a youth minister to junior high students and have worked on capitol hill. I have such a passion to see students make good choices in life. I am currently on staff Skyline Church and we partner with Youth for Christ a national organization that serves schools and students. This year to get into the public school system I was a 7th and 8th grade girls basketball coach for Hefner middle school and have found a new passion in coaching. I have played high school and college basketball. My hobbies include taking vacations with the family and doing triathlons with my husband.

Cyndi is currently co-directing Coaching for Lead 222, a national coaching community for Student Ministry Leaders. Cyndi’s background is in counseling and student ministry. Her early work was in crisis intervention for a State of Florida drug education/prevention program. She then served as a youth pastor in a Methodist Church in Florida. After moving to Chicago, she became Women’s Coordinator for Metro Chicago Youth for Christ/Salt Co. In most recent years , while raising her two children, she served and taught in the Willow Creek Association Leadership Training Center and various other Student Ministries work. Cyndi lives in Wheaton with her husband Mark, who works for Van Kampen Investments. She has two children , Chrystl who is a photography and marketing student and Kyle who lives in Grand Rapids with his wife Charity.

Tim Mannin has been serving in student ministry for over a decade. Tim is currently the Executive Pastor to Students at Journey Church in Norman, OK where he provides oversight to the Jr. High, High School, and College Ministries. He also is pursuing a missional leadership degree from Fuller Theological Seminary. Tim, his wife, Christie, and their two daughters, Emily and Carys, live in Norman, OK.

Brian Schwammlein has been serving as a youth pastor for 8 years. He is currently the Director of Middle School Ministry for Northwoods Community Church in Peoria, Illinois. Brian is passionate about helping teens experience and embrace an active faith in Jesus. He and his wife, Jen, have three kids aged 6, 3, and 1. Brian spent most of his school years in the countries of Singapore and Belgium.

Dave O'Vell was a single youth pastor for over 7 years before getting married to his wonderful wife Amy. Now a father of two precious girls Dave understands ministry as a single and now as a husband and father. Dave is currently serving as the Student Ministry Pastor at McCord Road Christian Church in Sylvania, Ohio. He is a coach with Lead222 and has been a member of Lead222 for the past 7 years.

Jason Raitz is a part of the Elevate staff team at Willow Creek Church and has been a youth pastor since 1995. He's been speaking with students for over a dozen years and still remembers giving his first talk to a couple of kids way back then. He loves to talk about teaching and the greatest baseball hitter of all time—Ted Williams. He and his wife Tracie have been married since 1997 and have four amazingly active and energetic kids.

Scott Bartlow is from Oklahoma City but moved to Chicagoland 3 years ago. I'm married to my beautiful wife Brooke. I have a B.A. Interpersonal Communication and M.A. in Ministerial leadership. I have been involved in youth ministry for the past 8 years. I have lead 6-12th grade for the past 3 years at Willow Creek McHenry County. I currently lead Axis our 18-30 something ministry at Willow McHenry. Scott's desire is to help this generation stay connected with God.

Jesse Oxford has been on staff with Student Impact since 2002 and is currently serving in the role Creative Director. Specializing in graphics and video, Jesse has used his free time to direct videos for organizations like Bono’s ONE CAMPAIGN, DeepDarkSecret.org, and Christianity Today. He and his wife, Jen, live nearby with their kitten Boots.

Matt McCoy is the worship leader for Elevate, the junior high ministry at Willow Creek. He has been leading worship since he was 13, and has a heart to see students connect with God through intimate and passionate worship. Matt is also a songwriter and travels with his band leading worship for youth conferences and events around the country. Check out www.mattmccoymusic.com

Tara Rumler has been leading in Student Ministries at Willow Creek for over 3 years. She currently serves as the Group Life Director of Elevate and Impact at Willow Creek McHenry Regional. Tara graduated from Lincoln Christian College and Seminary with degrees in Bible Theology and Youth Ministry. Prior to Willow, Tara founded and led a culturally-driven campus ministry, GROW, at Lincoln College and also worked in the fitness industry.

Leah Gleason is one of the Group Life Pastor for Elevate, the junior high ministry at Willow Creek. She has been a part of Willow for the past 10 years and has ministry experience in the Axis, Student Impact, Elevate, and Internship ministries. In Leah's current role as an Elevate Group Life Pastor, she is responsible for training and equipping volunteer leaders and teaching. Leah graduated from Judson College with a BA in Human Services and is working towards finishing her Master's Degree in Transformational Leadership.

During his early years Dave grew up in Nebraska (which is why he is such a huge Nebraska Cornhuskers fan) and then moved to Rochester, Illinois in grade school. He went to Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri and graduated in 1999 with a Bachelor of Biblical Literature degree. It was there that he met and married his wife Dawn. His first full-time ministry was in New Philadelphia, Ohio where he was the jr. high and high school pastor for five and a half years. Dave currently is the Student Ministry Director at Northview Christian Life Church in Carmel, Indiana and has been there since September of 2005. He and his wife have three great kids- Jackson, Avery and Mya.

Ben Denen is a full time youth director of an under-staffed, under-resourced youth ministry that decided to fuse together with two other local youth ministries to form a much stronger combined ministry called Fuse Student Ministries. Fuse Student Ministries is located in McHenry County in Northern Illinois, about an hour west of Chicago. He is married with no kids (unless you count a cat) and received his bachelor's degree in Commercial Music from Belmont University in Nashville, TN and is currently pursing a graduate degree in Youth Ministry Leadership through Huntington University.