Chris Brooks

Chris Brooks has 15 years of experience working with students, families, Churches, and Institutions. His passion is the spiritual transformation of children & adolescents. He currently serves as the Brand Architect for SHIFT, the student movement of the Willow Creek Association. Chris has been married to his wife, Bobbi, for over 12 years, and they have 2 children: Selah (8), and Gabriel(6).

www.christopherbennett.blogspot.com

Scott Bartlow

sbartlow@willowcreek.org

Casey Cherry

Casey Cherry has been creating and performing music for over 15 years. Before stepping into his current role as music director, Casey spent more than two years serving as the associate director of music of Student Impact, Willow Creek’s high school ministry.

Shane Claiborne

Shane Claiborne is a founding partner of The Simple Way, a Philadelphia-based community of faith that spends much of their time feeding hungry folks, serving neighborhood children, running a community store, and pursing peace and justice amongst the poor. Shane is also the author of The Irresistible Revolution.

www.thesimpleway.org

Brent Crowe

Brent Crowe is the executive director of conferences for Student Leadership University. This program has trained thousands of students to commit themselves to excellence. Brent also travels and speaks at conferences and symposiums worldwide. He and his wife Christina have a son Gabriel and daughter Charis Rose Crowe.

www.brentcrowe.com

Richy Fisher

Richy Fisher is the Executive Director of Student Ministries for Sugar Creek Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. He brings over 20 years of experience in various youth ministry settings and has served in churches ranging from small to large, rural to urban. His passion for effective student ministries has led him to serve as a consultant and contributor to LEAD 222, local non-profits, and leading his ministry staff.

www.sugarcreek.net

Leah Gleason

lgleason@willowcreek.org

Mike Huber

Mike Huber is team Pastor at Cornerstone Community Church in Ocean City, New Jersey. He is also a licensed psychologist providing therapy to adolescents and adults, specializing in trauma and addictions. Previously, Mike spent 11 years as a youth ministry pastor. Mike and his wife Carol have two children, Molly and Ryley.

Paul Jansen Van Rensburg

Paul serves as the Executive Director of Arts and Next Gen ministries at the Willow Creek Dupage campus. Prior to this role, he joined the Willow Creek staff in 2003 as Associate Director of Student Impact, Willow's High School ministry. Paul has 13 years of ministry experience in the area of students and next gen including Student Impact for Willow Creek Community Church and Rhema Bible Church, Johannesburg, South-Africa.

Paul and his wife Deirdre just welcomed their first child, Yané JVR.

Bryan Jones

lgleason@willowcreek.org

Scot McKnight

Scot McKnight is a widely recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. He is the Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies at North Park University in Chicago, Illinois, where he is also the Department Chair and the Director of the College of Christian Life and Thought.

Chicago, IL

Troy Murphy

Troy Murphy works with Good News Holdings, and is involved in multiple areas of ministry and business, where he teaches, leads teams, coaches, and provides strategic development. His desire is to launch people and organizations toward a passionate relationship with God. He and his wife Tricia have four daughters.

www.launch137.com

Jim Newberry

Jim Newberry is Pastor of Student and Young Adult Ministries at Christ Community (Evangelical Free) Church in Leawood, Kansas. He has over 20 years of full-time youth ministry experience and is passionate about local church youth ministry along with the necessary shifts needed for effective youth ministry today.

www.cccstudents.com

Shauna Niequist

Shauna Niequist lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with her husband Aaron, who is a worship leader, and their son Henry. She grew up at Willow Creek, then studied English and French literature at Westmont College, in Santa Barbara, California. She worked in Student Ministry at Willow Creek for five years and as the Creative Director at Mars Hill for three years.

Shauna's first book, Cold Tangerines, is a collection of essays about the extraordinary moments in our everyday lives. Her very favorite things are throwing dinner parties, taking full advantage of Michigan summers, and reading great books.

www.shaunaniequist.com

Aaron Niequist

Aaron Niequist is a worship leader and songwriter from Grand Rapids, Michigan. He recently left his worship leading role at Mars Hill Bible Church, and is currently trying to figure out what to do when he grows up. He and his wife, Shauna, have a son, Henry.

www.aaronniequist.com

Mike Novelli

Michael Novelli is the founder of Echo, where he has spent the last four years developing narratives and training to help others discover the art of "Storying," a dialogical approach to teaching the Bible. For almost 15 years, he has led student ministries in local churches in the Chicago area.

www.echothestory.com

Jason Raitz

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.

www.elev8world.com

Gail Reese

Gail Reese is the vice president of The Ministry of Reconciliation and director of Blanketing Our Cities with Prayer and The Gospel Of Jesus Christ, an initiative to work in love and unity with the body of Christ in the Cleveland area. She also serves on the Ministry Council of the National Network of Youth Ministries. She is a wife and mother of three children.

www.ministryofreconciliationinc.org

Grady Root

groot@willowcreek.org

Leanne Root

lroot@willowcreek.org

Tara Rumler

trumler@willowcreek.org

Chrissie Tofilon

Chrissie Tofilon is a licensed counselor lending her expertise as the onsite Crisis Manger for Student Impact at Willow Creek with over 6 years of ministry experience as one of their House Group leaders and Uprising Campus Ministry coaches. Chrissie has offered consultation to hundreds of youth pastors and volunteers, has contributed to numerous articles and resources, and recently appeared as a teenage suicide prevention panelist on the Emmy award winning television program Different Drummers.

Jeff Vanderstelt

Jeff is the lead elder of Soma Communities in Tacoma, Washington. For 14 years Jeff led youth ministries in a variety of church contexts, including Student Impact, the high school ministry of Willow Creek Community Church. He and his wife Jayne have three children: Haylee, Caleb and Maggie.

www.somacommunities.org

Virginia Ward

Virginia Ward is the Youth Pastor at Abundant Life Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts where her husband, Lawrence, serves as pastor. She also serves as the Director of Youth Ministries for the United Pentecostal Council of the Assemblies of God, where she provides oversight to approximately 30 churches in America and the Caribbean. Virginia and her husband of 23 years reside in Boston, Massachusetts with their two sons.

www.alccambridge.org

Scott Woods

swoods@willowcreek.org

John Zylka

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.

johnzylka@comcast.net

Nick Smoot

Jim Watson

Matthew Plunkett

Seth McCoy

Richie Hutchinson

Brian Schwammlein

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.

Mark Moder

Mark Miller

Mark is currently on staff at Life Church in Wheaton, Illinois. He also consults on story, creativity and communicating Christ in culture. He's the founder of the Jesus Journey, an experiential retreat that makes the story of the Bible accessible to postmoderns. Mark and his wife Stacey have two adopted children from Vietnam, and work with orphan care organizations and churches to raise awareness of the plight of the orphan.

Tim Mannin

Tim Mannin has been serving in student ministry for over a decade. Since starting in ministry, his passion and purpose is to live an authentic life with his family, friends, and ministry community, helping others realize their God-given dreams and potential and empowering them to experience what God has created them for. Tim is currently the Executive Pastor to Students at Journey Church in Norman, Oklahoma, where he provides leadership and oversight to the Jr. High, High School, and College ministries and their staff teams. Tim and his wife, Christie, have two daughters, Emily and Carys.

Jody Skogen

Sean Mixson

Bruce McEvoy

Cindi McClure

Thad DeBuhr

Dave O'Vell

Ronnie Rothe

Todd Lovelace

Todd Lovelace has been investing in the lives of students in Oklahoma City, OK for 13 years. He oversees the suburban campus ministries for Youth for Christ as well as the Family Ministry of Skyline Church in downtown Oklahoma City.

Phil Shields