Brad has been involved in church planting for over 13 years and is currently a church planting strategist for a network of church in Kansas City, where he recruits, trains, and coaches church planters. Brad’s blog, www.missionalchurchnetwork.com is considered essential reading by many students of the missional conversation. He holds a Masters of Divinity and Doctorate of Ministry in Ecclesiology.

Noel is CEO of the Christian Community Development Association and established the CCDA Institute, which equips emerging church leaders in the philosophy of Christian Community Development. Noel was appointed to serve on President Obamaʼs Council for Faith and Neighborhood Partnerships, and is a highly sought after speaker, motivator, and mentor to young leaders throughout the USA, and has a deep passion to serve and invest in the lives of leaders committed to serving the poor. He is the co-author of A Heart for the Community, New Models for Urban and Suburban Ministry, and has contributed to various other books and publications, including Deep Justice in a Broken World, A Heart for the City, and Crazy Enough to Care. He and his wife, Marianne, have three children; Noel Luis, Stefan, and Anna, and make their home in the barrio of La Villita in Chicago.

Neil is an experienced church planter and pastor. He co-founded Church Multiplication Associates (CMA) and the Greenhouse Movement, which has grown to thousands of churches in 50 states and 40+ nations. Neil has authored Church 3.0, Organic Church, Organic Leadership, Search & Rescue, Cultivating a Life For God, and several other books. Neil lives in Long Beach, California with his wife Dana and their three children.


Kathy Escobar co-pastors The Refuge, an eclectic faith community dedicated to those on the margins of life and faith in North Denver.  A speaker, spiritual director, group facilitator and advocate, Kathy is passionate about community, equality, justice, and change in the church.   She has written several books, including the most recent, Down We Go: Living into the Wild Ways of Jesus, which is centered on cultivating incarnational community in a wide range of contexts.  She blogs regularly about life and faith at www.kathyescobar.com and lives in Arvada, Colorado with her husband and 5 children.

Dave is the Lead Pastor of Community Christian Church, an innovative multi-site missional community who is passionate about “helping people find their way back to God”. CCC has thirteen locations throughout Chicago and was recognized as one of the most influential churches in America. He is the author of The BIG IDEA (2007) and Exponential (2010) and On The Verge (2011). Next to Jesus, Dave loves his wife Sue immensely and his three terrific kids Amy, Joshua and Caleb.

Lance has over two decades of experience as a pastor, church planter, coach, and consultant and is the cofounder of the Sentralized Conference and KC Sentral, a missional training network in Kansas City. He is the co-author, with Alan Hirsch, of Right Here Right Now, Everyday Mission for Everyday People, and the author of UnLeader, Reimagining Leadership…and Why We Must, as  well as the co-author of Missional Essentials, A Guide for Experiencing God’s Mission in Your Life

Mike is a leading voice in the international missional church movement. He is Vice Principal of Morling College and the founding Director of the Tinsley Institute, a mission study centre located at Morling College in Sydney, Australia. Mike is the author or editor of a dozen popular Christian books that has led to regular speaking engagements at international conferences all around the world. Frost is also a church planter, having launched the missional community, Small Boat Big Sea, in Sydney in 2002.

Laura is a wife, mom & practitioner. She is the Co-Director of Forge Dallas & Co-Founder of Waken Ministries both organizations helping with missionary formation & discipleship. She lives in the North Dallas suburbs where she mentors teenage girls in her home as well as longs to see her neighborhood look more like the kingdom of God each day. Her heartbeat is for every follower of Jesus to see themselves as missionaries in their every day lives.

Ryan is a husband, dad, and practitioner. He co-directs Forge Dallas & Waken Ministries with his wife, Laura Hairston. Ryan also serve on the Forge America National Team as the Director of Training. Ryan and his wife live in North Dallas and long to see their neighborhood and city look more like the Kingdom of God. Alongside this Ryan seeks to help all people realize their ability for life change and world transformational. He is also a missionary mobilizer & trainer, consultant, & teacher/speaker.


Hugh lives in Denver with his wife Cheryl and his two daughters Alli and McKenna who are heading off to college soon. After 25 years of living at home, their son Ryan who has struggled with epilepsy since birth, now lives in Beverly Farms, an assisted living center in Illinois for adults with disabilities. He now enjoys making key chains, taking college courses, riding horses and according to Hugh, checking out the ladies. Hugh is an author, the founder of and is the lead pastor of .  He speaks extensively across the country encouraging and equipping pastors in incarnational ministry and missional leadership. Hugh is the co-author Tangible Kingdom, AND, and wrote Sacrilege.


Kim is a husband, father, follower of Jesus, Pastor, National Director of Forge America & Director of Missional Imagination for Community Christian Church and New Thing Network, Clock builder, mentor, motivator and mobilizer of missionary leaders & their movements.


Brandon is founding pastor of Austin New Church, co-founder of Restore Communities, a Missional Strategist with Missio (www.missio.us), and author of "Barefoot Church: Serving the Least in a Consumer Culture".

Jen Hatmaker and her husband, Brandon, live in Austin, Texas where they lead Austin New Church and raise their brood. They pioneered Restore Austin, connecting churches to local and global non-profits for the spiritual and social renewal of Austin and beyond. Jen speaks at events all around the country. She is the author of nine books and bible studies, including Interrupted and 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess. Jen and Brandon have five children: Gavin – 14, Sydney – 12, and Caleb – 10, and they’ve recently added Ben – 9, and Remy – 7 from Ethiopia. Check out her ministry, schedule and blog at jenhatmaker.com.

Alan is a teacher and key mission strategist for churches across the western world. His popular book The Shaping of Things to Come (with Michael Frost) is widely considered to be a seminal text on mission. Alan’s book, The Forgotten Ways, has quickly become a key reference for missional thinking, particularly as it relates to missional movements. Alan is the founding Director of Forge Mission Training Network.

Deb is a conference speaker, church leader, and writer. While co-leading a church in Melbourne, Australia she also pioneered a ministry to the GLBTQ community. She is author (with Alan Hirsch) of Untamed: Reactivating a Missional Form of Discipleship.  She currently serves as a minister of Tribe of LA, a group of missional artists and vagabonds. She is also on the leadership team of Christian Associates (a church planting movement in Europe, North & South America). Debs has a heart for the poor and for those on the margins of both the church and broader society.

Caesar is a spiritual entrepreneur and an avid storyteller. Past work includes communications, media production, and extensive travel in international missions. He is a master missional strategist and coach who has helped numerous church planters start, grow and multiply new churches. He is one of the founders of Soma Communities and currently serves as the Director of the GCM Collective. He and his wife of 29 years, Tina, live in Tacoma, Washington.

Chris has been leading worship for churches, conferences, and a house of prayer for more than two decades. She has been a part of a church planting team, a home-schooling mom, a vocal coach, and mentor. Her passion is teaching and coaching all generations of worshipers to understand the Biblical, spiritual and musical dynamics of worship. Her hope is that her teaching can lead people to greater intimacy with Jesus, knowing that will ultimately lead to missional living. In Huntsville, AL , Chris is the Asbury UMC Director of Contemporary Worship.

Brian is the founder and Executive Director of the Underground Network, an international micro church movement united by the prophetic call to love the poor, reach the lost and seek biblical justice. Locally the Underground is made up of 70 micro churches that are seeking to be missional expressions of the church in the Tampa Bay area. Globally, the underground is currently planting movements in Haiti,

Germany, and the Philippines. Brian is the author of Life After Church: God’s Call to Disillusioned Christians, and Elusive: The Pursuit of Jesus and Humility, and In Your Underwear: Life in Intentional Christian Community.

Jon is a singer/songwriter and worship leader, living in Kansas City. He lives among and serves as worship director for The Gathering Network, a spirited community of 20-somethings rising into their call to be sent into the world as friends of Jesus Christ. Together they are joining a growing movement of young adults determined to use what resources they have to help make wrong things right in the world.

Matt is the co-director of Missio, a ministry team committed to training, developing, and apprenticing Incarnational leaders for the church. Within Missio, Matt directs the MCAP, an online collaborative training environment for Incarnational leaders, pastors, and church planters. As co-author of The Tangible Kingdom and the accompanying Tangible Kingdom Primer, Matt balances his time and energy between leading Adullum, a local movement of missional communities in Denver, CO and working directly with church planters and existing pastors as a mentor, coach, and consultant.

Ed is President of LifeWay Research and author of numerous books including, Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches that Reach Them. Ed is a contributing editor for Christianity Today, a columnist for Outreach Magazine, a visiting professor at two prominent seminaries, and is frequently cited or interviewed in news outlets such as USA Today and CNN. He and his family reside outside of Nashville, TN.

Kirsten is the Founder and Director of Community 4:12, the compassion and justice ministry of Community Christian Church.  She and her family relocated into the under-resourced community of East Aurora, IL in 2007 as part of a broader community development strategy.  Their focus has been working through the public schools and in partnership with other non-profits, churches, and the City of Aurora to impact education and homeownership in the community.  Their work also laid the groundwork for planting a bilingual campus of Community Christian Church in 2010.

A Salvation Army officer, Danielle is outspoken, vivid, and is widely appreciated as a speaker. She contends that women everywhere remain subjugated by cultural norms that tell them to conform, hold back, and turn aside from God’s call upon their lives. Consequently many women fail to play a full part in the healing and restoration of society. Danielle believes the church should take the lead. In her prophetic book, The Liberating Truth: How Jesus Empowers Women, Danielle observes: “We should be the ones who model an alternative approach to leadership. We are the ones with the Bible and the witness of the Holy Spirit who through Scripture, reason, tradition and experience has shown, over and over again His heart for the release of women to exercise their gifts.”


David is an editor for InterVarsity Press Books and a columnist at Burnside Writers Collective. His books include Deliver Us from Me-Ville and the devotional compilation My Heart--Christ's Home Through the Year.