Presentations

Be exposed to over twenty presenters on a myriad of topics revolving around Culture, Future, Church, and Gospel, meant to engage and deepen your awareness of these key ideas. Learn from innovators, social entrepreneurs, entertainers, artists, church shapers, futurists, scientists, educators, historians, environmentalists and everyday people doing extraordinary things.

As participants have come to expect, we work very hard to confirm amazing presenters. Below are a few of those confirmed for Q 2009 and there are many more in process that will be continually added in the days ahead.

Post-Christendom Mission
Alan Hirsch | Author, The Shaping of Things to Come

Creating Culture
Andy Crouch | Author, Culture-Making

Justice in the Suburbs
Heather Larson | Willow Creek Church, Chicago

Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Tyler Wigg-Stevenson - Founder, Two Futures Project

The Future of Worship
David Crowder | Lead Singer, David Crowder Band

Ensuring Social Entrepreneur Success
Dr. Stephen Graves | Author & Business Coach

Justice in Darfur
Shannon Sedgwick Davis | Bridgeway Foundation

Medium is the Message
Shane Hipps | Author, Flickering Pixels

Pluralistic Evangelism
John Burke | Author, No Perfect People Allowed

Art for Justice
Emmanuel Jal | Hip Hop Artist featured in War Child Film

The Gospel Revisited
Tim Keel | Pastor, Jacob’s Well

Culture of Consumers
Micah M. White | Writer and Contributing Editor, Adbusters Magazine

Culture Shaping in Portland
Rick McKinley | Founding Pastor of Imago Dei Community

Uncovering our Hidden Misogyny
Mike Foster | Founder, Ethur

Iconoclast Thinking
Gregory Berns | Distinguished Chair of Neuroeconomics at Emory University

What I Wish My Pastor Knew About Science and Scientists
Catherine Hirshfeld Crouch | Assistant Professor of Physics, Swarthmore College

The Irony of Church Marketing
Chris Seay | Pastor of Ecclesia Houston

Countercultural Living
Rod Dreher | Author, Crunchy Cons





Alan Hirsch is known for his innovative approach to mission, Alan is a teacher and key mission strategist for churches across the western world. His books, The Shaping of Things to Come, and, The Forgotten Ways, are widely considered to be key references for missional thinking. His new book ReJesus is a radical restatement about the role that Jesus plays in defining missional movements. Alan is an adjunct professor at Fuller Seminary and lectures frequently throughout Australia, Europe, and the U.S.






Andy is editorial director for The Christian Vision Project at Christianity Today International and executive producer of the documentary films Where Faith and Culture Meet and Round Trip. He is a member of the editorial board of Books & Culture, and a senior fellow of the International Justice Mission¹s IJM Institute. His writing has appeared in several editions of Best Christian Writing and Best Spiritual Writing. He lives with his family in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.






Heather Larson leads the Compassion/Justice Ministries at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill. She began her career working for the American Red Cross in national disasters and on local Chicago initiatives. Her vision for the church to be a major vehicle for sustainable and lasting social change led her to Willow Creek and inspired her to develop numerous ways for Christians to engage in compassion and justice ministry at the local, city and global level. She was part of the team that architected to Willow Creek's response to HIV/AIDS and their Africa initiative. Heather and her husband, Dan, have two young daughters, Teagan and Avery.






Tyler Wigg-Stevenson founded and leads the Two Futures Project, a confessional Christian initiative seeking a world free of nuclear weapons. An author and ordained Baptist preacher with nearly a decade of experience in nuclear weapons issues, he also directs policy for Faithful Security, a national multi-faith coalition working to reduce the nuclear threat, and sits on the Global Security Institute¹s Board of Directors. Tyler formerly served as Study Assistant to John Stott and Projects Director for the late U.S. Senator Alan Cranston, and currently lives in Nashville with his wife, Natalie.






David Crowder is a Singer/guitarist who first stepped into the music industry when he realized that over half of the students at Baylor University, a Christian school that he attended in Waco, TX, were not going to church. He began to actively recruit students for worship services and started writing songs to draw more young people in. He eventually started releasing the songs, leading to his debut album in 2002. This was his first of seven albums and today is known as a pioneer in musical styles and genres. He won't be playing, he will be speaking.






Dr. Stephen Graves has been coaching senior leaders, business owners and entrepreneurs for over two decades. He is known for his wisdom, wit and ability to see through the complex to a simple path of progress. Graves is the founder of Coaching By Cornerstone, co-founder of the Life@Work Company and Giant Leaders, and has co-authored nearly a dozen books on leadership and business. He and his wife have three children and live in Fayetteville, AR.






Shannon Sedgwick Davis is a partner at Bridgeway Foundation. She previously served as vice-president of Geneva Global and as Director of Public Affairs at International Justice Mission. Most recently, Shannon has joined the advisory board of The Elders, a collective group of world leaders assembled to contribute their wisdom, independent leadership and integrity to tackling some of the world's toughest problems. The Elders include, Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, President Jimmy Carter and Kofi Annan among others. Shannon was in Darfur recently with the Elders focusing on ending the nearly 5 year genocide raging in that area.






Shane Hipps is pastor of Trinity Mennonite Church, a growing Anabaptist community of faith. Before this he was a strategic planner in advertising where he gained expertise in understanding media and culture. Shane is author of The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture: How Media Shapes Faith, the Gospel, and Church, and Flickering Pixels: How Technology Shapes your Faith (March 2009). He is a dynamic communicator and sought after speaker. For more information visit www.shanehipps.com






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. He is the author of No Perfect People Allowed and Soul Revolution. Before starting Gateway, John was the executive director of ministries at Willow Creek Community Church. He and his wife Kathy are the parents of two children, Ashley and Justin.











Tim Keel is the founding pastor of Jacob’s Well in Kansas City, MO. He is married to Mimi and together they have three children: Mabry, Annie, and Blaise. Tim received a BFA in Design from the University of Kansas and a master of Divinity from Denver Seminary. Tim is an avid reader and loves to learn, write, and teach. He is passionate about creating spaces for people to connect to God, themselves, and others. He is also the author of Intuitive Leadership: Embracing a Paradigm of Metaphor, Narrative, and Chaos.






Micah M. White is a writer and Contributing Editor at Adbusters Magazine. He is a successful activist whose campaigns have been featured in national media including the AP, the Chronicle for Higher Education, the New York Times, Teen People magazine and during a guest appearance on Bill Maher's Politically Incorrect. Micah is currently writing a book on the future of activism. He graduated from Swarthmore College with a BA in Philosophy and is currently pursuing a PhD in Media and Communications from the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. He currently lives with his wife and two cats in Binghamton, NY.






Rick McKinley is the founding pastor of Imago Dei Community in Portland, Oregon, a missional community loving and blessing the city. Rick is the co-creator of the Advent Conspiracy, which is an initiative designed to help solve the water crisis by calling Christians back to the real meaning of Christmas. He is also co-creator of Love Portland, a growing city-wide initiative designed to engage the church in strategic relationships with their community by serving neglected areas and people in the city. He is the author of "Jesus in the Margins" and "This Beautiful Mess: Practicing the Presence of the Kingdom of God". Rick is married to his best friend, Jeanne, and they have four wonderful children.






Mike is the President of Ethur, a non-profit organization developing initiatives that promote spiritual and social change. This innovative company utilizes creative professionals to jump start kingdom related projects. In 2002, Mike founded XXXchurch.com and led the creative vision for the ministry. His work has appeared on CNN, FOXNEWS, The Daily Show, and in The New York Times. He Currently Lives in Southern California with his wife Jennifer and his two children Jackson and Taylor.






Gregory Berns is the Distinguished Chair of Neuroeconomics at Emory University, where he is a professor in the departments of Psychiatry and Economics, and at the Gouzueta Business School. He has been profiled -- and his work has been ecstatically reviewed -- in The New York Times, Forbes and The Wall Street Journal, as well as other leading business and science publications. For his pioneering work in Neuroeconomics, Gregory Berns is highly sought after by political, corporate and policy leaders to speak on human motivation, decision-making and, increasingly, the science of innovation. In addition to Iconoclast: A Neuroscientist Reveals How to Think Differently, he is also the author of Satisfaction: The Science of Finding True Fulfillment.






Catherine Hirshfeld Crouch is Assistant Professor of Physics at Swarthmore College, where she teaches, develops curricular materials and pedagogical strategies for undergraduate physics, and studies the optical properties of nanoscale materials. She has published more than twenty peer-reviewed research articles and she regularly involves Swarthmore undergraduate students in her experimental work. Her award-winning essay on the religious implications of quantum mechanics, "The Strangely Relational World of Quantum Mechanics," appeared in re:generation quarterly in 2000. She is married to Andy Crouch and together they are raising their children Timothy and Amy.






Chris Seay is a leader in the emerging church discussion, church planter, author, and third generation baptist pastor. Currently, Chris is the President of Ecclesia Bible Society where he is orchestrating a Scripture project that seeks to retell the biblical narrative with the literary beauty of great poetry and story as well as historical truth. As Pastor of Ecclesia Houston, Chris leads a unique congregation that is living out the gospel faithfully in an urban environment. He is also the author of seven books, including The Gospel According to Tony Soprano, The Gospel Reloaded, and The Last Eyewitness.