Jason Henderson has spent over 20 years in corporate leadership. His experience includes Fortune 500, military and both public and private organizations. He has led professionally on governing boards, in corporate associations and in over 30 countries. He is the COO for Renew.org and a team member of Discipleship.org. He is a graduate of Virginia Tech and the Culinary Institute of America. He lives in Franklin, Tennessee, with his wife and two children.

Shodankeh Johnson is part of the Core Team of New Generations. He is responsible for the mobilization of intercessors across all regions and the training of Disciple Making Movement (DMM) leaders in the ‘pioneer places’ where the gospel has never been or has never flourished. In addition, Shodankeh provides DMM training for movement-minded ministries around the world.

Shodankeh is also the leader of New Harvest ministries in Sierra Leone, West Africa. New Harvest is an indigenous DMM organization that plants churches throughout the region and incorporates a wide-spectrum of ministries such as compassion, business development, leadership development, skills training and advanced education.

Kevin serves as the lead pastor of Turning Point Church in Los Angeles. He has a Master of Arts in Christian Ministry degree from the Harding School of Theology, in Memphis Tennessee. His wife Tracena serves alongside him as a Women’s Ministry Leader. Together, they mentor church leaders in Los Angeles as well as in others parts of the United States. They have two daughters, Tory and Kennidy, and a son-in-law, Tory’s husband, Derrick Hinton.

Christian Ray Flores leads Tribe, a church community in Austin, TX and is co-founder of Third Drive – venture development company. He has a Masters degree in Economics speaks four languages and has lived on four continents. Christian has inspired audiences as an international recording artist, award winning producer and speaker. He has led churches in Russia, Ukraine and the US and has dedicated much effort to serve the poor in Eurasia, Latin America and Africa. Christian is married to Deb de Flores and has three daughters – Diana, Violetta and Isabella.

Dave is a disciple, husband, and dad to 3 young boys. Along with his wife, he planted and helps lead Ethos Church, a young, urban church in Nashville, TN that is passionate about reaching the lost, serving the poor, and releasing ordinary people to plant churches all over the world.

In addition, he is the founder and lead visionary for Onward, a global family of leaders who are committed to making disciples and planting churches across the world and Awaken Nashville, a city wide movement unifying churches in strategic initiatives of prayer and fasting in the greater Nashville area.

Jim is the founder and senior pastor of Real Life Ministries in Post Falls, Idaho. Prior to his role as senior pastor, he served as a youth minister in two small churches. In college, Jim won three All American titles in wrestling and went on to become a successful wrestling coach. Real Life Ministries began as a small group in 1998 and has grown to a membership of more than eight thousand. Ninety percent of its fellowship is active in small groups. Outreach Magazine continually lists Real Life Ministries among the top one hundred most influential churches in America.

Michelle currently quarterbacks the Discipleship Ministry at Harpeth Christian Church in Franklin, TN.

Prior to joining the ministry team at Harpeth, Michelle was a Physician Assistant working with HIV infected mothers and their children in Jacksonville, FL. After a family move to TN in 2008, Michelle began volunteering in the home groups ministry at Harpeth which led to a staff administrative position. A lot of experience has been gained over the years and she takes great pleasure in coordinating and educating home group leaders, as well as matching church members to groups. Much of her experience has been gained through supporting women while they work the 12 steps of Celebrate Recovery. Michelle finds great joy in helping women grow in their relationship with Christ.

Dennis Okouth is a Bible teacher from Kenya Africa. For many years he lead a Christian school in Kenya. Currently he co-leads a network of hundreds of churches in Uganda where he trains men and women in the truths of the Bible and disciple making. He is considered by those who know him well as a wise disciple maker and guide to the Christian faith.

Bobby Harrington is a lead pastor, author of over 10 books on discipleship (including co-writing the books books, DiscipleShift and the Disciple Makers Handbook), a trainer of other leaders and a coach of disciple makers. He is a co-founder of Renew and serves as the executive director. He completed graduate work at Harding University, the University of Calgary, Princeton, and other places before finishing his Doctor of Ministry at Southern Seminary. He lives in Franklin, Tennessee, with his wife and near his two children and two grandchildren.

Sydney is a disciple, wife, and mom to 3 young boys. Along with her husband, she planted and helps serve Ethos Church, a young, urban church in Nashville, TN that is passionate about reaching the lost, serving the poor, and releasing ordinary people to plant churches all over the world.

In addition, she is a college professor with a doctorate in Physical Therapy, and enjoys training disciple makers in a variety of contexts. Sydney is especially passionate about equipping a new generation of women to live as disciple makers.

Renée Webb Sproles grew up in Murfreesboro, TN in a small neighborhood that backed up to her grandparents’ farm. She and her husband, David, met at freshman orientation at Harding University in 1989 and married three years later. In 2005 Renée began homeschooling her two children, Emma and Houston, and in 2014 during her 10th year of homeschooling, Renée became the director of The School of Christian Thought at North Boulevard Church of Christ. God has used her many years of homeschooling experience as well as her degree in Public Relations to develop the facets of the SCT: a speaker series, accredited college coursework through Hope International University, a residential School of Discipleship (teen-adult), and the Discipleship Tutorial (a homeschool tutorial for grades 5-12). At the Discipleship Tutorial, Renee teaches government, economics, personal finance, study skills, and English grammar and writing. She and her husband, David, have co-taught parenting classes for 20 years and currently teach a marriage and family class of 100 students each week.

Brett is the founding pastor of New Life Christian Church in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington DC. Since launching in 1993 New Life has grown to be multi-site and has helped support 240 new church plants. They’ve also built a national church planting ministry Passion for Planting that has impacted countless other church plants by providing Assessment, Training, Project Management and Coaching, and by shaping Exponential into what it is today. New Life also runs the nZone, an indoor recreational facility, which allows over 400,000 Washingtonians experience the love to God every year before they know it’s God’s love they are experiencing. Brett’s greatest blessing on earth is his wife of 29 years, Laura, and their four children. He enjoys sailing, coaching baseball, and his beagle, who will eagerly greet you by wetting the floor.

After graduating college in 2009, Brandon became a disciple of Christ in the Orlando Church of Christ in Orlando, Florida, where he is still a member today. He has struggled with transgender issues since early childhood and, prior to becoming a disciple, he lived as a woman for six years. He also is both same- and opposite-sex attracted and acted on these attractions with others from early childhood through college. Since becoming a disciple, he has lived as a man and has not acted on his same-sex attractions in any way. His experiences have enabled him to encourage many of his brothers and sisters in Christ and help those who face challenges like his.

Brandon received his Bachelor of Science in Accounting and his Master of Accounting from the University of Florida in 2009 and he is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in Florida. He worked at a CPA firm in Orlando for four years after graduating college and has been employed by Disney in Orlando doing corporate tax work since 2013.

My name is Christina Charley, I am a lover and follower of Jesus Christ. I am married to my best friend Damien, and a mother of 4 wonderful children; Mikah 16, Jordan 13, Jonathan 12, and Nate 6. I have been in the health and fitness industry for over 15 years.

I am passionate about helping women (and some awesome men) to live healthy, whole, and fit lives while experiencing the true freedom, love and joy that we were born to experience! I aim to steer health seekers away from obsession and guilt, and point them to a lifestyle of fitness that releases them to freedom. I believe true health exists when we seek health from the inside out. I guide my clients on their path to heal life and health imbalances naturally through my “Love Yourself Transformation,” and through one-on-one and group health coaching. I focus on my clients learning to make intentional choices for themselves through God nutrition, exercise, mindset training, and self-love. I give my clients the tools they need to become the best version of themselves.

David Young grew up in the churches of Christ in Middle Tennessee, where he began preaching at the age of 16. He currently serves as the senior minister for the North Boulevard Church of Christ in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He has worked for churches in Missouri, Kansas, and Tennessee, taught New Testament at several colleges, and traveled widely teaching and preaching, leading mission trips and hosting tours to the Holy Lands and to other religious sites. He has published chapters in several books, has circulated numerous papers, and has published several books, including New Day: Restoring the Revolutionary Mission of Christ’s Church, Alive in the Spirit: A Biblical Theology of the Holy Spirit and Extreme Discipleship: Following Jesus from the Gospel of Mark. He holds the B.A. from Freed-Hardeman University, the M.A. from Harding University Graduate School of Religion, and the M.A. and Ph.D. in New Testament from Vanderbilt University. David and his wife, Julie, have two redheaded children, Rachel and Jonathan.

Douglas Jacoby is an international Bible teacher. After serving as a minister on church staff for 20 years, in London, Birmingham, Sydney, Stockholm, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, and Washington DC, Douglas has worked as a freelance teacher and consultant. He has engaged in a number of debates with well-known atheists, imams, and rabbis. Douglas is also an adjunct professor of theology at Lincoln Christian University. Since the late ’90s, Douglas has led annual tours to the biblical world.

With degrees from Drew, Harvard, and Duke, Douglas has written over 30 books, recorded nearly 600 podcasts, and spoken in over 100 universities, and in over 500 cities, in 120 nations around the world. The Jacobys have three adult children. Douglas and his wife, Vicki, reside in the Atlanta area.

Emily Andrews is a freelance writer with topic knowledge on crime and incarceration in America, as well as prison ministry experience. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia and lives in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.

Joanne Kraft is a nonfiction author and national speaker. Her passion is for women to catch the Titus 2 vision of discipleship. Author of The Mean Mom’s Guide to Raising Great Kids and Just too Busy — Taking Your Family on a Radical Sabbatical, she’s a frequent guest on Focus on the Family, Family Life Today and CBN. Her articles have appeared in ParentLife, Today’s Christian Woman, In Touch, P31 Woman and more. Her newest venture is her podcast Grace & Truth Living, helping women to trust and follow Jesus in their everyday life. Joanne and her husband, Paul, once lifelong Californians, moved their family to Tennessee in 2012. They’ve happily traded soy milk and arugula for sweet tea and biscuits.

Marcus De Carvalho, M.D. is the president and founder of The Center for a Healthy Mind and Wellbeing. He and his wife, Elizabeth attend the Jax Church in Jacksonville, Florida. They are parents to four beautiful boys, Rafa, Paolo, Raoul, and Elan. Marcus is a medical doctor who is board certified with the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. His focus of practice is General Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine. His main passion is helping people regain their lives and become “unstuck” from the addictions and mental illnesses that have kept them in the darkness.

Mike Ackerman is a Professor of New Testament and Church Planting at Ozark Christian College in Joplin, MO.

Melissa Gray has over 10 years of experience as a pharmacist in hospice, mail order, and correctional pharmacy. She recently stepped back from her career in healthcare to focus primarily on her family. Melissa has since ignited a passion for discipleship of women and children and joined the Renew team. She lives in Franklin, TN with her husband, Jonathan, and their two young children.

Sakherra Rizkallah is an Arab Christian who grew up in Bethlehem, Israel. He graduated from Bethlehem Bible College and worked in archaeology for many years (with archaeologist and teacher James Fleming). Sakherra created an exact replica of the Tabernacle from the Old Testament as a tourist destination for several years. He now lives in Nazareth with his wife and four children and serves as tour guide and Bible teacher.

Born and raised in Trinidad, Dr. Sasha Noe moved to the United States at age 17 where she pursued medicine and went on to become an award-winning physician and researcher. She is a dual-doctorate, board-certified, award-winning physician, researcher, international speaker, two-time best-selling author, and expert in chronic disease management, preventative health and medical cannabis.

Tony grew up in Dallas, Texas and Alice Springs, N.T., Australia. His formal education included Milligan College, Emmanuel Christian Seminary, Southern Baptist Seminary, and Indiana University. Following graduation from Milligan he married Suzanne Grogan from Spencer, Virginia. He and Suzanne served churches in Virginia, Tennessee and Indiana with a primary focus on disciple making. His passions are disciple making, spending time with Suzanne, working out and making new friends around the world. He currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer for the TCM International Institute, a global graduate school for disciple makers based in Indianapolis, Indiana and Heiligenkreuz, Austria.