Flourish 2009 Speakers

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Leroy Barber is the President of Mission Year, a national urban initiative introducing 18-29 year olds to missional and communal living in city centers for one year. Rev. Barber is the Pastor of a church plant, Community Fellowships Church. He was chosen as a contributor to UnChristian: What a New Generation Thinks About Christianity and Why It Matters and recently released his first book New Neighbor.

Rev. Barber will be talking about how green-collar job creation, community gardening, home energy audits, walkability audits, and good neighboring work together the “Green the Hood!”

Andy Crouch is senior editor at Christianity Today International, a member of the editorial board of Books & Culture and author of Culture Making. For ten years he was a campus minister with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Harvard University and holds degrees from Cornell University and Boston University School of Theology.

At Flourish, Crouch will play the role of integrator, summarizing each day’s events and offering provocative suggestions about how the church can engage environmental issues in culturally creative ways. He will also offer a surprising cultural commentary drawing on the plot of the recent Pixar film WALL-E.

Margaret Feinberg is a popular speaker at churches and leading conferences such as Fusion, Catalyst, and LeadNow, and was recently named by Charisma magazine one of the “30 Emerging Voices” who will help lead the church in the next decade. She has written more than a dozen books including the critically-acclaimed The Organic God. (You can add Margaret as a Friend on Facebook: Margaret Feinberg and follow her on Twitter: mafeinberg .)

Becky Hunter, a former biology teacher, was featured in TIME magazine when she served as the President of the Global Pastors’ Wives Network (2006-2008) and is the author of Being Good to Your Husband On Purpose. She is mother to three married sons: Josh and Isaac are in pastoral ministry, and Joel is an ophthalmologist.

Joel Hunter is Pastor of Northland, A Church Distributed and author of books including A New Kind of Conservative. He is an internationally known spokesperson for “Compassion Issues” outlined in Scripture: Sanctity of Life, Creation Care, Justice, Poverty, and Marriage and the Family, and has been featured in national publications including Newsweek and The New York Times, as well as programs such as The Early Show, Nightline and Anderson Cooper 360.

Mark Liederbach is professor of ethics at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC. He has earned a Bachelor’s degree from James Madison University, a Master’s of Denver Seminary and a PhD from the University of Virginia. One of his research interests is environmental ethics and the office of pastor.

Jo Anne Lyon is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of World Hope International, Inc., a faith-based relief and development organization alleviating international suffering and injustice. She holds degrees from University of Cincinnati and University of Missouri, and she currently serves as General Superintendent for the Wesleyan Church. Following a Bachelor of Science degree at University of Cincinnati, Dr. Lyon went on to receive a Masters degree in counseling from the University of Missouri.

Gabe Lyons founded Fermi Project in 2003, a broad collective of innovators, social entrepreneurs, church and societal leaders working together to make positive contributions to culture. Gabe recently engineered Fermi Project’s first book, unChristian, which reveals exclusive research on pop-culture’s negative perception of Christians. Prior to Fermi Project, he co-founded Catalyst, a national gathering of young leaders, while serving as Vice President for John Maxwell’s INJOY organization.

Rick McKinley is lead pastor of Imago Dei Community in Portland , Oregon and author of several books including Jesus in the Margins and Beautiful Mess. His passion to see the church become a force of Jesus’ love in society motivates him to write, serve, and speak around the country.

James Merritt is a popular speaker, author, bible teacher, and Pastor of CrossPointe Church. He is also an author and the host of the internationally-broadcast television program, Touching Lives. As a respected voice of faith who holds a PhD in Evangelism, he has been featured in media outlets such as Hannity and Colmes, Scarborough Country, ABC World News, 60 Minutes and TIME Magazine. From 2000-2002, Merritt served as the President of the Southern Baptist Convention, the world’s largest Protestant denomination.

Tri Robinson is Senior Pastor of Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Boise, Idaho. He is a respected voice in the Creation Care movement and author of several books including Saving God’s Green Earth.

Scott Sabin is the Executive Director of Floresta USA, an international Christian organization that reverses deforestation and poverty by transforming the lives of the rural poor. He has played an integral role in crafting the evangelical ethic of creation care in developing countries. Floresta has made a significant impact by planting 4 million trees, revitalizing thousands of small farms, and making over 6,000 small business loans. Sabin is currently overseeing Floresta’s newest initiative, Plant With Purpose, which is a bold approach to capture the groundswell of interest in the environment and social justice among Christians and society as a whole.

Larry Schweiger is President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Wildlife Federation, an organization seeking to inspire Americans to protect wildlife for our children’s future. Among Schweiger’s creation care efforts was his successful lobbying of Congress to achieve significant environmental legislation like the Clean Water Act and the National Surface Mining Law.

Chris Seay is Pastor of Ecclesia, a Christian community in Houston, Texas and author of several books including To Become One and Gospel Reloaded and has appeared on numerous national television and radio broadcasts. His vision for his endeavor “The Voice,” a newly-released Scripture project to rediscover the story of the Bible, goes back 15 years to his early attempts to teach the Bible in the narrative as the story of God.

Matthew Sleeth is a former emergency room director and chief of medical staff, who now writes, preaches, and teaches full-time about faith and the environment. He is the author of the acclaimed book, Serve God, Save the Planet.

Ed Stetzer is Director of LifeWay Research and has written dozens of articles and books, including Breaking the Missional Code and Lost and Found. He has trained pastors and church planters on five continents, holds two masters degrees and two doctorates, and serves as an Adjunct Professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC.

Ken Wilson is Senior Pastor of Vineyard Church of Ann Arbor, which began in a University of Michigan dorm room before moving to it’s current location. His also an author, most recently of Jesus Brand Spirituality.