Brian Houston, Senior Pastor, Hillsong Church
Brian is passionate about the cause of Christ, consumed with seeing people come into relationship with Jesus and committed to championing the local church. Brian has planted three churches in Australia; the third, Hillsong, launched in 1983 and now has four worship centers plus a citywide network of connect groups and growing congregations in London, Kiev, Cape Town, Paris, Stockholm and Moscow.
Chris Hodges, Senior Pastor, Church of the Highlands
Chris Hodges is known for his relevant teaching style and his passion for raising up leaders to fulfill the Great Commission. Church of the Highlands has experienced amazing growth to over 12,000 members and now offers ten worship services each weekend at four different locations in Alabama. He co-founded ARC in 2001—the same year he launched Church of the Highlands.
Craig Groeschel, Senior Pastor, LifeChurch.tv
Craig Groeschel began LifeChurch.tv in Edmonds, OK in 1996. Under his leadership, it has become one of the country’s first multi-campus churches, with over fifty weekend worship experiences at 13 different locations throughout the United States. Craig and Bobby Gruenewald write daily blog posts for pastors–participate in this blogging community at swerve.lifechurch.tv.
Dino Rizzo, Senior Pastor, Healing Place Church
Dino Rizzo started Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, LA in 1993; today HPC welcomes over 7,200 people in 18 weekend services on 11 campuses. HPC has been named one of America’s Top 25 Most Innovative Churches – a reflection of Dino’s overwhelming drive to show God’s love to the poor and hurting. His book, SERVOLUTION, shares his passion for seeing believers join together in a revolution of serving others—Jesus style.
Priscilla Shirer, Founder and Speaker, Going Beyond Ministries
Priscilla Shirer is a BIBLE teacher. By teaching the Word of God, she wants women to not only know the truths of Scripture intellectually but to experience them practically through the Holy Spirit. Priscilla and her husband Jerry founded Going Beyond Ministries to boldly proclaim the message of God’s love. Going Beyond Revivals for women occur across the country several times a year.
Rick Bezet, Senior Pastor, New Life Church
A Baton Rouge native, Rick served at Bethany World Prayer Center for 13 years (and met his wife Michelle!) before moving to Arkansas in 2001 to plant a new church. Little did Rick and Michelle know how quickly New Life Church would grow as people learned of the fresh and life-giving message of Jesus. Today New Life has four campuses throughout Arkansas and an internet campus.
Robert Morris, Senior Pastor, Gateway Church
Robert Morris is the Founding Senior Pastor of Gateway Church, a multi-campus, evangelistic, Spirit-empowered church in Dallas/Fort Worth. Since it began in 2000, the church has grown to over 15,000 active members. Robert is featured on the weekly television program, The Blessed Life and is the bestselling author of nine books including The Blessed Life, From Dream to Destiny and The Power of Your Words.
Stovall Weems, Senior Pastor, Celebration Church
Stovall Weems is the Founding Lead Pastor of Celebration Church in Jacksonville, FL, a multi-site church reaching people from all walks of life. Since its launch in 1998, Celebration has grown to ten campuses with nearly 11,000 people in weekend attendance. Stovall Weems Ministries is broadcast on television in over 200 countries and can be seen in over 60 million homes across the United States.
Tommy Barnett, Senior Pastor, Phoenix First Assembly of God
Phoenix First Assembly, one of the fastest-growing churches in America, is known as “the church with a heart” because of its 260+ outreach ministries. With an average weekly attendance of over 17,000, Phoenix First is a soul-winning church, committed to reaching the city, country, and world for God. The church is known for strong discipleship training and for founding the Los Angeles, Phoenix and New York Dream Centers. Pastor Barnett is the author of several books including Reaching Your Dreams.
John Maxwell, Leadership expert, author and speaker
Dr. Maxwell is the founder of EQUIP, a nonprofit organization that has trained more than five million leaders in 126 countries. He has spoken to the leaders of Fortune 500 companies, foreign governments, the NFL, the U.S. Military Academy, and the United Nations. Maxwell’s best-selling books include The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Developing the Leader Within You, and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader. He blogs at JohnMaxwellOnLeadership.com.
Miles McPherson, Senior Pastor, Rock Church
From 1982-1985, Miles played with the San Diego Chargers—and became addicted to cocaine. After his second season he committed his life to Christ and stopped doing drugs in one day. In 1992 he founded Miles Ahead, a non-profit organization reaching youth, and in 2000 Miles started the Rock Church, one of the nation’s fastest growing and largest churches. His newest book, DO Something, equips people to take Christ’s love to their community.
Greg Surratt, Senior Pastor, Seacoast Church
Seacoast, in Mt. Pleasant, SC, was an early adopter of the multi-site model and was recognized as influential in future strategies for growth and development. Seacoast combines highly participatory worship with a heart for missional evangelism. Greg calls their weekends a “practical, spirit filled but non-spooky, yet kind of mystical worship experience, done in multiple locations, very inexpensively.” It seems to be working. Seacoast has 29 weekend worship experiences in 13 separate locations.
