Jorge Acevedo loves Jesus Christ and his Church. He is the Lead Pastor at Grace Church, a multi-site, United Methodist congregation in Southwest Florida with five campuses (Cape Coral, Fort Myers Shores, Fort Myers Central, Fort Myers Trinity, and Sarasota in Southwest Florida). Grace Church is recognized for its innovation and experimentation around recovery ministries, fresh expressions and other missional ministries. Jorge is a graduate of Asbury College and Asbury Theological Seminary and has authored or co-authored five books. He is married to Cheryl, has two adult sons, Daniel and Nathan, a daughter-in-law Courtney and four grandchildren, Mia, Levi, Seth and Zoe.

Tod Bolsinger is the Vice Presidents and Chief of Leadership Formation at Fuller Seminary, as well as Associate Professor of Leadership Formation. Ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 1993, Dr. Bolsinger served as senior pastor of San Clemente Presbyterian Church from 1997-2014. Prior to that, he served as associate pastor of discipleship and spiritual formation at First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood. With a Master of Divinity and a PhD in theology from Fuller Seminary, Tod has taught Master’s and Doctor of Ministry classes since 2001. Tod has extensive experience in executive coaching, marketplace, church, and nonprofit consulting, blogs on leadership formation (bolsinger.blogs.com), and is the author of THREE books, It Takes a Church to Raise a Christian: How the Community of God Transforms Livesand Show Time: Living Down Hypocrisy by Living Out the Faith, and Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory.

Michael Beck is Director of Re-Missioning for Fresh Expressions US and Cultivator of Fresh Expressions for the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. Michael serves as co-pastor of Wildwood UMC with his wife Jill, where they direct addiction recovery programs, a jail ministry, a food pantry, an interracial unity movement, and a network of thirteen fresh expressions that gather in tattoo parlors, dog parks, salons, running tracks, community centers, and burrito joints. Michael earned a Master of Divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary and a Doctorate in Semiotics and Future Studies at Portland Seminary with his mentor Dr. Leonard Sweet. He is the author of Deep Roots, Wild Branches; A Field Guide to Methodist Fresh Expressions; and Issachar's Secret. Jill and Michael currently live in Wildwood. They have a blended family of eight children, four grandchildren, and two pugs.

The Rev. Canon Dave Male is presently Director of Evangelism and Discipleship for the Church of England based in Church House, Westminster. He leads a large team which aims to equip every worshipper in the Church of England to be able to articulate their faith and live it out in the whole of their lives as well as developing many new fresh expressions of church across the whole of England and releasing 1000 new evangelists .
Dave spent ten years starting and leading the Net Church in Huddersfield which was one of the first fresh expressions of church in the UK.
He has written a number of books and articles on evangelism and pioneering issues and speaks and lectures on evangelism and pioneer issues both nationally and internationally. His latest book ‘How to Pioneer, even if you haven’t a clue’ has been made recently into a course which helps small groups of people to begin new communities His book co-authored with Paul Weston, He is a member of the Archbishops’ College of EvangelistsHe is married to Heather and has three grown up children. Much of his spare time is spent playing or watching sport

Shannon Kiser serves as Director of Training for Fresh Expressions US. She also coaches new worshiping community leaders in the Presbyterian Church USA, and is one of the pastors of  Riverside Presbyterian Church, a northern Virginia church with multiple Fresh Expressions. Additionally, Shannon develops mission plans for churches and judicatories seeking to start new ministries through her work with Phila Consulting Group. She is a graduate of Texas Christian University and has a Masters of Divinity from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Shannon has served churches in Texas and Virginia, as well as the Church Growth Office of the Presbyterian Mission Agency. Shannon and her husband Patrick live in Springfield, VA and have two teenage daughters. 

Keisha Polonio is the Associate Director and Coaching Director for the Tampa Underground Network. As a certified leadership coach, she invests in the lives of leaders who have kingdom dreams. She provides them with the tools necessary to accomplish their goals within their businesses and their personal lives. Originally from Belize, Keisha serves as a storyteller and champion for Created Women, a ministry committed to serving vulnerable women caught in the sex industry. Through this ministry, Keisha is able to showcase God’s compassion and love towards women who are often times left in the dark and forgotten about. Her husband Ryan and Keisha disciple young leaders how to emulate Jesus everywhere they go, in their weekly home church, Kindred. She and Ryan currently reside in Tampa, FL, and are the parents of two wonderful boys: Jarron and Evan. As a cancer survivor, Keisha remembers to always be present and fully celebrate and conquer the trials and joys of life.

Leonard Sweet is the author of more than two hundred articles, 1500+ published sermons and sixty books. His recent publications include the groundbreaking textbook on preaching, Giving Blood: A Fresh Paradigm for Preaching, the best-seller From Tablet to Table, The Bad Habits of Jesus, and the fall 2019 release of the twenty-year successor to SoulTsunami, Rings of Fire: Walking in Faith Through a Volcanic Future. Len often appears on the “50 Most Influential Christians in America” listings, and in 2010 was selected by the top non-English Christian website as one of the “Top 10 Influential World Christians of 2010”. His “Napkin Scribbles” podcasts can be accessed on leonardsweet.com or spotify. His Twitter and Facebook microblogs are ranked as some of the highest in the religious world. Len works with graduate students at four institutions: Drew University, where he has occupied the E. Stanley Jones Chair, George Fox University, Tabor College, and Evangelical Seminary, where he currently holds the Charles Wesley Senior Professorship of Doctoral Studies. In 2015 he launched his own homiletics resource preachthestory.com. One of the most sought-after speakers in the religious world today, he resides on Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands.

Steven Barr is the Founder of Cast Member Church at Walt Disney World and a force to be reckoned with. Spend only five minutes with him, and you'll be inspired to jump into some unknown adventure. With nearly 30 years of pastoral leadership in his rearview mirror, Steven is a visionary, innovator, communicator, and encourager for churches and leaders around the world. However, nothing can compete with his passion for mentoring Cast Members on the journey of following Jesus and living out the unique adventures that God has prepared for each one.  Steven and his wife, Lucia, have two adult children and live within view of Cinderella Castle. He is the author of the book, "A Guide to a Life Beyond Imagination", which shares the innovative disciple-making tool and process he developed for Cast Member Church. 

Kris Beckert is a scientist turned pastor and church planter. She currently serves as the pastor of innovation and multiplication at Salem Fields Community Church in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where she has launched multiple fresh expressions of church. In addition to creating forms of church for pre-Christian people, she also serves as a trainer/mission strategist with Fresh Expressions US. Kris is ordained in the Church of the Nazarene, has an MDiv from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington DC, and is an avid athlete, playing roller hockey and running everything from 5Ks to ultramarathons.

Dave Bindewald is the founder and director of the Center for Play and Exploration. His education in psychology, philosophy, education, and theology comes from Geneva College, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and Trinity School for Ministry. He is curious about almost anything, but a few of his current favorite things are baseball, history, the Large Hadron Collider, rock n' roll, and humor. Dave lives in Highland Park with his wife and three daughters.

J.R. Briggs is a National Trainer & Equipper for Fresh Expressions U.S. He is also the Founder of Kairos Partnerships, a ministry that seeks to love the Church by caring for Her leaders. His role with Kairos Partnerships is expressed through coaching, consulting, speaking, equipping and writing serving a wide variety of leaders, pastors, churches, non-profits, ministries, companies and denominations. He is also an adjunct professor at Missio Seminary, and guest instructor at Friends University, specifically with the Apprentice Institute. He also serves as the Director of Leadership & Congregational Formation for The Ecclesia Network. He is an author, co-author and contributor of nine books that seek to equip and care for kingdom leaders. J.R. and his wife Megan have been married for over 18 years and have two sons, Carter and Bennett. They live in the heart of Lansdale, PA.

Beth Caulfield pastors two growing United Methodist churches in southern New Jersey, is President of the Wesleyan Covenant Association of Greater New Jersey and is an active Trustee for Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association. She previously has pastored multi-campus, small, rural and suburban churches, including a stint with Korean youth in a cross-cultural assignment. While serving on the Bishop’s staff, she was charged with developing turn-around spiritual leaders (clergy and laity) and growing church vitality in the pursuit of making disciples of Jesus Christ. Under her leadership Greater New Jersey church participation in small groups grew in just three years from 42% participation to 82% and over 100 churches participated in Team Vital, a strategic action-planning tool developed by a Conference staff team that she led. She is thrilled to continue to help church leaders innovate at the Spirit’s beckoning through FX.  She and husband Tom enjoy family life with their three children and cat Bella. 

Rev. Jon Davis PhD is a known and recognized leader in the Episcopal Church.  He served as Canon for Youth Ministry in the Diocese of Central Florida; training  youth workers; initiating local, national and international missions and conferences. Jon is a successful church planter starting Church of the Incarnation / Oviedo, Florida in 2006 which grew from 6 people to an average Sunday attendance of 130+ in 2 years.  He most recently served as the Executive Director of Canterbury Retreat and Conference Center during which he lead Canterbury back from the brink of collapse to a strong, sustainable and growing ministry. He is now on staff with Fresh Expressions. He is a sought after, dynamic and engaging speaker, writer, worship leader and ministry trainer. 

June Edwards is a sixth generation Floridian and life-long Methodist. She has served three appointments over the last 20 years in the Florida Conference-Forest UMC (Silver Springs), Druid Hills UMC (Ocala) and most recently as one of the Associate Pastors at First UMC, Lakeland. She is a graduate of the University of Florida (BA Education) and Asbury Theological Seminary (Master of Divinity) where she was part of the first graduating class of the Florida campus. June has served the church at both District and Conference levels: North Central District Mission and Church Extension, North Central District Committee on Ministry, Conference Standing Rules Committee, the Advisory Board of Shade and Fresh Water, Board of Ordained Ministry and the Conference Congregational Vitality Committee.. She and her husband Steve have been married for 39 years and have three daughters and 3 grandchildren.

Luke Edwards is a Mission Strategist and Trainer for Fresh Expressions US. He is also the Associate Director of Church Development for the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church. He was the Pastor of King Street Church, a network of fresh expressions and campus of Boone United Methodist Church in Boone, NC. King Street Church currently has fresh expressions meeting in bars, coffee shops, the local homeless shelter, and the county jail. Luke is a provisional elder in the United Methodist Church and graduated from Asbury Theological Seminary. Participating in local, regional, and national levels of the Fresh Expressions movement has given Luke a unique perspective into the future of the church in a post-Christian society.  

Heather Evans currently serves on the Pastoral staff of Grace Church in Cape Coral, Florida where she lives with her husband and three children.  In addition to leading local reach ministries for Grace like Adopt-a-School, Shoes of Hope, and a food pantry, Heather oversees several Fresh Expressions of church. One of these, Eat, Pray, Love is a dinner church located in the second largest trailer park in America.  Heather is passionate about bringing church to people from all walks of life who are far from God.

David Fitch is B. R. Lindner Chair of Evangelical Theology at Northern Seminary Chicago, IL. He pastors Peace of Christ Church (C&MA) Westmont Il along with three other pastors. He has participated in 7 church plants in his life and coaches church plant all over US and Canada. He writes on the issues the local church must face in Mission including cultural engagement, leadership, and theology. His theology combines Neo-Anabaptist streams of thought, his commitments to evangelicalism and his love for political theory. His latest book is entitled Faithful Presence: How God Shapes the Church for the Sake of the World. He's married to Rae Ann and they have one child, a son Max.

Verlon & Melodee Fosner have led an Assemblies of God congregation in Seattle Washington since 1999. In 2008 the congregation transitioned from a traditional proclamation church into a multi-site Dinner Church called Community Dinners. In 2016, Verlon joined the Fresh Expression US leadership team and began coaching declining churches, leading “Dinner Church Encounters” across the country, and hosting “Seattle Immersions” at their home, which enables a few leaders at a time to observe Dinner Churches in action followed by training conversations around a fireplace. Verlon holds a Doctorate of Ministry from Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, and has written several books. He and his wife Melodee have three adult children, five grandchildren, a collection of grand-foster-kids, and two grand-dogs. 

Sarah Keasler serves as Director of Innovation and Ministry Effectiveness with Fresh Expressions US. She is responsible for fostering innovative approaches and growing the importance of user experience (UX) research and innovation in service of Fresh Expressions’ strategic initiatives. Keasler is a leader in non-profit management and human-centered design methodologies, and has received her undergraduate degree from University of Miami and her MBA from Friends University, with a concentration in Change Management. Sarah and her husband Keas live in Wichita, KS with their baby boy Theo. 

Tyler Kleeberger is the appointed clergy for The Farmhouse in rural Metamora, OH of the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church. Having grown up in Toledo, OH, Tyler went on to attend the University of Mount Union where he graduated in 2012 with a bachelor's degree in Interpersonal & Peace Communication. It was also at Mount Union that Tyler met his spouse Vanessa & started a church on campus. After graduating, they then left for Pasadena, California where Tyler attended Fuller Theological Seminary - only to be brought back to Ohio by the unexpected birth of their first child, Landon. They have since added two more children to their family, Toren, and Quinn. While Tyler grew up in various Christian circles, he left the church for a season of life, only to come back in hopes of changing the church that he had lost hope in. The Farmhouse, as a new church start, comes out of this vision to reimagine the church in the hopes of reimagining its rural community. Tyler, Vanessa, Landon, Toren, and Quinn live in Metamora, OH where Tyler is also a freelance writer.

Jonathan Kollmann serves as the Pastor of Connections and New Ministry Development at Anderson Hills United Methodist Church. He leads a network of nine fresh expressions that reaches over 400 people a month. The fresh expressions gather in breweries, art studios, American Legion Posts and homes. He also provides training and coaching in fresh expression ministry for churches in the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church.  His passion is to mentor and equip pioneers for innovative fresh expressions in Cincinnati, OH. Jonathan earned his Master of Divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary; Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Xavier University and he is a former United States Air Force Chaplain (Major). Jonathan and his wife Kimberly live in Cincinnati, Ohio with their two dogs, Mookie and Maggie. They have a daughter and a son who both currently attend college. 

Matt Lake serves as the Lead Pastor of the First United Methodist Church of Williamsport, PA—an urban congregation that consists of a mix of traditional and contemporary worship experiences.  First Church also currently hosts a network of fresh expressions of ministry called the Acts Network in which people meet in places such as homes, gyms, and coffee shops. Matt is a graduate of Messiah College has an Master in Divinity from Duke Divinity School.  Matt is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Ministry focusing on Semiotics and Future Studies through Portland Seminary. Matt has worked with a variety of churches in a consultant role and has a passion to see God’s Kingdom impacted through lives transformed in the love of Jesus Christ.  Matt is deeply in love with his beautiful wife Jennifer and is doing his best to keep up with his three amazing teenagers—Alexandra, Joshua, and Zach.

Paul Maconochie is originally from Sheffield, England. In the UK he was the Pastor of St. Thomas’ Church Philadelphia, a church where the the 3DM ‘Lifeshapes’ tools were developed, and which saw hundreds of people come to faith through Missional Communities. He now leads 3DM for North America, a non-profit which works with churches across the US and Canada to help them to build a culture of missional discipleship. He is also a Pastor at Grace Gathering Church in Fort Wayne Indiana and works closely with the ‘Uptick’ team of the BGAV.

Mitch Marcello is the Director of the Acts Network, a collection of fresh expressions of faith connected with the local church. He works with leaders to explore faith expressions, create meaningful communities and grow personal understanding about what it means to be a disciple in a rapidly changing culture. After spending five years working with the CCO (Coalition for Christian Outreach) doing college ministry and community outreach, Mitchell sees the importance of contextualizing ministry, and knows connecting pioneering ministries with the traditional church is vital to the Gospel being spread. It is not about being the newest form of ministry, but about doing what is needed to make the Gospel “news” again. Mitchell works at First United Methodist Church in Williamsport, PA, has helped start eleven faith communities and is in the process of launching fresh expressions of worship throughout Williamsport. Mitchell holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts and an Artist Diploma from Carnegie Mellon University.

Eliseo A. Mejia is a pastor, missiologist, and a church-planting leader. He has been planting churches the last 29 years in different cultures, contexts, and countries. In the last 19 years with God’s help and an exceptional team of pastors he led church plating efforts in the heart of Kentucky where he served as the Associate Director of Hispanic, multiethnic, and international church planting ministries with the New Church Development team.  His passion to reach the lost moves his heart to equip young and seasoned leaders in the USA and internationally. He is an ordained elder in the Kentucky Annual Conference where he serves as the senior pastor of Paris First UMC. Dr. Mejia, similarly led Mosaic UMC, a multicultural and multiethnic merged congregation in Louisville, KY. He served as the President of The National Association of Hispanic Leaders. God opened the door to join Fresh Expressions USA team as the Acting Coordinator of Expresiones Divinas in Spanish.

Shawn Mickschl is a part-time Licensed Local Pastor in the Kentucky Annual Conference. He is intentionally bi-vocational, leading a network of Fresh Expressions of the Church in Nicholasville, KY and serving at Copper River Grill. He is a pastor cleverly disguised as a waiter. Shawn is married to Tammy, his partner in ministry. They have two girls, ages 14 and 9.

Jay Moon served 13 years as a missionary with SIM, largely in Ghana, West Africa among the Builsa people focusing on church planting and water development, along with his wife and four children. He is presently a Professor of Evangelism & Church Planting and Director of the Office of Faith, Work, and Economics at Asbury Theological Seminary. He authored four books, including Intercultural Discipleship: Learning from Global Approaches to Spiritual Formation in the Encountering Mission Series by Baker Academic. He also edited four books, including Entrepreneurial Church Planting: Innovative Approaches to Engage the Marketplace. He is a frequent speaker on areas of church planting, evangelism, and marketplace mission. In addition to his role as a teaching pastor in a local church plant, Jay holds a Professional Engineer’s license and his MBA focused on social entrepreneurship. His hobbies include tree houses, axe throwing, and small business incubation.

Isaac and Jaime Olivarez founded the non-profit Urban Outreach Denver in 2012 and planted a Thursday night dinner church called Community Dinners, a church for Denver’s homeless and marginalized in 2013. UO Denver is located in Five Points, an inner city Denver neighborhood historically known for crime, drugs and poverty, but that is currently experiencing a resurgence of economic growth. Isaac and Jaime also launched a Monday night kids dinner church called Little Rascals, and host a summer kids camp, short-term missions teams, back-to-school outreaches, as well as Thanksgiving and Christmas outreaches. Isaac and Jaime have been married 17 years and have three kids: Isabella (13), Abraham (9) and Nasya (6). 

Mike Snedeker is the Lead Pastor of Community Evangelical Church in Sinking Spring, PA –  a congregation that averages about 400 in attendance on Sunday mornings. He began working with Community in September of 1993 as the youth pastor and has served in many different roles until becoming the Lead Pastor in April of 2012.  Mike has a passion for church multiplication and fell in love with the FX model about 3 years ago. Over the past year, Community has passionately pursued making disciples in and out of the church and has partnered with Fresh Expressions to help establish new ministry models in and around Berks County, PA. Mike Snedeker is married to his wife Beth for 23 years and is the proud father of two girls Allysa and Cassidy. 

Dr. Dee Stokes is a program builder who utilizes her apostolic gift to repurpose organizations, Dr. Dee Stokes ministers in a variety of settings, but her passion is preaching, teaching, and empowering others to WIN! She spent a little over two years in a repurposing adventure at Unity United Methodist Church where God gave her a blueprint to do Church Unusual! This concept is moving from a traditional model of Sunday meetings to a model of community engagement with witty ideas and ways of reaching the lost for Christ. It is not a re-missioning, as God’s Church has one mission, and that is to make disciples, but it is a re-branding, re-purposing, and re-visioning how to accomplish the great commission and bring the Kingdom of God to life in our community. It is a fresh expression of church as well as a missional community. This is the new thing the Lord is doing in the earth! Dr. Stokes is also an author, educator, and President/CEO of Dee Stokes Ministries, Inc., a non-profit speaking, writing, training, discipleship/life coaching, and missions ministry.

Craig Williams serves as Western Regional Coordinator and Mission Strategist for Fresh Expressions US. Craig was the organizing pastor of Trabuco Presbyterian Church of the PCUSA and pastored that congregation in Southern California for 19 years. Since, Craig has served the PCUSA both regionally (in the Pacific Northwest) and nationally (as Catalyst for 1001 New Worshiping Communities in the Western States). Craig developed a process for assessing potential church planting leadership, Discerning Missional Leadership and has assessed hundreds of individuals who have expressed interest in new expressions of church. He also helped develop the PCUSA’s national coaches network and was one of the authors of “Starting New Worshiping Communities: A Discernment Process”. As Pastor of Emmanuel Presbyterian Church, he thinks it’s time to assist an inherited congregation with embracing a mixed economy of Church for a changing context.