Smokies

JD Greear

J.D. Greear is the lead pastor of The Summit Church, in Raleigh-Durham, NC, and author of “Gospel: Recovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary” (2011) and “Stop Asking Jesus into Your Heart: How to Know for Sure You Are Saved” (2013). Two main things characterize The Summit Church: its Gospel focus and sending culture. The Gospel is not merely the diving board off of which we jump into the pool of Christianity; it’s also the pool itself. Joy, reckless generosity and audacious faith all come by learning more about God’s extravagant love found in Christ.

God has blessed The Summit Church with tremendous growth. Under J.D.’s leadership, the Summit has grown from a plateaued church of 300 to one of nearly 8,000, making it one of Outreach magazine’s “top 25 fastest-growing churches in America” for several years running.

J.D. has also led the Summit to further the kingdom of God by pursuing a bold vision to plant one thousand new churches by the year 2050. In the last 10 years, the church has sent out more than 300 people to serve on church planting teams, both domestically and internationally. J.D. completed his Ph.D. in Theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary where he is also a faculty member, writing on the correlations between early church presentations of the Gospel and Islamic theology. Having lived and served among Muslims, he has a burden to see them, as well as every nation on earth, come to know and love the salvation of God in Christ.

He and his beautiful wife, Veronica, live in Raleigh, NC and are raising four ridiculously cute kids: Kharis, Alethia, Ryah and Adon.

Ben Mandrell

Ben Mandrell is the 10th president of Lifeway Christian Resources, one of the world’s largest providers of Christian resources headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.

Prior to joining Lifeway, Ben pastored churches in Colorado and Tennessee. Ben and his family moved to the Denver area in 2014 to plant Storyline Fellowship in partnership with the North American Mission Board and First Baptist Church in Orlando, Fla. The church launched in February 2015 and grew to 1,600 in weekly attendance in four years.

In its third year, Storyline voted to quadruple its giving through the Cooperative Program, becoming one of the top 10 churches in the state giving through the Cooperative Program.

Before planting Storyline Fellowship, Ben served as senior pastor of Englewood Baptist Church in Jackson, Tenn., from 2006-2013, leading the church to grow from 1,800 to 2,600 in weekly attendance.

A native of Tampico, Illinois, Mandrell graduated from Anderson (Indiana) University in 1998. He also holds a Master of Divinity degree from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Union University in Jackson, Tennessee.

Mandrell and his wife, Lynley, have been married since 2001. The couple has four children: Ava, Max, Miles, and Jack.

North Point Worship

Internationally known for worship anthems like “Death Was Arrested,” “Abundantly More,” and “Anchor of Peace,” North Point Worship believes the best is still yet to come. The band currently serves over 42,000 people that attend the multi-campus, metro Atlanta-area church every week. As a part of North Point Ministries, North Point Worship is also connected to a global network of more than 90 partner churches and seeks to create songs that inspire people to follow Jesus.

Skit Guys

The Skit Guys are Tommy Woodard and Eddie James, who have been best friends since high school. They fell in love with acting through their involvement in the school’s theater productions, and discovered they had a knack for making people laugh. When Tommy invited Eddie to church, everything changed. With encouragement and guidance from their youth pastor, the guys started to write and perform skits for their youth group. No longer was it just about making people laugh-their skits now had a bigger purpose. Since their high-school days, they’ve been writing and performing hilarious and poignant skits live and on camera.

Tommy and Eddie have traveled the world performing for families at events, churches, and conferences. Their SkitGuys.com website has grown into a treasured media resource for families, pastors and churches. Their numerous short films, skits, and scripts are used to reach families all over the world. When The Skit Guys aren’t performing or shooting new short films, both Tommy and Eddie serve in their local churches, enjoy good food (especially pizza and fries!), and love life with their families.