Connect Conferences

Ed Stetzer

Ed Stetzer has planted churches, transitioned declining churches, trained pastors and church planters on five continents, and taught at more than 15 seminaries. He holds two masters degrees and two doctorates, and has written dozens of articles and books, including co-authoring Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches that Reach Them. Ed is currently the director of LifeWay Research and LifeWay’s missiologist in residence. Visit his daily blog at edstetzer.com.

Jason Hayes

Jason Hayes is the young adult ministry specialist for Threads. His primary role for Threads is to serve as a speaker, church consultant, and writer. He is the co-author of Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches That Reach Them and the author of Blemished: How the Message of Malachi Confronts Empty Religion. Jason earned a Master of Divinity from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Prior to coming to LifeWay, he served at Long Hollow Baptist Church in north Nashville. He is also happily married to his beautiful wife, Carrie, and is a proud dad to their two sons. Learn more at jasonhayesonline.com.

Sam Rainer

Sam S. Rainer III serves as president of Rainer Research, a firm dedicated to providing answers for better church health. He also serves as campus pastor at Sarasota Baptist Church, a multi-site church on the suncoast of Florida. Sam is the co-author of Essential Church. He is a contributing editor at Outreach magazine, and he has written articles for several publications. He is a frequent conference speaker on church health issues. Sam and his wife, Erin, live in Florida. Connect with Sam at twitter.com/samrainer, or at his blog, samrainer.wordpress.com.

Thom Rainer

Thom S. Rainer is the president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources and is responsible for leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention’s education, church programs, and publishing agency. He has consulted with hundreds of churches and spoken in hundreds of venues world-wide. Among his publications are countless articles and 20 books, including co-authoring Essential Church. He and his wife, Nellie Jo, have three grown sons and live in Nashville, Tennessee.

Adam Thomason

Adam grew up in Detroit, Michigan, before moving to Savannah, Georgia, to attend Savannah College of Art and Design, where he received a bachelor’s degree of fine arts in fashion design. The Lord then allowed Adam to attend Dallas Theological Seminary. Adam is one of the associate pastors of The Village Church at the Dallas Northway campus. He is also the director and vision-caster for Red Revolution and the author of the Threads small group study, Red Revolution. Adam resides in Dallas, Texas, where he lives out his calling of infiltrating Christ in the culture with his wife, Dawntoya, and daughter, Zipporah.

Brent Hutchinson

Brent Hutchinson is the Community Life Pastor at Rolling Hills Community Church. Brent was raised in rural Lawrence County, Kentucky. His journey with God started very early at a small, country Methodist church, and he recognized Christ as Lord and Savior when he was seven. However, his deepest discipleship really began when he went to college at Morehead State University and got involved in the Baptist Student Union. There, Brent learned what it meant to really follow God and to own his faith. He was exposed to ministry, missions, Christian leadership, and true fellowship, really for the first time.

Brent earned his B.A. in Social Science from Morehead in 1996, then went on to serve as the Student Minister at Nicholasville Baptist Church in Nicholasville, Kentucky, from 1997 to 1999. He began graduate studies in Family Studies/Marriage and Family Therapy at the University of Kentucky and graduated with his master’s degree in 2001. At that time, Brent moved to Nashville and began work with LifeWay Church Resources in the Student Events Department. Brent had been involved with the Centrifuge family of camps for many years, and was called as a coordinator for M-Fuge camps through August of 2005, at which time he came to Rolling Hills as the Community Life Pastor. His ministries encompass Community Groups, Adult Ministries, Staff Development, and Pastoral Care and Counseling.

Brent is an affiliate member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and a Director of Rolling Hills’ missions nonprofit, Justice and Mercy International.

Brent and his wife, Gwen, have been a part of the Rolling Hills family since 2003. They live in Thompson’s Station with their sons, Adam and Miles. To contact Brent, email brent@rollinghillscommunity.org.

Heather Zempel

Heather Zempel leads the discipleship efforts at National Community Church in Washington, D.C., where she provides leadership and vision for the small group ministry. Dedicated to helping others create communities that foster spiritual growth, she frequently writes and speaks on the topics of creative discipleship and spiritual formation. She lives on Capitol Hill with her husband Ryan and blogs at heatherzempel.com.

Jen Hatmaker

Jen Hatmaker happily lives in Austin, Texas, where the city motto is “Keep Austin Weird.” (and she is certainly doing her part.) Jen and her husband, Brandon, have three kids—Gavin, Sydney, and Caleb—though the 6-year-old recently suggested that rather than belong to a family who has to “learn to make good choices,” he’d rather be homeless. (As of this writing, he hasn’t taken to the streets yet.)

Brandon and Jen joined the adventurous, neurotic world of missional church planters in March 2008 when they started Austin New Church, a community of faith obsessed about bringing justice and restoration to the city and the world. God continues to move mightily through this young church despite the good to excellent chance Jen and Brandon have of sabotaging it.

Jen, the author of Interrupted has written seven other books and Bible studies, including The Modern Girl’s Guide to Bible Study series and Ms. Understood. She travels all over the United States speaking at conferences and retreats, even to Iowa during a blizzard though she doesn’t own a coat (Austin may be weird, but it’s warm). Visit Jen at jenhatmaker.com.

Michael Kelley

Michael lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife, Jana, and kids, Joshua and Andi. He grew up in Texas and earned a Master of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama. Michael currently serves as an editor for Threads, LifeWay’s Young Adult series. He has written The Tough Sayings of Jesus Volumes I & II, travels throughout the year speaking to students and young adults, and blogs daily at michaelkelleyministries.com.

Tim Miller

Tim Miller’s desire is to help people “egnahc eht yaw yeht weiv hcruhc.” His love for Jesus, the church, and those outside the church drives him to create an atmosphere that helps bring the three together. The perfect opportunity existed within just miles of Tim’s home church in Knoxville with the city’s five local colleges and universities. The Walk launched five years ago as an attempt to reach today’s generation. He serves as College & Small Groups Pastor at Sevier Heights Baptist Church. Learn more at insidethewalk.org.