Theme

"God's Flower Garden"

"See!  The winter is past; the rains are over and gone.  Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come..."    Song of Solomon 2:11-12a (NIV)

Gary Smalley has become one of the country’s best-known authors and speakers on family relationships. He is the author and co-author of 28 best-selling, award-winning books along with several popular films and videos. He has spent over 35 years learning, teaching, and counseling.   His 28 books combined have sold over 6 million copies.  Several of them have been translated into different languages. The Blessing and The Two Sides of Love won the Gold Medallion Award for excellence in literature. The Language of Love won the Angel Award as the best contribution to family life. All other titles have been top-five finalists for the Gold Medallion Award.  In the last 35 years Gary has spoken to over two million people in live conferences.  He has been presenting his two-day marriage seminars, once a month for the last twenty years. His award-winning infomercial Hidden Keys to Loving Relationships has been broadcast on television all over the world.  Gary has appeared on Oprah Winfrey, Larry King Live,Extra, NBC Today Show as well as numerous national radio programs, and he has been featured on hundreds of regional and local television and radio programs across the United States.  Gary and his wife, Norma, have been married for 39 years and live in Branson, Missouri. They have three married children, Kari, Greg, and Michael and seven grandchildren.  www.garysmalley.com

Recognized nationally and internationally as a prominent speaker and author, Rebecca Pippert is founder of Salt ShakerMinistries: a teaching/training ministry in evangelism. Becky is the author of nine books that include the modern classic, Out of the Salt Shaker, which was named recently by Christianity Today as one of the books that has most influenced Christian thought in the past 50 years. Her 6 volume book set: Salt Shaker Resources: An Evangelism Tool Kit, won the award for Best Evangelism Resource for 2003 and the first book in that series, Talking About Jesus Without Sounding Religious, won Best Evangelism Book for 2003 by Outreach Magazine. Described by American author Charles Colson as one of the "liveliest and most effective communicators of the gospel in the world today," Becky has spoken extensively to churches throughout North America and she has given conferences in Latin America, Southeast and Central Asia, India, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. For two years she was a monthly columnist for the Christian Korean magazine Salt and Light and she is an Advisory board member for the Billy Graham Center in Wheaton, Illinois. Becky has been a frequent speaker to the LPGA golf pros, and a guest on Moody Bible Radio Broadcasts and Janet Parshall’s America! Becky and her husband have two college aged children and reside in Louisville, Kentucky. www.saltshaker.org

BREAKOUT SPEAKER

PASTOR TOBY JONES 

Toby Jones is a Princeton-trained theologian, and has been performing rock music professionally for over 30 years.  He has taught writing and poetry at the nation’s top prep schools, including Phillips Exeter.  He’s also managed campus radio stations, and written music reviews for national magazines.  His book The Gospel according to Rock was published in 2007.  Toby’s second book, The Way of Jesus: Re-Forming Christian Communities in a Post-Church Age, is scheduled to be released in April of 2010.  He is currently founding a new kind of spiritual community in Northern Michigan called “Living Vision”.  Toby is a new first-time dad –at age 48!- to Eloise Anna Jones.  He resides in Harbor Springs, Michigan.  www.booksandbridges.com