Arlene Sánchez-Walsh is a religious studies professor at Azusa Pacific University in Azuza, California. She is an authority on Latino evangelicals, and her current research is on the rise of nonbelief among Latinos and Latinas. Her books include Latino Pentecostal Identity: Evangelical Faith, Self and Society.  

Robin D. Perrin, professor of sociology at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif. Specializes in sociology of religion. Has written numerous articles on religion including “Examining the Sources of Conservative Church Growth: Where are the New Evangelical Movements Getting Their Numbers?” for the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion in 1997.

Bob Hyatt is a pastor and elder at the Evergreen Community (Motto: “Life’s short, why not apply for an extension?”), a church plant that was founded in 2004 and which meets in a pub in Portland, Ore. Evergreen believes it is important to give the “unchurched” and the “formerly churched” a place to belong before they believe. […]

Rodney Harrison is vice president for institutional effectiveness, dean of online education, director of doctoral studies and associate professor of Christian education at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo. He is a veteran church planter, having started churches in Minnesota, California and the Dakotas.

Gary Rohrmayer, president and executive minister of Converge MidAmerica, overseeing its business and ministry interests that supports regional church planting and ongoing care of its partner churches.

Donald A. Luidens, professor of sociology at Hope College in Holland, Mich. (affiliated with the Reformed Church in America), has followed the evolution of denominations and denominationalism in the U.S.

Darren E. Sherkat is a professor of sociology at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. He studies the intersection of religion, family and politics, and he’s working on a book about marijuana legalization.

Daniel V. A. Olson, associate professor of sociology at Purdue Univeristy. Specializes in sociology of religion and has written about church growth.

Daniel Montgomery founded and serves as the lead pastor for Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, Ky., a church plant. Sojourn began as an attempt to reach people who were falling through the cracks in more mainstream churches. It officially launched in September 2000 using rented space and has expanded to include multiple campuses.