The Rev. Joe Samuel Ratliff is pastor of Brentwood Baptist Church in Houston. He is co-author of Church Planting in the African American Community. Contact him through his executive assistant, Vernastene J. Davis.

Ed Stetzer holds the Billy Graham Chair of Church, Mission and Evangelism at Wheaton College and serves as executive director of the school’s Billy Graham Center for Evangelism. He was formerly the executive director of Lifeway Research, a division of Lifeway Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. He blogs on a variety of subjects […]

The Rev. Gary Scheer is vice president relationship manager at the Solomon Foundation in Englewood, Colo. He previously was senior minister at Victor Valley Christian Church in Hesperia, Calif. Scheer coaches and mentors church planters.

Hugh De Pree Professor of Leadership Development at Fuller Theological Seminary in California. Ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Formerly served as George Butler Associate Professor of Church Administration and Finance as well as assistant dean for institutional research at Claremont School of Theology. Can discuss church growth.

Donald E. Miller is a professor of religion and sociology at the University of Southern California and executive director of the school’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture. His books include Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in the New Millennium, for which he looked at “new paradigm” churches, in particular three megachurches that began in Southern California.

Author and researcher C. Kirk Hadaway is director of research for the Episcopal Church Center. He has written widely on the subject of church growth and also worked with the United Church of Christ and Southern Baptist denominations.

Bishop of the Anglican Church. Leader of Churches for the Sake of Others (C4SO), a church planting movement designed to develop leaders committed to planting. Former president of Alpha USA and Vineyard USA. Hunter has been involved in church planting and leadership development for many years.

Part of the Evangelical Free Church of America responsible for church planting. Operations divided into 17 districts which support 1,500 congregations across the United States. Based in Minneapolis, Minn.

Ministry of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) involved in recruiting, equipping, and nurturing new church planters and emerging leaders, with the goal to help these leaders start sustainable new congregations of all expressions. The church plants are diverse, with Hispanic, Asian, Haitian, African-American and Anglo members. Contact Rick Morse, vice president for mission initiatives in Indianapolis.