From www.taylor.edu - Taylor University, integrating faith and learning

2010 Keynote Speakers

Skye JethaniSkye Jethani serves as the managing editor of Leadership Journal, a publication of Christianity Today International. Prior to his editorial role with Leadership, Jethani served for six years in full-time pastoral ministry at Blanchard Alliance Church in Wheaton, Illinois. He continues to serve as a member of Blanchard's teaching team and preaches in both Wheaton and Warrenville regularly. Jethani is ordained in the Christian & Missionary Alliance, and earned a Masters of Divinity degree in 2001 from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. While at Trinity, Skye served as a pastoral intern at Libertyville Evangelical Free Church and a student chaplain at Lake Forest Hospital. He also participated as a volunteer at the South Asian Friendship Center in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, is where he conducted his undergraduate studies in History and Comparative Religion with a focus on Islamic history and theology. He also studied Buddhism, Judaism, and Early Christianity. Jethani and his wife Amanda, currently live in Wheaton, Illinois, with their three children Zoe, Isaac, and Lucy.

Heather Larson NSLC speakerHeather Larson is over the Compassion/Justice Ministries at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois.  After graduating from Taylor University, she worked with the American Red Cross in local Chicago initiatives as well as national disasters.  While working with many great organizations, Heather began to realize her passion for seeing the church as a major vehicle for sustainable, lasting social change.  Her desire is to see a community of believers truly engaged in the needs and issues of our world.  She coordinated the local and global compassion opportunities for the twenty-something generation at Willow and helped to create a culture of compassion.    Heather helped to develop the church's response to HIV/AIDS and their Africa initiative.  She believes the greatest change happens by seeing people living out a lifestyle of compassion and justice and truly engaging in our communities and our world.  Heather and her husband, Dan, have two young daughters, Teagan and Avery.

Scot McKnightScot McKnight is a widely-recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. He is the Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies at North Park University. Dr. McKnight obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Nottingham. Dr. McKnight is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature and the Society for New Testament Studies. He is the author of more than twenty books, including the award-winning The Jesus Creed: Loving God, Loving Others, which won the Christianity Today book of the year for Christian Living. One of his recent books, A Community called Atonement, has been nominated for the Grawameyer Award. He broadened his Jesus Creed project in writing a daily devotional: 40 Days Living the Jesus Creed. McKnight's award-winning blog, Jesus Creed, has been rated by Technorati.com as the #1 site for Emerging Church. He and his wife, Kristen, live in Libertyville, Illinois. They have two adult children, Laura and Lukas (both are married), and one grandchild: Aksel Donovan Nelson McKnight.