Speakers

Bryan Lair grew up as a farm kid from southern Minnesota and is now a pastor of an urban church in Saint Paul, Minnesota. After getting a M.Div. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Bryan and his wife, Tracy, moved back to Minnesota in 2008 to start Trinity City Church. His family enjoys living in Saint Paul where Bryan torments his four kids with lame dad jokes. In 2019, Bryan was diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and, by the grace of God, he has been in remission since 2020.

Dr. Christopher Yuan graduated from Moody Bible Institute in 2005 and received a master’s in biblical exegesis in 2007 and a doctorate of ministry in 2014. He taught at Moody Bible Institute for twelve years, and his speaking ministry on faith and sexuality has reached five continents. He speaks at conferences, on college campuses, and in churches. Dr. Yuan has co-authored with his mother their memoir, Out of a Far Country: A Gay Son’s Journey to God. A Broken Mother’s Search for Hope, which has sold over 100,000 copies and is now in eight languages. Dr. Yuan’s newest book, Holy Sexuality and the Gospel: Sex, Desire, and Relationships Shaped by God’s Grand Story, was named 2020 Book of the Year for Social Issues by Outreach Magazine.

Eric Rivera is the Lead Pastor at The Brook, a multiethnic church in Chicago that he and his team planted in 2013. Eric is passionate for urban pastoral ministry and seeing God raise gospel-centered leaders. He has a B.A. in Bible Theology from Moody Bible Institute, M.Div. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a Ph.D. in Historical Theology at Trinity. He married his wife, Erikah, in 2003 and are parents to three children. In addition to serving at The Brook, Eric and Erikah are on the speaker team for FamilyLife’s Weekend To Remember marriage getaways and are contributors to FamilyLife’s The Art of Parenting video series and The Story of Us couples devotional.

As the visionary leader of Saturate and the Soma Family of Churches, Jeff Vanderstelt gets to spend his days doing what he loves—training disciples of Jesus to make more disciples of Jesus and equipping the Church in the gospel and missional living. Additionally, Jeff is on the leadership team of Saturate the Sound, a local church collective focused on gospel saturation in the Puget Sound. Jeff has authored Saturate, Gospel Fluency, and Making Space. He and his wife, Jayne, have three children: Haylee, Caleb, and Maggie.

Justin Wevers is the National Director for Student Ministries for the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA). He studied at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Justin and his wife, Amanda, have three girls – Madison, Evelyn, and MJ. He enjoys basketball, books, and books about basketball. Mostly, he’s just thankful that Jesus would save him from his sins and give him new life.

Kempton Turner was born dead in his trespasses and sins. He lived a sinful life as a child of God’s wrath. But God made Kempton alive (as a teenager) through the powerful gospel of Jesus Christ! Kempton was raised in East St. Louis, Illinois, but spent most of his life in Houston, Texas. He served on the pastoral staff at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, before being sent out to plant City of Joy Fellowship, a new church in his hometown of East St. Louis, Illinois. Kempton is happily married to Caryn, his childhood sweetheart, and the Lord has blessed them with five young children: Christian, Carysse, Kalia, Caleb and Kellan.

Rollo Casiple resides in Miami, Florida, where he pastors True Vine Christian Church (EFCA). He is married to Sarah and they are raising five beautiful people together. But above all else, Rollo is a lover of Jesus who lives for the gospel and hopes to see more people become children of God.

Stephen Love was born in South Bend, Indiana, and came to know his Savior Jesus Christ at his father’s South Bend church plant as a young boy. Stephen received a B.A. in Pastoral Studies from Moody Bible Institute, a M.A. in Theological Studies from Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando, and a certificate in history from The University of Oxford, England. He accepted the call to preach the gospel in 2002 and served the body of Christ at New Life Fellowship Church in Waukegan, Illinois as Assistant Pastor and Elder. In 2019, Stephen and his family accepted the call to plant Redemption City Church (RCC) in South Bend, Indiana. RCC was launched on September 13, 2020. Stephen and his wife, Mandy, have been blessed with four beautiful children. Stephen is the self-proclaimed biggest Notre Dame and Denzel Washington fan!