A Super Seminar is a two hour turbo-charged session with one of four main speakers. Each of the speakers will give an 18 minute high impact preview message during the main Moby session on Monday and Tuesday morning so you can make choosing a seminar a speedy decision.
Dan Allender
Dr. Dan Allender received his M. Div. from Westminster Theological Seminary and his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Michigan State University. He taught in the Biblical Counseling Department of Grace Theological Seminary for seven years, from 1983-1989. From 1989-1997 he worked as a professor in the Master of Arts in Biblical Counseling program at Colorado Christian University, Denver, Colorado. Currently, Dan serves as founding President and Professor of Counseling at Mars Hill Graduate School in Seattle, Washington.
He travels and speaks extensively to present his unique perspective on sexual abuse recovery, love and forgiveness, leadership, Sabbath, and other related topics. He is the author of numerous books including The Wounded Heart, The Healing Path, How Children Raise Parents, Intimate Mystery, To Be Told, Leading with a Limp, and Breaking the Idols of Your Heart. His newest work, released in January 2009 is Sabbath: The Ancient Practices.
He and his wife, Rebecca, live in the Puget Sound area and have three adult children.
Amena Brown
Who is Amena Brown?
As a poet, speaker, journalist, and event host Amena Brown’s words excite, ignite and inspire. Whether in front of audiences as intimate as 50 or as sprawling as 20,000, she has something to say that matters. The author of a chapbook and two spoken word CDs, Amena has performed and spoken at events all over the country such as Catalyst, RightNow, Thirsty Conference, National Youth Workers Convention, Atlantis Music Conference, and the 2008 National Poetry Slam Competition. She hosts a regular open mic in Atlanta at Urban Grind Coffee as well as hosting other events. Along with her spoken word recordings, Amena has participated in numerous professional and live recordings including the Caring Communities documentary, 97.1 JAMZ spoken word ads and a collection of video poems with Bluefish TV and Big Stuf Productions.
As freelance journalist Amena has been published in Southeast Performer Magazine, Charlotte Creative Loafing, Atlanta Creative Loafing, and the Atlanta INtown Newspaper. She also speaks at conferences and events for high school and college students, young adults, and women, where she has facilitated several workshops and breakout sessions on creativity, singleness, writing, and building Artistic community.
As a part of a generation that is searching for the real and the genuine in an age of constant carbon copy, Amena lends her voice to finding inspiration, truth, and purpose and encourages those she encounters to do the same.
Blair Burns (IJM)
Blair Burns is the Director of Operations for Southeast Asia for International Justice Mission. IJM is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local governments to ensure victim rescue, to prosecute perpetrators and to strengthen the community and civic factors that promote functioning public justice systems.
Before joining IJM in 2004, Mr. Burns worked as an associate lawyer at Bersch, Rhodes & Butler where his practice focused on business, corporate and elder law. Mr. Burns holds a B.A. from James Madison University as well as a J.D. from Wake Forest University.
Until June 2010, Mr. Burns served IJM as Director of Operations for Southeast Asia. Previously, he lived and worked in India directing IJM’s Field Office in Chennai. During his four and a half years in Chennai, Mr. Burns worked with IJM staff and local authorities to investigate and prosecute cases of slavery and to secure the rescue of more than 700 slaves.
In his current role as the Director of Operations for Southeast Asia, Mr. Burns oversees IJM Field Offices in Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines. He oversees the design and execution of new projects and works to coordinate the development and implementation of budgets among the four Southeast Asia offices. Mr. Burns develops intervention strategies and advocates with local and national authorities, focusing on issues of child sexual abuse and commercial sexual exploitation of trafficked children and women. In this position, Mr. Burns frequently spends time with IJM teams in the field and also regularly represents IJM at church services, donor groups, conferences, law schools and universities across the United States.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his wife Christina and their three children.
Mark Charles
Mark Charles (Navajo) consults, speaks and writes on Native American issues, including Navajo time perception, retaining cultural integrity, racial reconciliation and contextualizing Christian worship, theology and leadership development for indigenous cultures. He has visited and worked with indigenous communities and peoples from around the world including Israel, Siberia, Bolivia and Native Americans here in the US. Mark supports his family as a consultant and computer programmer. He is a graduate of UCLA who grew up in Gallup, New Mexico and moved with his family to the Navajo reservation in 2004. They lived for three years on a sheep camp in a traditional Hogan, and currently reside in the town of Fort Defiance, AZ.
Phil Cooke
Phil Cooke has produced media programming in more than 40 countries around the world, and in the process, been shot at, survived two military coups, fell out of a helicopter, and in Africa, been threatened with prison. And during that time – through his company Cooke Pictures in Burbank, California – he’s helped some of the largest non-profit organizations in the world navigate periods of dramatic disruption and change.
He’s also a founding partner in the commercial production company TWC Films, which produces national advertising for some of the largest companies in the country. TWC Films produced two TV commercials for Super Bowl 2008 and was selected to unveil the revolutionary new electric Chevrolet Volt.
According to former CNN journalist Paula Zahn, Phil is rare – a working producer in Hollywood with a Ph.D. in Theology. He’s appeared on MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, and his work has been profiled in the New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
His book: “Branding Faith: Why Some Churches and Non-Profits Impact the Culture and Others Don’t” is changing the way non-profit and religious organizations use the media to tell their story. And his new book “Jolt!: Get the Jump on a World That’s Constantly Changing.” shares his secrets of making today’s culture of disruption and change work for you.
He’s lectured at universities like Yale, University of California at Berkeley, UCLA, and is an adjunct professor at the King’s College & Seminary, and Biola University in Los Angeles.
Carolyn Custis James
Carolyn Custis James is an evangelical thinker who loves God enough to break the rules—rules of cultural convention which attempt to domesticate the gospel message of the Bible. Carolyn is president of WhitbyForum, a ministry dedicated to addressing the deeper issues which confront both women and men as they endeavor to extend God’s kingdom in a messy and complicated world. She is also founder and president of the Synergy Women’s Network, Inc.—a national organization for women emerging or engaged in ministry leadership.
She also serves as consulting editor for Zondervan’s Exegetical Commentary Series on the New Testament; regular columnist for FullFill Magazine; contributing editor for Leadership Journal; and an advisory board member for Gifted for Leadership, affiliated with Christianity Today. Carolyn regularly speaks at church conferences, colleges and other Christian organizations both in the US and abroad and is visiting lecturer at various theological seminaries.
A pastor’s daughter, Carolyn grew up in Portland, Oregon. During the years between her graduate education and her present ministries, she had her own software development business in Oxford, England. She and her husband Frank (Provost and Professor of Historical Theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) live in Massachusetts. Their daughter Allison is an artist and lives in Orlando, Florida.
Matt Mikalatos
Matt Mikalatos is the author of the critically acclaimed comedy-theology-novel Imaginary Jesus and the forthcoming Night of the Living Dead Christian. He has been with Campus Crusade since 1999 and has served in Seattle, East Asia and the Portland area. Matt is currently the Greater Northwest national director for the Worldwide Student Network and lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife and three daughters. Matt is passionate about discussing theology in an exciting, vibrant way that reminds us that talking about God is one of the most enjoyable things we can do in life.
Jo Saxton
Jo Saxton is a director of 3DM, a movement/organization helping churches develop a discipling and missional way of being the church. Originally from the UK, Jo was college pastor at St. Thomas Church, Sheffield,England, planting missional congregations amongst college students and young adults. Since moving to the US six years ago, Jo has served on church teams discipling young leaders and planting missional communities in areas ranging from the suburbs to the inner city. Jo is also the author of Real God, Real Life, exploring authentic spirituality in today’s world (released in 2010) Influential (2011) exploring the subject of women in leadership. Jo loves running , good music, reading books, blogs and magazines and laughing loudly with family and friends over a great meal. Jo is married to Chris, a pastor and they have two amazing daughters, Tia and Zoë. They live in Southern California.