Kevin Palau is president of the Luis Palau Association, a Portland, Oregon based ministry that has shared the gospel with 1 billion people around the world.  In 2008, he pioneered a citywide service initiative designed for long-term sustainable collaboration between churches and cities, known as City Serve. The effort has received widespread media coverage in major outlets including USA Today, Reader’s Digest, and PBS’s Religion and Ethics. Kevin also developed the Next Generation Alliance, which exists to serve up-and-coming evangelists through mentoring and equipping, collaborative outreach events and training and conferences. The experience and resources of decades of evangelism are shared with more than 500 partner evangelists who are taking the Gospel to the world in the 21st century.

Jarvis Williams is associate professor of New Testament Interpretation at Southern Seminary. Prior to coming to Southern, he served as an assistant professor and an associate professor of New Testament and Greek from 2008-2012 in a university context. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including One New Man: The Cross and Racial Reconciliation in Pauline Theology, Removing the Stain of Racism from the Southern Baptist Convention: Diverse African-American Voices (co-editor), and A Chosen Race and a Royal Priesthood: A Biblical Theology of Ethnic Identity.

Chris Lim has a passion to live out Proverbs 31:8-9, "to be a voice for voiceless and for the rights of all who are vulnerable, to make just decisions and protect the rights of the oppressed and needy." Among the most vulnerable today are those who are enslaved through human trafficking.

He has applied his background in business operations and in law enforcement, serving for 14 years on the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, to the issue of human trafficking both domestically and internationally. Chris has worked undercover to combat sex trafficking in Cambodia and the Philippines.  And he has worked with victims of labor and sex trafficking in the Middle East and with victims of police violence in Africa. Prior to working as the Chief Operating Officer of  End Slavery Tennessee and leading the Statewide Human Trafficking Protocol at the University of Alabama, Chris worked as the Vice President of Justice and Restoration for Saving Innocence in Los Angeles CA. His book The Heart of a Healer: Trauma Informed Biblical Counseling  is a great resource for churches who want to serve those who have been exploited.

Corban Addison has been highlighting the voices of the exploited through the power of narrative as an author. He is the internationally bestselling author of four novels, A Walk Across the Sun, The Garden of Burning Sand, The Tears of Dark Water (winner of the inaugural Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Award), and A Harvest of Thorns, all of which address some of today’s most pressing human rights issues. An attorney, activist, and world traveler, he is a supporter of numerous humanitarian causes, including the abolition of modern slavery and labor rights and supply chain transparency in the global economy. He lives with his wife and children in Virginia. Full bio here. 

Kristin Keen, co-founder of Sari Bari and founder of Rethreaded, has been empowering women who have been sexually exploited by offering them safe, empowering work to support themselves and their families. Kristin lived and worked for five years in Kolkata, India where she daily encountered the life-stealing effects of the area's sex trade. During this time, she co-founded a business that could offer these women a safe haven. This business, Sari Bari, is a thriving business that employs more than 120 people in Kolkata who create beautiful handmade blankets and other products from traditional fabrics. Upon her return to Jacksonville, Kristin felt called to fight the sex trade on a local level, and Rethreaded was born. Beginning by forming relationships with women on the street and making prison visits, she knew the biggest need was for a safe, supportive work environment where these women could earn money while learning a skill and experiencing continued healing through community. 

Larry Christensen and his wife, Deb Christensen, serve in New York City with Cru City. They are graduates of the University of Nebraska and joined Campus Crusade staff in 1974. They led the ministry at Dartmouth College for 15 years before assuming the leadership role of Metro Campus Director for New York City in 1995.  Larry now works closely with pastors and other organizations in NYC to find avenues to implement CityServe activities to bless the City. Larry and Deb have four adult married sons, and five grandchildren. Full bio here. 

Gerry Breshears—professor, author, and pastor—has been a professor of theology at Western Seminary since 1980. He served three years with WorldVenture in the Philippines, teaching mathematics at Faith Academy and helping start Calvary Baptist Church. He now teaches overseas about one month per year. In addition to teaching and lecturing at a number of colleges and seminaries around the world, he speaks in many churches. He is co-author of Vintage Jesus, Death by Love, Vintage Church, and Doctrine. Gerry and his wife, Sherry, have two sons, Donn and David, and a daughter, Cyndee, and three grandchildren. He is an elder and a member of the preaching team at Grace Community Church of Gresham, Oregon. Full bio here. 

The Reverend Jacob Smith is the Rector at Calvary-St. George’s Parish and the co-founder of Mockingbird. Jacob graduated from the University of Arizona in 2000 with a BA in History, with an emphasis in Near Eastern Studies, and received his Masters in Divinity from Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry. Serving in the church where Alcoholics Anonymous was born, he aims to display Christ to the vulnerable. Jacob’s passion for the Gospel is clearly seen through his preaching emphasis on law and gospel—that God’s law condemns, but His grace moves us to love God and our neighbor—is a consistent message to the congregation of Calvary-St. George’s. Full bio here. 

Iryna Makaruk is a survivor of domestic sex trafficking, who is determined to raise awareness about the widespread issue of human trafficking in our community. She strives to educate the public about trafficking through speaking to various academic, religious and social organizations.

Emily Waters has been involved in various anti trafficking efforts for over 10 years and is a survivor of sex trafficking, as well as a licensed clinical social worker. She has served as a consultant in trafficking prevention, research, legislation, operational and leadership support, and aftercare solutions in Eastern Europe, and has conducted trainings and therapy assessments in Southeast Asia. Her research from Bulgaria was featured at the International Social Work Conference in Los Angeles in 2012, and her experience as a director for a CSEC youth treatment center was presented at the American Association of Child Residential Centers Conference in 2015. She presented her research for aftercare for adult trafficking survivors at the International Association for Group Social Work and in Mitigating Vicarious Trauma at the JuST Conference in 2016. She is on the leadership team and a founder of the TRuST Collaborative, a worldwide mental health network for clinicians working with trafficking survivors.
Emily is the Director of Human Trafficking Programs at The Safe Center Long Island, and holds a Master of Social Work degree from Azusa Pacific University and a Master of Public Administration from Pennsylvania State University, and is completing her PhD in Social Work at Walden University.

Ben Skinner is an award-winning author and journalist who has been studying the U.S. and global political economies, specializing in modern-day slavery. In researching his book, A Crime So Monstrous: Face to Face with Modern-Day Slavery, he observed the negotiations for sale of human beings on four continents. His articles and investigations have appeared in such outlets as Time, Newsweek International, The Los Angeles Times, The Miami Herald, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and on ABC's Nightline, where one of his book's chapters was adapted into an Emmy-award-winning episode, "How to Buy a Child in Ten Hours."

Pastor Taylor Field has been serving the marginalized and vulnerable in his community for the past thirty-one years as the pastor and director of Graffiti Church in Alphabet City, Manhattan. He has an M.Div. from Princeton Seminary and a Ph.D. from Golden Gate Baptist Seminary, as well as has written a number of books, including Upside Down Freedom, Upside Down Leadership, Upside Down Devotion, Squat, Mercy Streets, and A Church Called Graffiti. His wife Susan serves in collegiate ministry and is also a writer. Their two sons have both returned to NYC, each leading other Baptist ministries. Full bio here. 

Darryl Williamson is the lead pastor of Living Faith Bible Fellowship in Tampa, Florida, a Council member of The Gospel Coalition, and is currently working on his MDiv at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida. He and his wife, Julie, have two children.