Don Piper

Best–selling author, speaker, actor, syndicated columnist, former CBS & CBN Television network executive, former youth minister, education minister, senior adult minister, Baptist Student Ministry director, long-time single adult pastor and senior pastor, Don Piper has worn many hats. Having been in full-time Christian ministry since 1984, he most recently served as Minister of Education and Single Adults at First Baptist Church, Pasadena, TX.

Don Piper is a dynamic speaker and the author of New York Times bestseller, 90 Minutes in Heaven - a True Story of Death and Life (Fleming Revell, 2004). For the past three years, he has traveled across the country and around the world sharing his message of hope and healing. In 1989, Don was on his way back from a church conference when an 18-wheeler struck his Ford Escort head on. He was killed instantly - pronounced dead by four sets of EMTs. Shortly after the accident, a pastor from the same conference arrived on the scene and began praying for "the man in the red car." God worked a miracle and sent Don back to a broken body. To date, 34 surgical procedures have taken place. He walks only as a result of miraculous and in some cases medically unexplainable circumstances. During the time he was dead, Piper was granted the extreme privilege of glimpsing Heaven itself.

Don's experience in Heaven gives him a unique insight into eternity and a strong desire to tell others about Christ. His difficult recovery allows him to identify with the heartbroken and crestfallen, ministering to them with the understanding of someone who's been there. His goal is to help bitter people become better, to turn disappointments into divine appointments. He calls it “finding a new normal” and he’s made it his life’s work.

Now in its 41st printing, 90 Minutes in Heaven has sold more than 2.7 million copies in the United States.  Don’s follow up book, Daily Devotions Inspired by 90 Minutes of Heaven (Berkeley), contains stories compiled from his extensive travel. His third book, Heaven Is Real: Lessons on Earthly Joy, from the Man Who Spent 90 Minutes in Heaven (Berkeley), was released in August 2007 and continues to do well in both secular and Christian markets. 

Don Piper and his wife, Eva, live near Houston, TX. They have a daughter, Nicole, and twin sons, Chris and Joe. In addition to speaking and writing, he serves on the Board of Directors for the Far East Broadcasting Company, which sends the Gospel via radio to approximately 20 countries in the Eastern Hemisphere.

Dr. Richard Swenson

Richard A. Swenson, M.D., received his B.S. in physics Phi Beta Kappa from Denison University (1970) and his M.D. from the University of Illinois School of Medicine (1974). Following five years of private practice, in 1982 Dr. Swenson accepted a teaching position as Associate Clinical Professor with the University of Wisconsin Medical School-Department of Family Medicine where he taught for fifteen years. In 1994, he was awarded Teacher of the Decade within the residency where he worked. He currently is a full-time futurist, physician-researcher, author, and educator. As a physician, his focus is cultural medicine, researching the intersection of health and culture. As a futurist, his emphasis is fourfold: the future of the world system, western culture, faith, and healthcare.

Dr. Swenson has traveled extensively (over fifty countries, living abroad a total of three years), including a year of study in Europe and medical work in developing countries. He is author of six books, including the best-selling MARGIN: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives and THE OVERLOAD SYNDROME: Learning to Live within Your Limits, both award-winning.

He has written and presented widely, including both national and international settings, on the themes of margin, stress, overload, life balance, complexity, societal change, health care, and future trends.  In 2002, he was awarded the National Leadership Award from the Central States Occupational Medical Association for his original work on margin and overload. In 2003 he was awarded Educator of the Year Award by Christian Medical and Dental Associations.

Dr. Swenson and his wife, Linda, live in Menomonie, Wisconsin. They have two sons, Matthew and Adam, a daughter-in-law Maureen, and a granddaughter Katja Elizabeth

Kathleen Whitten

Kathleen Whitten has been sharing God’s Word and presenting His Son, Jesus Christ, for fifteen years. She has taught and counseled many adults and served as a mentor to teenagers and abused children.

As a young girl, Kathleen's spine was surgically fused to a metal rod and she was placed in a plaster body cast for a year. As an adult, she was diagnosed with leukemia (AML) and given a very dim prognosis. Through many miracles, chemotherapy, and 27 blood transfusions, she is completely healed and cancer-free.

Thousands of people, with diverse backgrounds, have been touched by Kathleen’s willingness to be vulnerable about her own frailties and life experiences in order to present a loving and very approachable Heavenly Father. Because Kathleen applies God’s Word to everyday situations, her messages are always personal, moving and even humorous.

Kathleen is taking steps to publish her two books in both hard copy and audio: Dare to Be Rare (Morehouse, October 2007 - a devotional of original stories for women and girls) and God's Word Applied (Scripture Inspirational Meditations for every day of the year.)

Kathleen has been married to her husband, Lacey, for twenty years. The Whittens live in San Antonio, Texas with their daughter, Mattie, and son, Storm.

Mark Junkans has been working in urban and cross-cultural missions throughout the Houston metro area since 1993. Number nine in a pastor’s family of twelve children, Mark learned early on how to adapt to change. He was ordained through the DELTO program at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne. During this time as a bi-vocational lay pastor, Mark served Centro de Fe y Esperanza. Mark worked in construction and also started Casa de Alabanza, a recording studio and production company that produced albums for numerous Christian artists. He also provided worship accompaniment for mission congregations across the United States and throughout Latin America.

Mark was called in 2002 as the first Executive Director of the Lutheran Inter-City Network Coalition (LINC). He has served as the chairman of the LCMS Urban Ministry Task Force and consults with Districts and congregations across the country regarding urban and ethnic ministry. Mark also serves as Regional Coordinator for the Center for Hispanic Studies at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.

Mark and his wife, Natalia, have been married since 1995 and have two young daughters, Victoria and Jessica.