Dr. Jim Pettitt
 |
Jim Pettitt currently serves as Coordinator of Family Life Ministries at the Global Ministry Center, Church of the Nazarene. Prior to this assignment, he served as adjunct professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at Nazarene Theological Seminary, as well as adjunct professor of human development at Johnson County Community College. He is an ordained minister, and was a senior pastor in the Church of the Nazarene for seventeen years. He has a Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies from Kansas State University, and an M.S in Family Studies from Friends University. He resides in Olathe, Kansas, with his wife Jeanette Downs Pettitt, who directs the Career Development Center at MidAmerica Nazarene University. They also travel together doing Nazarene Marriage Enrichment throughout the United States. They have two sons (John and Michael Downs) and two daughters (Amy Skinner and Sheri White) who have all “left the nest.” |
Dr. Stan Toler
 |
Stan Toler serves as senior pastor of Trinity Church of the Nazarene in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and hosts the television program "Leadership Today."
|
Dr. Lyle Pointer
 |
Dr. Lyle Pointer currently serves as a Frank A. and Gladys L. Cooper Professor of Evangelism at Nazarene Theological Seminary and as pastor of the Blue Springs Church of the Nazarene in Kansas City. Dr. Pointer has a B.A. from Northwest Nazarene University, an M.Div from Nazarene Theological Seminary, M.R.E. from Nazarene Theological Seminary, and a D.Min from Fuller Theological Seminary. He has authored several articles, booklets, and teaching curricula. In 1998 he coauthored Evangelism in Every Day Life: Sharing and Shaping Your Faith. Dr. Pointer has a wealth of knowledge and experience in evangelism and his practical insights will help equip all laity on faith-sharing strategies. |
Matt Schoenfeld
 |
Matt Schoenfeld has served hundreds of churches as a stewardship trainer and consultant since 1996. Having worked in the mutual fund industry and as a church administrator, he brings more than 25 years of management and ministry experience to helping churches effectively teach stewardship. Additionally, he also serves as a capital stewardship campaign manager and consultant. He is the author of Managing Your Money, Living Debt Free, Learning to Invest, Abundant Living: the five biblical principles for financial success, Hidden Treasures, and the Abundant Living personal finance seminar curriculum. Matt is an avid fan of Kansas Jayhawk basketball, the Green Bay Packers, and Kansas City barbeque. He lives in Countryside, Kansas, with his wife and two children.
|
Dr. Harold Ivan Smith
Harold Ivan Smith is a bereavement specialist on the teaching faculty of Saint Luke’s Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri, and a celebrant for Speaks Memorial Chapels, Independence, Missouri. He has earned graduate degrees from Scarritt College (MA), Vanderbilt University (EdS), and Asbury Theological Seminary (DMin). His research on grief in White House families has led to Eleanor: A Spiritual Biography. He is recognized as a Fellow in Thanatology by the Association for Death Education and Counseling. The International Death, Grief and Bereavement Conference in 2017 honored Smith with the Robert Fulton Award for Outstanding University Teaching, Research, Publication, and Professional Service in the Field of Death, Dying and Bereavement.
He has authored: On Grieving the Death of a Father; Grieving the Death of a Mother, Grieves Ask, When a Friend Dies (Augsburg Press); When You Don’t Know What to Say; When a Child You Know Is Grieving, When Your People Are Grieving: Leading in Times of Loss, and A Decembered Grief.
He has also published two academic books for professionals: Friendgrief: An Absence Called Presence (Baywood) and Borrowed Narratives: Using Historical and Biographical Narratives with the Bereaving. (Rutledge).
He is known for his storytelling.