Tom Schwarz is a Scripture Engagement consultant with SIL. He served in Ghana in various roles in the 90s. In 2008 he became involved in media work with a West Asia diaspora team, and this developed into a much wider view of the many ways in which people engage with Scripture in the 21st century. He is married with 3 grown up children and 3 grandchildren. He is based in the UK and has been involved with EMDC since its inception in 2011.

Chris Rogers has spent four decades producing films, documentaries, and broadcast series that serve the Church worldwide. His work spans 1,500+ TV episodes, 5,000+ media products, and projects filmed across 30 nations. He founded 1 Voice Films to create content that strengthens discipleship and points people to Jesus. His latest project is The Animated Word, animating the Book of Revelation for global ministry use.

Sunny Hong was born and raised in South Korea. As a third-generation Christian, she had the privilege to witness the entire nation responding to God, and sending out missionaries. After immigrating to the US in 1984, she joined Wycliffe Bible Translators in 1994 and worked as a mobilizer, an anthropologist, and an adjunct professor at Dallas International University. She received her Ph.D. in intercultural studies at Biola University in 2014. Sunny currently serves as the director of Global Diaspora Services and senior anthropology consultant at SIL International. She is passionate about Bible translation, bridging cultural gaps, and speaking up for minorities and refugees.

James Morrison has worked with Tibetan Buddhists for more than three decades, primarily as a Bible translator and translation consultant. He holds an MA from Biola University and a PhD from Columbia International University. James is also involved in developing Scripture Engagement resources, particularly in the digital medium. His PhD dissertation was recently published as an EMS monograph – Steps Towards a Tibetan Understanding of Purity, A Semantic and Textual Analysis.

Butch Vernon is a Bible storyteller with Simply The Story. After serving for over 40 years in the Pastoral Ministry, Butch now serves as the Director of International Development for STS. In the last sixteen years, he has traveled to around 50 countries, teaching people how to tell engaging, accurate Bible stories that not only teach participants but also allow them to experience God’s Word in a fresh and vibrant way. From the hills of war-torn Syria to the beaches of Costa Rica and the beautiful mountains of New Zealand, Butch has seen stories transform the lives of both adults and children, as well as churches and mission organizations.

Sue Barclay is a tutor at All Nations Christian College, in the UK, where she teaches on theology, biblical interpretation, and ethics – among other things. She has previously worked as an engineer in the telecommunications industry, and as a Baptist minister. She is fascinated by the interactions between technology, theology, culture, and Christian living.

Joost Bastiaans is a storyteller with a strategic edge. With decades of experience in media, radio, and podcasting, he turns ideas into content that resonates and connects. As both leader and creator, he moves seamlessly between vision and execution, always focused on impact, growth, and meaningful stories.

Jacob Tornga began serving refugees in Dzaleka Refugee Camp, Malawi in 2011, supporting the growth and development of refugee pastors and church leaders in the camp for 6 years. In 2017 he joined IAFR and continued walking alongside refugee churches all along the global refugee highway. In his different roles with IAFR, he has worked alongside refugee church leaders in East Africa, Europe, and in the US in a variety of ways. He now serves as IAFR’s Assistant Director of Training, speaking in various capacities to the global church on issues related to forced displacement and helping local churches, mission organizations, and individual Christians connect to what God is doing on the refugee highway.

Tim Barnes spent the majority of the past 35 years in nonprofit and church leadership. After serving in several youth ministry positions and then as a pastor to university students, Tim spent 9 years at International Teams (now One Collective). His role included leading the areas of People Development and Mobilization, and then serving as Executive Vice President. He also served as the Executive Pastor and as Campus Pastor at Richwoods Christian Church, a multi-site church located in the Peoria, Illinois area. Tim now serves with IAFR as their Executive Vice President. Tim and his wife Liz, have two adult children, and live in Peoria, Illinois.

Chikondi Mlombwa is a passionate and strategic leader serving with the United Bible Societies (UBS), a global fellowship working in over 240 countries and territories to make the Bible accessible, relevant, and transformative for all people. In her role, she focuses on strengthening relationships among Bible Societies, churches, and faith-based organizations across Africa and beyond. With a deep understanding of church dynamics and partnership ecosystems, Chikondi works to bridge gaps in perception, foster collaboration, and position Bible Societies as trusted partners in ministry. Her work involves facilitating conversations, leading workshops, supporting capacity building, and representing UBS at international forums. She is driven by a desire to see stronger unity within the Body of Christ and to ensure that Scripture engagement is meaningful across different life stages, cultures, and social contexts. Her work helps clarify the mission of Bible Societies and builds bridges that enable greater impact through unity and shared purpose.

Michael Collins is a Scripture Engagement Consultant with SIL EurAsia. He holds an M.A. in Bible Translation from Dallas International University and an M.Div. from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has a special interest in multilingualism, particularly in how churches can serve their multilingual congregations by incorporating language diversity into their ministries.

George C. has been a top rated speaker at the EMDC and other conferences around the world. He has helped numerous ministries discover and fix the user experience bugs that were reducing the effectiveness of their online ministries. He believes that Christians who are suffering under persecution should not also have to suffer on a bad website. His motto is “Make things easy to use so that nobody feels stupid, because most people aren’t.”

Rick Levy serves on the Global Media Licensing and Launching team with Jesus Film Project, where he helps expand access to gospel-centered media around the world. He was involved in the early development and implementation of the NextSteps platform, contributing to the creation and curation of discipleship journey templates and digital ministry resources. Rick and his wife, Jules, live in Austin and have one son, Zane.

Michael Wan has been with Wycliffe Bible Translators, Singapore, and SIL International for over 30 years. He was the Scripture Engagement Specialist in the Philippines for 15 years up to the completion and celebration of the Kagayanen NT & Genesis in 2008. He is the Scripture Engagement Coordinator/Consultant for SIL Malaysia, and has been involved in Trauma Healing since 2017. He is a Master Facilitator in Story-Based Trauma Healing. He is certified in Children Trauma Healing, and also a Master-Facilitator-in-Training in the Adult Classic. He is on the SIL Global Trauma Healing Services team and is the Services Coordinator for Asia.

Naveed Hameed is a writer, documentary filmmaker, media consultant, and biblical storyteller with a deep passion for mission for the last 15 years. At just 18 years old, he wrote his first script for a national television channel. As the first in his family to attend school, in 2016, he was selected as a Fulbright Scholar by the U.S. State Department and later dedicated himself to training youth in storytelling for mission.

Over the years, Naveed has trained more than 1,200 leaders in storytelling and produced 20 documentary films and five short films telling mission stories. He is a frequent speaker at media and mission conferences, equipping leaders to use biblical storytelling as a powerful tool for cross-cultural Gospel impact.

Joshy Kurian is the Asia Digital Engagement Coordinator at Faith Comes By Hearing (FCBH), where he equips partners across South Asia to engage communities with God’s Word through culturally relevant digital tools—mobile apps, social media, virtual discipleship platforms, and more. With over 17 years in missions, media, and technology, Joshy brings a rare combination of technical expertise, cross-cultural insight, and missional passion. Before joining FCBH in 2018, he served a national mission organization for nearly a decade, leading IT, Media, and Communications in support of Bible translation and digital publishing across multiple languages. He has also spearheaded regional Christian media initiatives and digital campaigns reaching millions through organic strategies and Google Ad Grants. A committed advocate for AI, innovation, and capacity building, Joshy has trained hundreds of indigenous leaders in digital engagement and is passionate about helping ministries multiply their impact. An active member of the EMDC community since 2013, he has served on the Executive Steering Committee since 2015, facilitated the South Asia and Social Media/Digital Engagement affinity groups, contributed to the EMDC Blog Leadership team, and led training tracks and seminars on Digital Engagement and Social Media.

Stephanie Calamba is the Corporate Affairs Specialist for Faith Comes By Hearing Asia, passionate about connecting people to God’s Word through meaningful initiatives. She has a heart for children and youth, leading a talented team in the Audio Bible Contest to create engaging faith experiences. Actively involved in programs, partnerships, and outreach, she values collaboration and relationship-building. With a thoughtful approach, Stephanie is committed to inspiring the next generation and serving with excellence in ministry.

Richard Margetts is a Scripture engagement and media consultant with SIL in Africa. Since 2003, he has been working with Bible translation teams to equip local colleagues, facilitate the development of resources, and plan strategically for Scripture engagement. Richard has studied both computer science and missiology, and is especially interested in the role of digital technology in mission and Scripture engagement. He is involved in the development of Scripture App Builder (a tool for creating customised apps for smartphones). Several articles by Richard can be found at www.scripture-engagement.org. He and his wife, Jenny, have been based in West Africa with their two daughters. They are temporarily in the UK with the hope of moving back to Africa later this year.

Joshy Kurian is the Asia Digital Engagement Coordinator at Faith Comes By Hearing (FCBH), where he equips partners across South Asia to engage communities with God’s Word through culturally relevant digital tools—mobile apps, social media, virtual discipleship platforms, and more. With over 17 years in missions, media, and technology, Joshy brings a rare combination of technical expertise, cross-cultural insight, and missional passion. Before joining FCBH in 2018, he served a national mission organization for nearly a decade, leading IT, Media, and Communications in support of Bible translation and digital publishing across multiple languages. He has also spearheaded regional Christian media initiatives and digital campaigns reaching millions through organic strategies and Google Ad Grants. A committed advocate for AI, innovation, and capacity building, Joshy has trained hundreds of indigenous leaders in digital engagement and is passionate about helping ministries multiply their impact. An active member of the EMDC community since 2013, he has served on the Executive Steering Committee since 2015, facilitated the South Asia and Social Media/Digital Engagement affinity groups, contributed to the EMDC Blog Leadership team, and led training tracks and seminars on Digital Engagement and Social Media.

Joshua Chew, with over a decade of cross-cultural missions experience, has served in 16 nations across 3 continents, dedicating more than one-third of his life outside his passport country. His vision is for everyone to have the opportunity to hear the Gospel at least once, and for every believer to discover their strategic role in the Great Commission.

As founder of Ablaze Media Productions, he serves as a media consultant, photojournalist, media producer, and providing media trainings for ministries, mission organizations to aid in mobilization efforts, leading in-person workshops across various countries and online Zoom training programs.

He believes that when we show others what Jesus is seeing in the world, and present it to the church through visual media, they will be moved into action to take part in the Great Commission. In his free time, he loves to shoot landscapes and on the streets, telling stories visually of the people, culture, and places.

Jo Shetler has served with Wycliffe for 66 years and has an MA in Intercultural Studies from Biola University. She did a NT translation in the Philippines, then headed the Anthropology Department of SIL Philippines. She currently works as a Scripture Engagement Consultant for SIL International. Jo co-developed the Culture meets Scripture trainings with Amy West and together they introduce the workshops internationally in varied venues. She is the author of ‘And the Word Came with Power’.

Amy West currently serves as a Senior Scripture Engagement Consultant for SIL Global. In her years of service with SIL she began as an assistant in the SIL Philippines’ Anthropology Department and then earned her PhD at Fuller School of Intercultural Studies. Her dissertation was on “Response to Death: The Powerful Influence of Assumptions, Relationships and Ritual on the Balangao Christians in the Philippines.” She co-developed the Culture meets Scripture training with Joanne Shetler. They have led trainings in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and the Pacific.

Connie Champeon grew up as the child of Bible translators in a mud hut in the Amazon rain forest watching people and culture be transformed by the Gospel. She has a doctorate in education and linguistics and has been serving in various areas of Bible translation ministry since 93. She’s served as a consultant in almost every part of the globe.

Morgan Davis is a mission strategist and trainer who equips church networks in Scripture engagement and Oral Bible Translation. She develops theologically formative training resources and facilitates workshops that help local leaders engage the Bible and communicate it effectively in oral-preference contexts. She is currently pursuing an M.Div. in Muslim-Christian Relations at Columbia International University.

Arleen Luo serves as a Manager for the British and Foreign Bible Society, leading initiatives that support mission engagement across Asia with a particular focus on Chinese audiences. She has played a key role in the development of Sparks – a pioneering digital Bible engagement platform designed for Chinese communities worldwide – which recently incorporated advanced AI chatbot integration to enhance Scripture interaction and discipleship among younger generations. Passionate about innovation in digital ministry, Arleen is also pursuing a doctoral program at Fuller Theological Seminary, where she is further developing her expertise in digital engagement and emerging approaches to ministry in the online space.

Kristin Westbrook is the head of Sales and Customer Success at Avodah, an AI language technology company serving Bible translation organizations and global ministries. In this role, she builds strategic partnerships and oversees the successful implementation of AI-assisted translation solutions, working closely with ministries, church networks, and language organizations to accelerate Scripture access for every people group.

With over ten years of experience in language translation and a background in linguistics, Kristin specializes in bridging technology and mission. Her work focuses on helping organizations integrate AI responsibly into translation workflows while maintaining linguistic quality and local community ownership.

Kristin holds a BA in Linguistics and an MBA in Global Leadership. She is fluent in American Sign Language and is deeply passionate about expanding Scripture access for Deaf and underserved language communities around the world.

Calvin and Carol Conkey are the Founders and International Directors of Create International, a ministry focused on producing media and arts resources for unreached peoples. Since 1978, they have served as full-time missionaries, creating hundreds of audio-visual resources and ministering in over 65 nations.

Both hold MA degrees in Intercultural Communication and serve as media servants with global networks such as Vision 5:9 and 24:14. They also help facilitate Media4Movements, equipping movement leaders to develop their own media, arts, and technology resources.

They are co-authors of Media that Transforms Nations (2019) and The Impossible Dream (2020) available on Amazon.

Based in Chiang Mai, Thailand since 2009, they lead the Global Communications and Resource Center. Alongside their teams across nine regions worldwide, they continue to produce impactful media resources, train leaders in cross-cultural communication, and pioneer innovative tools and technologies to help share the message effectively with all peoples.

Johannes Merz is a Senior Anthropology Consultant with SIL Global. He has a PhD in cultural anthropology from Leiden University, the Netherlands, and is a staff member at the School of Language and Scripture, Moorlands College (http://www.moorlands.ac.uk/) in Christchurch, UK. His specialized area of interest is film and other media, and especially how they communicate cross-culturally. Johannes and his wife, Sharon, are based in Benin, West Africa, where they have worked since 2002.

Sharon Merz is the Anthropology Coordinator for SIL Global, and a Senior Anthropology Consultant. She has a PhD in social anthropology from the University of Exeter, UK, and teaches anthropology at the School of Language and Scripture, Moorlands College (http://www.moorlands.ac.uk/) in Christchurch, UK. Her specialized areas of interest include eschatology and human-animal interactions. Sharon and her husband, Johannes, are based in Benin, West Africa, where they have worked since 2002.

Dr. David Gray began his career as a translation advisor in Central Asia but was always interested in seeing the Scriptures used in people’s lives. He has been teaching Scripture engagement (SE) for the last fifteen years and leads the SE pathway at Moorlands College in the UK. He has a PhD in Biblical Studies, with a focus on Anthropology and Missiology. He consults for translation and Scripture engagement projects and helps lead SE for SIL in Eurasia. He is married with four kids.

Dr. Timothy Hatcher leads the Scripture Engagement Research Initiative (SERI) at Dallas International University and teaches Scripture Engagement at DIU. Tim is also the host of the Scripture Impact Podcast. He has served with Wycliffe Bible Translators for twenty-six years and has conducted research in 250+ Bible translation programs across various organizations and cultural contexts.

Aldrin Bogi currently serves as the Global VP for Partnerships at Biblica. His role is to cultivate and expand access & engagement to God’s Word through strategic partnerships worldwide. More recently, he ideated and led the creation of “Asha: A Journey to Healing,” a transformative Scripture Engagement resource cum program initially in India, now impacting communities across Africa, Eurasia, MENA, and Asia. With nearly 30 years of ministry experience and extensive global travel, Aldrin brings a unique perspective from India to cross-cultural engagement and partnership development. He has been married to Vikhuli for 25 years, and they live in Bangalore, India, with three children.

Dave Hudson graduated from California State University, Fullerton, with a BA in Art, and has been a professional illustrator for 40 years. He and his wife, Wendy, joined Create International, a ministry of Youth With a Missions (YWAM), in 2008, and pioneered the School of Cartooning and Animation for Missions in Thailand, in 2010. Since 2002, Dave has taught computer graphics courses in YWAM and in the EMDC, covering topics like design, illustration, comics, and animation. Dave and his wife are currently leading a global team called Create International AniMissions based in Taiwan. Their team has produced eight contextualized evangelistic animated short films for unreached people groups throughout Asia.

Maik Gibson is SIL’s Sociolinguistics Coordinator, currently based in the UK. He has previously worked in a Bible translation program in North Africa, and been involved in translation and linguistics training in Kenya and the UK. He currently focuses on the impacts of multilingualism and on how members of minority communities interact with Scripture, with the goal of people being transformed through God’s word.

Ken Bitgood is the founder and CEO of the Digital Bible Society, a ministry that has been sharing God’s Word in thousands of languages around the world since 2001. By God’s grace, Ken has served as a lead pastor, missionary, programmer, pilot, and air traffic controller. He and his bride of 39 years, Deborah, make their home in Conroe, Texas, where they were blessed to raise three sons.

Dr. Martin Gonzalez serves as the Missions Director for the Digital Bible Society. Originally from Mexico, Martin is a disciple, missionary, and educator with over 38 years of ministry experience. He holds a Doctorate in Ministry and is currently a PhD candidate, set to defend his dissertation this summer. Martin’s passion is to know God and make Him known. He is married to Lupita and has two daughters, Edna and Bere (married to Eric).

Olayiwola is the Africa Coordinator for Storyweavers Global and is a mission mobilizer with Simply Mobilizing – Nigeria. His vision is to see every believer living a life on mission with God, and every church a missional church. He has been putting that vision into action by training and developing biblical storyweaving Leader-Practitioners for Africa who facilitate Bible-centered Scripture engagement training for personal evangelism, discipleship, healthy spirituality and addiction recovery.

Bharat serves as a pastor in Mumbai, India, and is an official Training Partner of Storyweavers Global. He has extensive experience in bringing biblical storyweaving training to diverse groups in various states of India and internationally, effectively equipping oral learners for practical Scripture engagement in their local languages and cultural contexts. His specialty is conversational evangelism and discipleship that enables believers to grow deeper in their faith, and to thoughtfully bring Scripture into focus in timely and personally relevantly ways.

Hui Lian is a Court Advisor for Children and an Assistant Child Care Protector in Malaysia. Her passion is to journey with people in need to help them draw closer to Jesus, and to this end founded the Miri Welfare Agape Society and the Home Care Centre. Clients include individuals and families dealing with mental illness, suicide, domestic abuse, cancer, sudden loss of a loved one, homelessness, etc. What she has learned through biblical storyweaving has helped Hui Lian in her personal relationships, as well as in teaching and ministering to others.

Richard Margetts is a Scripture engagement and media consultant with SIL in Africa. Since 2003, he has been working with Bible translation teams to equip local colleagues, facilitate the development of resources, and plan strategically for Scripture engagement. Richard has studied both computer science and missiology, and is especially interested in the role of digital technology in mission and Scripture engagement. He is involved in the development of Scripture App Builder (a tool for creating customised apps for smartphones). Several articles by Richard can be found at www.scripture-engagement.org. He and his wife, Jenny, have been based in West Africa with their two daughters. They are temporarily in the UK with the hope of moving back to Africa later this year.

Toby Beresford is Director of Digital Strategy at British and Foreign Bible Society, with a focus on digital Bible mission. He is co-author of the mission report “Digital Nations” and leads a weekly on-site Minecraft Church in Ropley, Winchester, UK. He is interested in hybrid and digital church and learning more about online mission to people who would call themselves spiritually open.

Vishal Pulikottil is the Founder/CEO of Instinctive Studio (instinctivestudio.com). He brings a mix of experience built over years in media and technology, and most recently led the Christian Vision team in India before moving into full-time entrepreneurship. Today, he works with a team of designers, software engineers, and marketing strategists at Instinctive Studio, focused on building clear, usable digital products for companies and organisations around the globe.

Sachin Daniel Abraham, originally from New Delhi, India, left a successful legal and business career in 2016 to pursue a calling to missions and now serves as the founding CEO of Beyond Translation. Sachin’s heart for the nations shapes the culture and heart of Beyond Translation. He is a strong advocate and a practitioner of Church Centric Bible Translation across the Globe. Under his leadership, the organization which launched in 2023, now supports Bible translation in 29 countries and over 600 languages.

Peter Brassington is a Digital Scripture Engagement Consultant and missiologist serving SIL’s Global Media Services, Global Diaspora Team (Europe), and parts of the Eurasia area from a home in the UK. He has nearly 30 years of experience working with all things digital in the world of Bible translation, from the early days of the Wycliffe UK website, through the development of blogs, forums, and social media, and on into exploration in AI. In addition to helping think through the challenges and possibilities of Scripture Use and Impact he also pioneered exploration into the possibilities offered by games and gamification, and now serves as the lead developer for emdc.guide and new-neighbour-bible.org. Learn more about Peter’s mission interests at brassingtons.wordpress.com.

Jennifer Brassington is the Scripture Engagement Coordinator for SIL Global, and an SE Consultant. She has worked in the Bible Translation movement since 2005 and is primarily focused on developing a supportive ecosystem for people working in Scripture Engagement, where they can access the training, support, evidence-base and resources they need as they support churches and communities to know and grow with God using Scripture and Scripture-based products/programmes. She is passionate about the importance of accessible, relevant discipleship, allowing Christians and churches to determine for themselves through Scripture what Christianity looks like in their community. The same Holy Spirit lives in us all. She also teaches the Culture meets Scripture course, helping believers assess their worldview assumptions, belief systems and values to see how these can align with God’s, as seen throughout the Bible. She lives in the UK but has also used her leadership and management skills while working and living in Asia and Canada.

Jonah came to Christ through Bill Bright’s “How to be Sure You’re a Christian”. After 14 years, she’s now serving in Indigitous, taking lead in digital engagements and building networks in digital missions. She‘s born, raised, and currently based in the Pearl of the Orient Seas – The Philippines.

Ashish Nag is the Asia strategy lead for The Chosen. Coming from a background in brand strategy and storytelling for global brands, Ashish now serves with The Chosen across Asia, helping engage churches, leaders, and communities with the story of Jesus through the power of storytelling.

Stan Jantz is the Global Ambassador for Come and See, whose mission is to invite everyone to encounter Jesus through exceptional storytelling that brings the Bible to life. Stan has held several leadership positions in Christian publishing and is the author or co-author of 75 books with more than 4 million copies sold.

Josh Summers is the owner of Go West Ventures, a media company that reaches tens of millions of people each year through video, podcasts, printed media and websites. In addition to operating his own business and small team, he also invests in other kingdom-minded businesses around the world, acting in both strategic advisor and board member roles. Josh has lived in Asia with his family for over 15 years and has a passion to help those in ministry build sustainable streams of income.

Greg Stetski, while a professional engineer with the Canadian government, was dramatically saved in 1978. After sharing the Gospel with many coworkers, he then left the government to launch a children’s storybook channel for cable television in North America. The Bible stories from this channel became the foundation for Bible for Children, which now offers them freely to the world’s children in over 1400 languages.

Anne Nicomedes Esteban is an EthnoArts Consultant based in Davao City Philippines and is currently the Asia-Pacific Area Domain Coordinator for EthnoArts. She is also part of the local EA team now name Identity, Culture,and Arts (ICA) team in SIL Philippines where they are creating a movement of engaging language communities in Scripture to anchor their identities in Scripture truth, and help them bring their unique God-designed features in Biblically-grounded worship of the one true God.

Ian Lindsley is a member of the Research and Development team at unfoldingWord. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Capital Bible Seminary studying the use of AI in Bible translation. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science, a Master’s in Christian Ministry (MACM), and a Master’s in Divinity (M.Div.). He has over 20 years of Software Engineering experience.

Tim Jore serves in Innovation and Strategy at unfoldingWord, working as part of a team of technologists, theologians, and trainers to equip leaders of church networks around the world for Bible translation and theological formation. Believing that the church in every people group should have unrestricted access to excellent Bible translations and biblical content in their own languages, the team at UnfoldingWord works to provide open-licensed biblical content, open-source technology tools, and effective training to help equip the global church.

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Bram van Grootheest has served 12 years with his family in Laos in Community development. From 2007-2024 he was the CEO of Wycliffe Bible translation The Netherlands. After leaving Wycliffe he got involved in several initiatives, all related with spreading the Word of God and mission. His focus is on organisational and staff development as a trainer/coach. He is a strategic thinker with a vast experience in fundraising. Pretore, a print on demand (POD) printer in one of the organisations he works for as well as Skymit, a Bible app for creative access countries.

Ruben Verzijl is a business developer and project manager with a heart for using technology to serve vulnerable communities. With years of experience leading digital initiatives, he now supports the mission of Skymit by building partnerships with organizations working in high-risk regions. His focus is on enabling safe, flexible, and secure access to Bibles and Christian content for the persecuted church. Through Skymit, Ruben helps bridge the gap between innovative tech and faithful ministry where it matters most.

Myra DeFord has been serving with CREATE International, YWAM since 2003. Trained in graphic design, being a mother of two teens and shaped by her early career in children’s publishing in Australia, she understands the formative power of visual storytelling. In response to the urgent need for Gospel access among children in least-reached communities, she pioneered CREATE Seeds, a ministry of CREATE International. Today, she equips teams globally to create culturally rooted storybooks and media that plant seeds of faith in the hearts of children who might otherwise never hear. Myra and her husband Jason are based in Chiang Mai, Thailand. To learn about Create Seeds: www.createseeds.org.

Rick Luth’s love for art, stories, and the outdoors led him to sense Jesus’ love early on and his adventurous spirit found its match in his wife Becky, a surfer, marine biologist, and fellow creative. Since 2021, Rick has been helping to bring imaginative Kingdom storytelling to life at CREATE Seeds as an illustrator and Training Coordinator. Before that he used his Fine Arts and Education degrees to teach art, writing and other subjects across North America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Today Rick and Becky cheer on their four adult sons as they serve God across the globe through their own creativity.

Hannah Bossers joined SIL Global in 2021, supporting linguistic work alongside Bible translators in francophone Africa. This sparked her interest in Scripture use and multilingualism, leading to a Master’s research project on Scripture and Christian resource use among young multilinguals in Burkina Faso. More recently, she joined Stan Anonby and Dave Eberhard to continue their research on the sequencing of local and national language translations. In 2025, the project spanned over 50 language communities in Vanuatu and Nigeria.

AJ is a church planter, urban strategist and digital engagement coach with Kavanah Media. He has been doing church planting for more than 30 years in urban areas in the U.S. and the last 22 years serving in East and Southeast Asia. AJ’s passion and calling is to win the lost, disciple believers and start churches.

Nolan Sanders, the co-founder of the Pattern Platform for creating discipleship apps, has served in full-time ministry for 29 years with the last 13 years focused on unreached people groups. While always interested and engaged with technology, it was his work within a closed country that caused the need to create a secure app to facilitate resourcing new believers and home churches. The creation of the app caused a larger dream to emerge; a dream to bring the same type of app within reach for every group pursuing disciple making multiplication.

Steve Baldwin is an award-winning American filmmaker serving with Create International since 2009. Steve ran his own video production business in New England for several years, specializing in promotional videos for Christian nonprofits and corporations. On a World Vision trip to Africa in 2006, he heard God’s call to become a full-time media missionary. Steve and his wife, Allyson, lead the Create International Mobile Production & Training Team, www.createmobile.org, focused on cross-cultural movie production, training in filmmaking, and producing more indigenous movies for unreached people groups.

Brian James is a missions strategist and trainer with a passion for seeing the gospel spread and movements of disciples and churches begun among the least reached peoples and places in the world. He has a background in business and technology consulting, served as a church planter for 12 years in 3 different countries of Central Asia, and helped launch the Mobile Ministry Forum (www.mobmin.org). He founded and leads the Mobiles & Media Team for his organization, helping field teams and local believers around the Muslim world see greater fruit through digital strategies and appropriate uses of media and technology.

Joshua Chew, with over a decade of cross-cultural missions experience, has served in 16 nations across 3 continents, dedicating more than one-third of his life outside his passport country. His vision is for everyone to have the opportunity to hear the Gospel at least once, and for every believer to discover their strategic role in the Great Commission. As founder of Ablaze Media Productions, he serves as a media consultant, photojournalist, media producer, and providing media trainings for ministries, mission organizations to aid in mobilization efforts, leading in-person workshops across various countries and online Zoom training programs. He believes that when we show others what Jesus is seeing in the world, and present it to the church through visual media, they will be moved into action to take part in the Great Commission. In his free time, he loves to shoot landscapes and on the streets, telling stories visually of the people, culture, and places.

Paul is from the USA, but born in Pakistan. He has worked in Sindh since 1989, and for the past 24 years at the Audio Visual Centre in Rattanabad. Paul and his wife, Pat, met in Pakistan and have served there for the past 36 years. They have four children. Pat’s passion is inner-healing and prayer.

Toby is Director of Digital Strategy at Bible Society, focused on pathfinding and productising new forms of digital Bible mission. Toby is an experienced digital media entrepreneur across a string of tech startups including Nudge, a social apps agency working for clients like Facebook, Playstation and Unilever, which he sold in 2010; Leaderboarded/Rise.global, a media platform used to gamify social media engagement by UN, PwC and IBM; Running World Cup, a global virtual running tournament hosted by Usain Bolt; and MicroAid, an innovative international development charity. He has appeared on Sky News, 7 News and Channel 4 as a digital media expert and is author of the book Infinite Gamification: how to motivate your team until the end of time, which has been translated into Turkish, Korean and Arabic. He has also worked for UNDP inside the government of Indonesia and as an advisor to the European Commission on Horizon 2020 Research projects.

Johnny Knox is the founder of Open Bible Images, a project creating historically grounded and globally accessible biblical imagery for translators, publishers, and the church. He has lived and worked in Southeast Asia for more than 15 years, with experience in ministry, business, development, product design, and AI-assisted visual storytelling. His current work focuses on helping Scripture come alive through faithful, contextual, and open visual resources.

Clyde Taber leads the Visual Story Network (VSN), a community of 600 organizations and 7,000 leaders in 99 nations. VSN accelerates the mission of the Church by equipping our generation to use media, story and innovation to make disciples of all nations. Since the launch of VSN in 2007, more than 1,000 projects, products and partnerships have been established. Prior to VSN, he oversaw new media development for Jesus Film Project (Magdalena: Released from Shame, Damah Film Festival, JESUS: Fact or Fiction?) and coordinated the campus work of Cru throughout North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. Clyde holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Maryland/College Park and a Master of Divinity / Missiology degree with honors from Denver Seminary. He speaks English, French and Turkish and is always working on his biblical Greek and Hebrew. To learn more about Clyde, go to www.visualstory.org/tabers.

Max has over 30 years of experience serving as a Chief Technology Officer, Senior Technology Consultant, and advisor to Indonesian and Christian ministries, including Yayasan Lembaga SABDA. He actively serves as a consultant and steering committee member for EMDC and works with local and global ministries as an IT and AI consultant. In recent years, Max has been at the forefront of helping Christian ministries understand and apply Artificial Intelligence with discernment and purpose. Over the past two years alone, he has spoken and led more than 100 seminars and trainings on AI, technology, and ministry across diverse contexts.

Earl I. Morihara serves as the President of Hawaii Pidgin Bible Ministries, where he also acts as the Lead Translator. Deeply committed to making Scripture accessible through the “language of the heart,” he has been instrumental in the Da Jesus Book audio recording project. Beyond his translation work, Earl serves as the Connections Pastor at New Hope Central Oahu, bridging his passion for community engagement with his dedication to Biblical outreach.

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AJ is a church planter, urban strategist and digital engagement coach with Kavanah Media. He has been doing church planting for more than 30 years in urban areas in the U.S. and the last 22 years serving in East and Southeast Asia. AJ’s passion and calling is to win the lost, disciple believers and start churches.

Clyde leads the Visual Story Network (VSN), a community of 600 organizations and 7,000 leaders in 99 nations. VSN accelerates the mission of the Church by equipping our generation to use media, story and innovation to make disciples of all nations. Since the launch of VSN in 2007, more than 1,000 projects, products and partnerships have been established. Prior to VSN, he oversaw new media development for Jesus Film Project (Magdalena: Released from Shame, Damah Film Festival, JESUS: Fact or Fiction?) and coordinated the campus work of Cru throughout North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. Clyde holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Maryland/College Park and a Master of Divinity / Missiology degree with honors from Denver Seminary. He speaks English, French and Turkish and is always working on his biblical Greek and Hebrew. To learn more about Clyde, go to www.visualstory.org/tabers.

Clive Gray For nine years, Clive has driven a grassroots global distribution of Kulumi audio players to individual users in remote communities. He is deeply curious about how oral users interact with these tools, tracking their unique desires, concrete uses, and unexpected misuses. His work bridges the gap between technology design and the unpredictable realities of personal, on-the-ground adoption. Ultimately, Clive’s insights help optimize how vital audio content safely and effectively reaches isolated communities worldwide.

Olayiwola is the Africa Coordinator for Storyweavers Global and is a mission mobilizer with Simply Mobilizing – Nigeria. His vision is to see every believer living a life on mission with God, and every church a missional church. He has been putting that vision into action by training and developing biblical storyweaving Leader-Practitioners for Africa who facilitate Bible-centered Scripture engagement training for personal evangelism, discipleship, healthy spirituality and addiction recovery.

Bharat serves as a pastor in Mumbai, India, and is an official Training Partner of Storyweavers Global. He has extensive experience in bringing biblical storyweaving training to diverse groups in various states of India and internationally, effectively equipping oral learners for practical Scripture engagement in their local languages and cultural contexts. His specialty is conversational evangelism and discipleship that enables believers to grow deeper in their faith, and to thoughtfully bring Scripture into focus in timely and personally relevantly ways.

Hui Lian is a Court Advisor for Children and an Assistant Child Care Protector in Malaysia. Her passion is to journey with people in need to help them draw closer to Jesus, and to this end founded the Miri Welfare Agape Society and the Home Care Centre. Clients include individuals and families dealing with mental illness, suicide, domestic abuse, cancer, sudden loss of a loved one, homelessness, etc. What she has learned through biblical storyweaving has helped Hui Lian in her personal relationships, as well as in teaching and ministering to others.

Sue Barclay is a tutor at All Nations Christian College, in the UK, where she teaches on theology, biblical interpretation, and ethics – among other things. She has previously worked as an engineer in the telecommunications industry, and as a Baptist minister. She is fascinated by the interactions between technology, theology, culture, and Christian living.

Lidya Alemayehu serves with Medialight, a media training ministry based in Thailand, equipping young Christian creatives from over 40 nations through storytelling and media training for mission. She mentors students in photography, videography, storytelling, and digital communication while helping them grow in creativity, confidence, spiritual formation, and Gospel centered leadership.

Mark Rosacay has served as ministry resource crafter for Medialight Asia in the past 6 years. He also leads a local outreach team in the Golden Triangle Region. JesusQuest is a discipleship resource that he and his team has tested in Buddhist mission fields and have proven its effectivity. It’s our joy to bring JesusQuest to the EMDC community.

George C. has been a top rated speaker at the EMDC and other conferences around the world. He has helped numerous ministries discover and fix the user experience bugs that were reducing the effectiveness of their online ministries. He believes that Christians who are suffering under persecution should not also have to suffer on a bad website. His motto is “Make things easy to use so that nobody feels stupid, because most people aren’t.”

Kathleen (Katie) Daugherty is passionate about unveiling Jesus in secular media and all of creation. She has a bachelor’s degree in music education and is working on a master’s in Ethnoarts, Scripture Engagement, and Arts & Trauma Healing. She is grateful to have found this perfect combination of cross-cultural work, Scripture, discipleship, and the arts, and is in her fourth year of living in SE Asia. Current favorite “heart arts” include musical theatre and collage.

Peter Brassington is a Digital Scripture Engagement Consultant and missiologist serving SIL’s Global Media Services, Global Diaspora Team (Europe), and parts of the Eurasia area from a home in the UK. He has nearly 30 years of experience working with all things digital in the world of Bible translation, from the early days of the Wycliffe UK website, through the development of blogs, forums, and social media, and on into exploration in AI. In addition to helping think through the challenges and possibilities of Scripture Use and Impact he also pioneered exploration into the possibilities offered by games and gamification, and now serves as the lead developer for emdc.guide and new-neighbour-bible.org. Learn more about Peter’s mission interests at brassingtons.wordpress.com.

Max has over 30 years of experience serving as a Chief Technology Officer, Senior Technology Consultant, and advisor to Indonesian and Christian ministries, including Yayasan Lembaga SABDA. He actively serves as a consultant and steering committee member for EMDC and works with local and global ministries as an IT and AI consultant. In recent years, Max has been at the forefront of helping Christian ministries understand and apply Artificial Intelligence with discernment and purpose. Over the past two years alone, he has spoken and led more than 100 seminars and trainings on AI, technology, and ministry across diverse contexts.

Steve Baldwin is an award-winning American filmmaker serving with Create International since 2009. Steve ran his own video production business in New England for several years, specializing in promotional videos for Christian nonprofits and corporations. On a World Vision trip to Africa in 2006, he heard God’s call to become a full-time media missionary. Steve and his wife, Allyson, lead the Create International Mobile Production & Training Team, www.createmobile.org, focused on cross-cultural movie production, training in filmmaking, and producing more indigenous movies for unreached people groups.

Clive is a photographer and trainer who is passionate about equipping local partner organisations to produce better, more ethical, storytelling imagery. Having studied at All Nations College in the UK, before heading to Nepal in 1995, Clive and his wife now divide their time each year between the UK and Nepal. He provides support to the Communications Department of a large Christian NGO, mentors others and undertakes a number of photographic assignments each year. In the UK, Clive is a member of the All Nations Training Team focusing on online learning and delivering practical courses in ethical photographic storytelling. To see some of Clive’s work, please visit https://clivethomas.photography

Peter Brassington is a Digital Scripture Engagement Consultant and missiologist serving SIL’s Global Media Services, Global Diaspora Team (Europe), and parts of the Eurasia area from a home in the UK. He has nearly 30 years of experience working with all things digital in the world of Bible translation, from the early days of the Wycliffe UK website, through the development of blogs, forums, and social media, and on into exploration in AI. In addition to helping think through the challenges and possibilities of Scripture Use and Impact he also pioneered exploration into the possibilities offered by games and gamification, and now serves as the lead developer for emdc.guide and new-neighbour-bible.org. Learn more about Peter’s mission interests at brassingtons.wordpress.com.

Anne Nicomedes Esteban is an EthnoArts Consultant based in Davao City Philippines and is currently the Asia-Pacific Area Domain Coordinator for EthnoArts. She is also part of the local EA team now name Identity, Culture,and Arts (ICA) team in SIL Philippines where they are creating a movement of engaging language communities in Scripture to anchor their identities in Scripture truth, and help them bring their unique God-designed features in Biblically-grounded worship of the one true God.

Mark grew up on the mission field, trained in Computer Systems Engineering, and later returned to South Asia to train and work alongside national Bible Translators. He was embedded in a translation project which completed the NT in 2018, and is now half way through the OT. After serving in South Asia for 22 years, Mark and his wife Jo returned to New Zealand in 2020 with their 6 children to continue serving the Bible Translation movement remotely. He enjoys innovating and has helped invent several new tools for translators — the latest being PTXprint. He currently serves in SIL as the Language Technology Coordinator for Asia where he is passionate about helping people make the most of the available technology in order to achieve their own God-given calling.