Bishop Hezekiah Walker

The Brooklyn, New York-based Pastor Hezekiah Walker was the leader of the Love Fellowship Tabernacle Church Choir, one of the most popular choral groups in contemporary gospel. Debuting in 1990 with Crusade Choir, Walker and his singers quickly became one of the star attractions on the church circuit, earning their greatest success to date when 1994's Live in Atlanta at Morehouse College scored a Grammy award. After a series of subsequent live recordings cut on both sides of the Atlantic, in 1998 they released Hezekiah Walker Presents the LFT Church Choir, recorded at their homebase at Brooklyn's Love Fellowship Tabernacle. Family Affair followed a year later; Love Is Live appeared in early 2001.

Pastor Jacob Burgei

Jacob Burgei is the youth pastor of Faith Generation Youth church. A ministry that’s vision is to raise up a generation of teenagers by equipping them and discipling them by the Word of God. He has been in full time ministry since 1999 and has served in many areas of ministry in the local church. Jacob and his wife relocated to New Jersey from Indiana in 2007. They are also the Directors of youth & children’s at Faith fellowship ministries World Outreach Center in Sayreville, NJ under the leadership of Pastor David T. Demola.

Bo Boshers

Bo Boshers is the President and visionary leader of Lead222, a ministry of veteran youth leaders from around the country committed to changing youth culture through mentoring. For twenty years Bo has served as the Executive Director of Student Ministries of Willow Creek Association and director of Student Impact, the high school ministry of Willow Creek Community Church. Bo’s current role allows him to focus extensively on his passion area of training, coaching and mentoring student ministry leaders from around the world. Bo is the author of a number of books including his most recent “The Be-With Factor”.

Chris Durso

Chris Durso, Creative Director for both “Bizzaro World” Conference and Upsidedown Inc, is currently the Overseer of Youth Explosion Ministries in New York City where he and his team of 75 are passionate about “changing people’s perception on life so they can see that God is freedom and not religion or law”. At just 26 years old, his divergent thinking and distinct creative gift have set him apart as a communicator and positioned him to reach this generation of creators, thinkers & MISFITS in a way that the church has never seen before.

Jamaal Bernard

Jamaal Bernard is the Youth Pastor of New York City’s largest church, Christian Cultural Center (CCC), which currently has over 30,000 members. Pastor Jamaal Bernard supports thousands of youth, which includes not only members of the church but those across communities in the tri-state area. As Youth Pastor, Jamaal has led students across the globe on evangelical mission trips to countries such as Guatemala, Jamaica and Singapore. Local efforts include ministering to and feeding the homeless through organizations such as the Bowery Mission, Father’s Heart and Habitat for Humanity. By connecting youth from different churches, both internationally and locally, he plans to create a new urban culture, by communicating truth on the streets, which in turn cultivates seeds of greatness.

Dario Lariosa

Dario Lariosa has been involved in youth ministry for 15 years. He has served with some amazing organizations such as The Salvation Army, Greater New York Division and New Life of NYC. Dario now serves as a full time staff member for C3, the youth and young adult ministry of Christian Cultural Center, under the leadership of Pastor Jamaal Bernard. Dario serves C3 as a counselor, mission's coordinator, curriculum writer and a teacher. Dario and his amazing wife Lavern have four awesome kids: Imani, Nia, Isaiah and Joshua.

Kristi Hayes

Kristi Hayes has been working with junior high school youth for the past 10 years. Her and her husband Grant along with their16-month-old son Holden have just moved back to Oklahoma City from Washington, DC. She has been on multiple church staffs as a youth minister to junior high school students and has worked on Capitol Hill, as well as for the Bush administration. She has a passion to see students make good choices in life. She is currently on staff with Skyline Church and they partner with Youth for Christ a national organization that serves schools and students. She coaches 8th grade girl’s basketball for Hefner public middle school and has found a new passion in coaching. She has played high school and college basketball.

Download this file for a list of great recomended resources from Kristi Hayes

Fred Polirer

Fred Polirer is Founder and President of Intentional Focus, an organizational development consulting firm dedicated to the development of individuals, teams, and organizations. In addition to his role at Intentional Focus, Fred is also a Performance Specialist for Administaff, Inc., supporting their core market clients in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. Fred has recently joined the faculty of Nyack College as an adjunct professor in their School of Business and Leadership, facilitating courses in their organizational management program. Fred's focus is to assist clients in addressing their business needs and challenges by recommending and subsequently implementing appropriate training and performance solutions such as coaching, leadership training, and strategic planning. Fred has a Masters of Science Degree in Organizational Leadership from Mercy College, Bachelors in communication from Queens College and a Certificates in Human Resource Studies from Cornell University, and Coaching from the The American Society for Training and Development. Fred and his wife, Jennifer, currently reside in Kew Gardens, NY.

Tommy Kyllonen, also known as Urban D

Tommy Kyllonen, also known as Urban D. (Disciple) to his music fans, founded the youth ministry at Tampa, Fla.-based Crossover Community Church in 1996. Tommy also pioneered an annual Hip-Hop/urban ministries conference called Fla.vor Fest. In addition to his role as pastor and artist, Tommy’s perspective as a Christian leader and pioneer in reaching the Hip-Hop culture has led him to be a featured speaker at more than 50 church leadership, youth and worship conferences and workshops. Tommy is also a frequent writer, authoring articles for Relevant Leader and The American Bible Society. Tommy and his wife and ministry partner, Lucy, have two beautiful children. A native of Philadelphia, Tommy now calls Tampa, Fla. home.

Ruben Austria

Ruben Austria is a dedicated and passionate advocate for young people who has worked with youth in the justice system for over ten years. He is the founding executive director of Community Connections for Youth (CCFY), a non-profit organization whose mission is to empower faith and community-based organizations to develop effective alternative-to-incarceration program for court involved youth. CCFY provides training and technical assistance to faith and community leaders in advocating for and on working effectively with youth in the justice system. He also directs the Ruben Austria Consulting Group, a for-profit company that provides consultation on organizational development, fundraising, and grantwriting services to nonprofit organizations. Recognized as one of the top grant writers and development strategists in the field, Ruben Austria has personally written successful proposals that have received over $10 million in funding. Ruben also serves as an Associate Pastor at the Promised Land Church in the Bronx and oversees the church’s youth outreach. In his spare time he enjoys playing jazz and bossa nova guitar in the family band Mambola with his siblings. Ruben earned both his bachelors and masters degrees from Cornell University, and is a graduate of Columbia University’s Institute for Non Profit Management.