Conference

Jason Shepperd is the founder and lead pastor of Church Project, a movement of “churches of house churches” that equips believers to rethink modern church models and follow a decentralized, Scripture-rooted expression of Christian community. He also leads the Church Project Network and other initiatives focused on biblical ecclesiology, discipleship, and church multiplication.

Ying Kai is a pioneering missionary and co-founder of the global Training for Trainers (T4T) movement, an obedience-based discipleship and church-planting approach that has equipped millions of believers to share the gospel and multiply churches worldwide.

Dr. Mark Johnson is the lead pastor of Mercy Road Church Anderson, one of the fastest-growing churches in Indiana — reaching thousands with the hope of Christ in less than two years. Born and raised in Baltimore, he holds a Doctor of Ministry from United Theological Seminary and is the founder of Lead Different, a leadership and coaching platform equipping pastors and marketplace leaders.

Dave Ferguson is the co-founding pastor of Community Christian Church in Chicago and the visionary leader behind NewThing, a global network of reproducing churches operating in over 60 countries. He is also the co-founder and president of Exponential, one of the world's largest gatherings of church planters, and the award-winning author of Hero Maker, B.L.E.S.S., and Multiplier.

Josh is the founding pastor of the Mercy Road Family of Churches. Mercy Road was started 12 years ago and the Family of Churches is now four churches across Indiana reaching thousands. Mercy Road is an atypical, fast-growing church planting movement with an emphasis on micro-churches (outposts) and disciple-making (huddles). Mercy Road has attempted to give 50% of its total giving "outside the walls" of the church to achieve this radically sacrificial mission. The church also helped start a social enterprise and non-profit incubator called NEXUS (NexusImpactCenter.org) in 30,000 sq. ft of one of their buildings. (Nexus is a separate, faith-based non-profit.) Josh is married to the love of his life, Lisa, and is dad to Jake, Jenna, and Jet. For more information on Mercy Road Church, check out mercyroad.church or attend live on Sundays at mercyroad.tv.

Additionally, Josh is one of the founding pastors of Multiply Indiana, a regional (and multi-denominational) church planting network rapidly planting churches throughout Indiana. Multiply Indiana has started 30 churches in 6 years. Multiply Indiana has a vision to reach a million new disciples in every context of their state (urban, suburban, and rural...) and intends to plant hundreds of churches in the years to come. For more information on Multiply Indiana, go to: MultiplyIndiana.com.

Josh Howard has lived and served in India since 2008, where he launched Ignite in 2015 — a disciple-making movement that has seen more than 20,000 churches started through movements of multiplication. He serves as the Global Mobilization Catalyst for e3 Partners and Director of Vision and Mobilization for Discipleship.org. Josh and his wife, Lashi, live with their three children in the Indianapolis area.