2025 Overview

Shane Pruitt

Shane serves as the National Next Gen Director for the North American Mission Board (NAMB). He and his wife, Kasi reside in Texas, with their five children. He has been in ministry for over 20 years as a denominational leader, church planter, lead pastor, and student pastor. Shane is also a traveling communicator, evangelist, and Bible teacher. Every year he speaks to over a hundred thousand people about the good news of Jesus Christ. He is the author of two books, 9 Common Lies Christians Believe and Calling Out the Called. As well as, two Bible Studies, called Revival Generation and Not My Jesus. Shane is also one of the hosts of The Gensend Podcast. Follow him on Instagram & Twitter: @shane_pruitt78.

David Kinnaman

David Kinnaman CEO David Kinnaman is the author of the bestselling books Faith For Exiles, Good Faith, You Lost Me and unChristian. He is CEO of Barna Group, a leading research and communications company that works with churches, nonprofits, and businesses ranging from film studios to financial services. Since 1995, Barna has directed interviews with more than two million individuals and overseen thousands of U.S. and global research studies. He lives in Fort Worth, Texas and has three adult children.

Bobby Contreras

Bobby and his wife Hannah have been in San Antonio for the past fourteen years serving in local ministry.  Bobby loves building teams of people and empowering them to find their gifts to serve God and further the Kingdom. Bobby and Hannah have two beautiful daughters, Ella and Olive. He is humbled and excited to serve both as pastor at Alamo Heights Baptist Church and chaplain for the fire and police departments of Alamo Heights.  In his spare time, Bobby can be found spending time with his 3 lovely ladies, climbing, trail running, or drinking really good coffee at San Antonio’s best local coffee shops. 

Shelly Melia

Dr. Shelly Melia serves as the Associate Dean for the Graduate School of Ministry and the Program Director for both the Master of Arts in Children's Ministry and the Master of Arts in Family Ministry at Dallas Baptist University. Prior to coming to DBU she served for over 25 years in children's and family ministry in Oklahoma, Florida, and Texas. Dr. Melia is also a Licensed Professional Counselor with a special interest in grief and resilience. She holds an undergraduate degree from Oklahoma Baptist University, two master’s degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a doctor of philosophy from B.H. Carroll Theological Institute.

Dr. Melia has spoken at national conferences such as ETCH Family Ministry Conference, D6 Family Ministry Conference, and the Children's Pastor's Conference. In addition, she is a frequent speaker for local churches and state conventions like Oklahoma, Texas, Georgia, Louisiana, and Missouri. Most recently, she contributed a chapter titled “The Role of Faith or Spirituality in a Child’s Response to Loss” to the new book Bridging Theory and Practice in Children’s Spirituality.

She is the proud parent of Nathan, Lexi, and Braden and their family pet is a golden retriever named "Maysie". 

317 Collective

317 Collective is a worship collective from Fort Worth, TX, with one goal in mind - to worship and glorify Jesus through song. We believe that one moment in the presence of Jesus can change someone forever. We lead worship for retreats, conferences and events to help individuals develop a growing relationship with Jesus.

Chris Hurt

Chris has been in student ministry for more than 25 years. Each Sunday morning, Chris speaks to over 350 students in Frisco, Texas in a fast growing dynamic church. He has served as the student minister in Frisco for more than 13 years.