Worshipping as a Family

Don Whitney

Don Whitney has been Professor of Biblical Spirituality and Associate Dean at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY since 2005. Before that, he held a similar position (the first such position in the six Southern Baptist seminaries) at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, MO, for ten years. He is the founder and president of The Center for Biblical Spirituality.

Don grew up in Osceola, Arkansas where he came to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. He was active in sports throughout high school and college, and worked in the radio station his dad managed.

After graduating from Arkansas State University, Don planned to finish law school and pursue a career in sportscasting. While at the University of Arkansas School of Law, he sensed God’s call to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He then enrolled at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, graduating with a Master of Divinity degree in 1979. In 1987, Don completed a Doctor of Ministry degree at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, and later a Ph.D. in theology at the University of the Free State in South Africa.

Prior to his ministry as a seminary professor, Don was pastor of Glenfield Baptist Church in Glen Ellyn, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago), for almost fifteen years. Altogether, he has served local churches in pastoral ministry for twenty-four years.

He is the author of Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (NavPress, 1991; 2014), which has a companion discussion guide. He has also written How Can I Be Sure I’m a Christian? (NavPress, 1994), Spiritual Disciplines within the Church (Moody Press, 1996), Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health (NavPress, 2001), Simplify Your Spiritual Life (NavPress, 2003), Praying the Bible (Crossway 2015), and Family Worship (2006; and Crossway 2016). His hobby is restoring and using old fountain pens.

Don lives with his wife Caffy in their home near Louisville. She regularly teaches a class for seminary wives, works from their home as an artist, muralist, and illustrator and enjoys gardening and beekeeping. The Whitneys are parents of a daughter, Laurelen Christiana.

Don’s website address is www.BiblicalSpirituality.org.

He is on Twitter @DonWhitney and on Facebook as Don Whitney (look for the “Public Figure” page).

Lauren Chandler

Lauren Chandler is a worshipper of God – whether it is through song, studying the Bible or loving others. She loves encouraging others and her family to worship Him in all of life. Her first book, Steadfast Love (B&H Publishing, January 2016), is yet another way for her to offer worship to God.

Her husband, Matt Chandler, serves as the lead teaching pastor at The Village Church in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas area, one of the fastest growing churches in the United States, with campuses in Flower Mound, North Dallas, Denton, Fort Worth and Plano.

Lauren is passionate about writing, music and leading worship, not only at The Village Church, but also for groups across the country. She’s already garnered a Dove nomination, and her debut album, The Narrow Place, released in 2012.

But if you think life has always been easy for her, think again. Since 2009, shortly after the birth of her third child, her 35-year-old husband Matt was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Lauren and her husband have traversed surgery, seizures, and chemotherapy. She also has personally faced miscarriages and depression. Yet through it all, her passion to worship Christ has only grown.

A native Texan, she spends her days leaning into the peace she finds worshipping God whether in front of her piano, on horseback or in the midst of a full life. She also leans into the privilege of parenting her three children, Audrey, Reid and Norah.

See more online, www.LaurenChandler.com.