FamilyLife Speakers
listed alphabetically
Jose and Michelle Alvarez
Jose played 16 seasons of professional baseball with parts of 5 years in the major leagues. After retirement he competed professionally in golf which led to him mentoring young tour pros. He works with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Golf ministry as chaplain to the PGA’s Web.com Tour players, wives and caddies. Michelle is an event-planning consultant for corporate events and weddings. She is administrative assistant to Jose, event planner for the church where they worship and also serves the wives on the Web.com Tour. They have three adult children.
Bruce and Julie Boyd
Bruce and Julie Boyd have been on staff with the mission organization, Cru, since 1982. They are 20+ year veterans of the FamilyLife Speaker Team, and appear on the highly acclaimed DVD series, The Art of Marriage. In addition to being passionate advocates for marriage and family, the Boyds are also instructors with Cru’s Communication Training Center. Bruce received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois in Music Education. Julie graduated from Texas Wesleyan with a Business Management degree. They have 3 adult sons, and live in Fishers, Indiana.
Dan and Julie Brenton
Dan and Julie served for 17 years with CRU working with college students before beginning their church ministry. They currently live in Grand Island, Nebraska where Dan serves as the lead pastor at Grand Island Evangelical Free Church. Dan and Julie both graduated from university of Kansas and Dan completed his master’s at Dallas Theological Seminary. Dan and Julie champion issues of sex trafficking both locally and in Nepal. Julie is a patient advocate at a local pregnancy resource center and loves helping women thrive in their marriage and families. They have three adult children and five grandchildren.
Ben and Janet Burns
Ben is the director of Grad Guides (gradguides.org), which prepares high school students and their parents for the spiritual transition of life after high school. He has a master’s degree in Exegetical Theology and is an adjunct professor at Western Seminary on Developing Strong Families. Janet has a B.S. in dietetics from Colorado State University and is an A.C.C. certified professional coach. She has served with Cru in various leadership roles as campus director and regional director. Janet and Ben live in Wilsonville, Oregon, and have three children.
Raymond and Donna Causey
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Ron Deal
Tim and Joy Downs
Tim and Joy Downs have co-authored two books on conflict resolution in marriage: Fight Fair and One of Us Must be Crazy and I’m Pretty Sure It’s You. Tim is also a corporate speaker, communication trainer, and co-host of the popular weekly podcast, “The Communication Guys,” which can be heard at communicationguys.com. The Downs are graduates of Indiana University, where Joy received a degree in Journalism and Tim received a degree in Fine Arts. The Downs have three grown children.
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Brian and Jen Goins
Brian and his wife Jen love building into families and eating great food together. They have three children who all want to move to Montana. Brian serves as VP of Content Development at FamilyLife. He is also the executive producer on an adolescent-focused documentary series called Brain, Heart, World (brainheartworld.com) aimed at helping change the conversation about pornography in our country and has written Playing Hurt: A Guy’s Strategy for a Winning Marriage.
Trent and Andrea Griffith
Trent is the founding senior pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in Granger, Indiana. Andrea speaks often at women’s events across the country and mentors women locally at her church. Prior to planting Harvest, Trent and Andrea spent 15 years as conference speakers with Life Action Ministries. Trent is a graduate of Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Memphis, Tennessee. Andrea has a degree in Vocal Performance from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Trent and Andrea have five children and live near South Bend, Indiana.
Larry and Anne Kayser
Larry is a Pastor at Fellowship Bible Church in Brentwood, Tennessee. Larry graduated from Bowling Green State University and spent 10 years as a photojournalist. He earned his Master of Divinity from Grace Seminary. Anne graduated from Bowling Green State University, and spent 25 years caring full-time for their four daughters. Anne is currently working full-time with special needs children in the public school system. They have spent years mentoring couples, doing marriage counseling, and training young parents.
Jeff Kemp
Jeff Kemp is a quarterback for the family. He is an Ivy League graduate who played 11 seasons as a quarterback in the National Football League before investing two decades in strengthening families. He founded Stronger Families in Seattle and was a VP at FamilyLife for five years. He is a champion for fatherhood, a visionary speaker, and teamwork trainer. His mission at MenHuddle.com is soul coaching leaders, speaking to men and helping men huddle in friendship and faith.
Jeff and Stacy married in 1983, love tennis, skiing and being with their four married sons and nine grandkids. Jeff is the author of Facing The Blitz and RECEIVE – The Way of Jesus for Men.
Ray and Robyn McKelvy
Ray’s greatest accomplishment in this life is that he is the husband of one and the father of ten. He is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary and served for 10 years as a church planting pastor in Kansas City, MO. Ray currently lives out his mission as Lead Pastor of Christ for the Nations Church, a multi-Ethnic church in Nashville, TN. Robyn keeps busy homeschooling, counseling, mentoring and writing. She has finished two books, SOS: Sick of Sex and Say it loud: Becoming Your Husband’s Personal Cheerleader.
Tony and Venita Mitchell
Tony has 30 years business experience including serving as President, COO, CFO and CIO at organizations ranging from $2 million to $2 billion in revenue. He founded TMLeadership, LLC and now serves as a business advisor, board member, speaker, and executive coach helping organizations and individuals experience transformation. Venita worked in both public and private accounting, is a mentor, speaker and is active in women’s ministry at her local church. Tony and Venita are both CPAs (certified public accountants), have two adult children and reside in Atlanta, Georgia.
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Bill and Pam Mutz
Bill is a businessman now serving as Mayor for the City of Lakeland in Florida. His ministry involvement has involved serving within the local church, Promise Keepers, Florida Family Policy Council, FamilyLife and on many various community and business boards. Pam graduated as a PE Major and has a Masters in Art & Ministerial Leadership. She is a yoga instructor, teaches women’s Bible studies, and is a commissioned Centurion through Prison Fellowship. Pam and Bill are the parents of 12 children with 21 grandchildren!
David and Meg Robbins
David Robbins became President of FamilyLife in December 2017. David and Meg’s desire is to leverage FamilyLife’s resources and build upon the over four decade foundation of the organization, while looking to reach new audiences and generations to come.
Prior to his role with FamilyLife, the Robbins lived in Manhattan and David served as a national co-facilitator for Cru’s Millennials Ministry, which he and Meg helped launch in 2012. The initiative ministering to 20-somethings quickly grew to reach a network of 1,000 millennials in New York City and spread nationwide, establishing teams in 15 other cities across the U.S. Their passion for families drove David and Meg to provide extensive pre-marital and marriage counseling to dozens of millennial couples, using FamilyLife resources.
As a 19-year veterans of Cru, the Robbins have served in a variety of capacities, including overseas on campuses in Western Europe, and as national director of Campus Field Ministries, overseeing campus ministries across the Southeast.
David and Meg, married Nov. 16, 2001, currently live in Little Rock, Arkansas with their four children.
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Dr. Clarence and Brenda Shuler
Clarence is president and chief executive officer of BLR: Building Lasting Relationships, business and military diversity consultant, and author of eight books. Clarence speaks on college campuses to students about relationships and to men’s groups. Brenda has a master’s degree and directs Bridges of Hope, a ministry to post abortive women. They also conduct marriage seminars and relationship counseling. Clarence and Brenda have three adult children and live in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Chuck and Beth Simmons
Chuck serves as a state court judge in South Carolina, having received his J.D. from the University of South Carolina. Beth received her Bachelors Degree in Education from the University of Georgia and is a former elementary school teacher. She now works as a volunteer coordinator with an inner-city school. Both are frequent speakers on family and marriage relationships and are active in mentoring engaged and married couples. They have 3 adult children and live in Greenville, SC.
Greg Speck
Greg is the youth and family communicator for Youth Leadership and the author of Sex, It’s Worth Waiting For and Living for Jesus beyond the Spiritual High. Greg is a graduate of Bethel University. Bonnie has a master’s in teaching and leadership from St. Xavier University and is a public school nurse and the mother of four children. The Specks live in Rockford, IL.
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Ed and Amy Uszynski
Ed is the Co-Director of Digital Strategies for Athletes in Action, the sports ministry of Cru, and oversees content creation for athletesinaction.org. He frequently speaks to high school, college, and professional athletes, along with men’s groups and churches around the country. He has an MA and MDiv from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a PhD in American Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University. Amy graduated from Trinity International University before joining the campus staff of AIA. She serves on the National Women’s Leadership Team of AIA and is a part-time minister to athletes at Central State University. Ed and Amy have four children and live in Xenia, OH. Follow Ed on Twitter at @Uszynski32.
Christopher and Susan Willard
Chris and Susan were sweethearts at the University of Massachusetts and were married in 1986. Susan has a BFA in painting and design and owns an interior design firm called Fabulous Interiors and a wedding planning company called Fabulous Celebrations. Chris has an MBA and works as a consultant to many of the most effective faith-based organizations in North America and Europe. He is the co-author of Contagious Generosity, Creating a Culture of Giving in Your Church. The Willards have three young adult children and live in Orlando.
Dave and Ann Wilson
Dave and Ann Wilson are hosts of FamilyLife Today®, FamilyLife®‘s nationally-syndicated radio program on more than 1,300 radio outlets in all 50 states. They are also cofounders of Kensington Church, a national, multi-campus church that hosts more than 14,000 attendees every weekend. Since 1993, they have been featured speakers at FamilyLife’s Weekend to Remember® marriage getaways and have also hosted their own marriage conferences across the country. The Wilsons live in the Detroit area where Dave served as the Detroit Lions chaplain for 33 years. Dave and Ann have three grown sons, CJ, Austin, and Cody, as well as three daughters-in-law and four grandchildren.
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Mario and Lynelle Zandstra
Mario is the President of East-West Ministries International, a global evangelism, discipleship and church planting organization. He was the President and CEO of Pine Cove Christian Camps from 1998 to 2015. Mario is a graduate of the University of Southern California Business School. Lynelle is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Southern Methodist University and a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors and the author of Choose Words, Choose Life. Mario and Lynelle live in Dallas, TX and have seven adult children, two grandsons and two granddaughters.
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