Bill Couchenour has a fervent desire to help ministries improve their effectiveness at connecting their communities with Christ. He has served as President of Cogun, a company committed exclusively to helping churches develop the right ministry space, since 1994. From 1982 to 1994 he launched the Florida District of Cogun and served as District Manager. Bill has a business degree from Youngstown State University, an MBA from The University of Tampa.
He has served in various capacities for his local church and other organizations including Youth for Christ, Heartland Christian School and BeTheChangeProject. Bill is the author of the book, Churches... Before You Build.
Brad Eisenmann is Vice President/General Manager of Aspen Group. He has an engineering degree from the University of Illinois and an MBA from Northern Illinois University. Since joining Aspen Group in 1994, he has served as Design/Build Manager, Director of Business Development and Vice President of Project Development before being promoted to his current role. Brad is very active in his own church. He is a lay minister and has served in several leadership roles. His knowledge of the church community and the planning, design and construction process is extensive.
As a Generis Principal, Brad is well served by his experience as a consultant to churches across the nation, a staff leader in resource development for local ministries, a Campus Director for Campus Crusade for Christ, and his role as church elder in his own 4,000-member home church, Perimeter Church in Atlanta.
Brad’s unique approach allows him to serve larger and growing churches with significant funding requirements. Brad has a strong understanding of the multi-site church strategy and other pioneering church movements.
Brad earned a Masters in Theology degree from Dallas Seminary and a B.S. in Economics from West Virginia University. A member of the National Association of Church Business Administrators, he has professional certifications in church risk management and human resources—with diverse experience in financial analysis, adult education, cross-cultural missions and strategic planning. He and his wife Lisa have two delightful adult daughters, Laura and Sarah.
Architecture always looked fun to me...when I found out you could actually draw and color as an adult (and get paid for it), I was sold! After college, I worked for a residential architectural firm for 5 years before joining the Aspen Group.
CEO of Aspen Group – the Midwest’s premier church design and construction company, holds an engineering degree from Purdue University. His passion is to significantly impact individuals and communities by assisting churches in accomplishing their vision and mission. As CEO, Ed works closely with the Aspen Group team to develop and deliver planning, leadership, finance, architectural and construction expertise – expertise that ensures a powerful faith building experience for the church as well. He is also on the Board of Directors for the Indiana Family Institute.
Evan is founder of Fishhook, a marketing communications and creative services company. He is dedicated to serving as a communications partner and resource for churches and Christ-centered organizations. He combines the passion of his faith journey with the expertise he gained during his 14-year career with one of central Indiana’s largest corporate communications and marketing companies. Through Fishhook, Evan now provides churches with senior-level communications consulting services. Evan is a guest lecturer, presenter, emcee and trainer for numerous organizations. Evan and his wife are active in adult and children’s worship arts at their church.
Jim Couchenour began his career serving churches 20 years ago as a Project Consultant with Cogun. He currently serves as Director of Marketing and Ministry Services, and has developed tools for growing churches to bridge the gap between the church and unchurched. Jim has spoken on these subjects at many conferences, and has written a number of articles on church ministry in postmodern culture that have appeared in national Christian magazines. He graduated from Mount Vernon Nazarene University and received his MBA from Youngstown State University.
Jim Sheppard is CEO and principal of Generis, a consulting firm committed to accelerating generosity toward God-inspired vision. He is an avid student of generosity and is passionate about spreading it throughout the church. For over 18 years (starting in September 1992), he has devoted his life to the passion of helping church people become more generous.
Jim and his wife Nancy have two daughters, Anna and Emily, and live in Atlanta. He is actively involved in his church where he serves as an officer and provides leadership to the Generosity Ministry Team.
John has served as a dynamic and passionate Senior Pastor over the last 19 years. With an additional five years teaching experience before entering formal ministry, John is sought out for his supportive and collaborative approach to mission and ministry and to the work of mission development and visioning that engages teams. He has been a peer coach, coaching other Senior Pastors through the Church Coach Project of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America as well as coaching and equipping first-call pastors through their first three years of ministry.
As a Senior Pastor, John has led congregational growth, growing a congregation from a small, solo-call, to a large staff church engaged in many and various education and outreach ministries including preschools and homeless ministries. His leadership experience includes leading his congregations through major organizational restructuring, building and stewardship projects, as well as helping his mainline congregation excel in contemporary worship. As part of John’s own leadership journey, he moved from being the Senior Pastor whom people looked to for all the answers to a leader who engages others in the collaborative process of adaptive change and ministry development.
Jon partners with churches, missions organizations, and independent schools as they seek to accelerate generosity and advance their mission. With a passion to serve the church and para-church organizations, he has served a wide variety of churches and non-profits, and draws from experience founded in institutional development and a marketing education.
Jon collaborates with many different ministry, business, and educational leaders. He works with high capacity donors, governing & advisory boards, and in many areas that create successful vision and fundraising – marketing & publications, media & production, annual giving, planned giving, major gift development, and alumni relations.
Jon’s background, skills, & interests:
Major Gifts Officer & Reunion Giving Director | Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL)
MBA in Marketing Management & Entrepreneurship | DePaul University
BA in Business & Economics | Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL)
Traveler | Skier | Adventure Seeker | Red Sox & Patriots Fan
Kerry Bural is insane about helping ministries, churches and leaders gain momentum and enlarge their footprints. He’s the founder and principal of The Resonate Group, Inc., a strategic and creative brand development and advancement firm. Passionate about helping ministries resonate with those they’re trying to reach, Kerry blogs frequently at ResonateOrDie. You can connect with him via Twitter @ResonateOrDie, or @KerryBural or through Facebook. He and his wife, Deborah, reside in Tennessee with their three beautiful children.
Kevin G. Ford is the Chief Visionary Officer of TAG, a management consulting firm headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia. Kevin’s expertise extends from strategic planning and organizational development to competency-based management and leadership development. He has developed strategic plans for hundreds of organizations nationwide and has taught leadership development in numerous settings. He is also creator of the Transforming Church Index, a powerful assessment tool. Kevin’s previous years of experience in ministry combined with this extensive background in management consulting brings a powerful focus to his ongoing work to help churches become more effective in ministry.
Leah loves God, loves communications and loves working with churches. As lead communications strategist at Fishhook – an innovative communications and creative services firm called to work with churches – Leah’s work blends all of these passions.
Prior to helping churches communicate more effectively, Leah worked in a large public relations firm and the corporate world. At the PR firm, she served as an account director working with large non-profit and corporate clients. Previous to that, Leah did communications work for a national transportation service company.
An accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America, Leah is a graduate of Anderson University (Anderson, Ind.).
Leah married her college sweetheart, Brian, 14 years ago, and they have two daughters. They are active members at The Church at the Crossing in Indianapolis, where Leah serves on the Board of Elders.
You can reach Leah at - Email: leah@fishhook.us, Facebook:fishhookhq or Twitter: @FishhookHQ
Lynn Noe is a Customer Relations Coordinator at Aspen Group and has a long background in sales & marketing. She graduated from the University of Illinois – Springfield with a degree in Management and a Masters in Communications. She has 20 years experience in sales and marketing, and what she enjoys about her current job at Aspen is working directly with churches – being a resource for them to help them maximize their ministry potential.
Matt joined the Cogun team in January of 2002. He is dedicated to consulting with the Christian Community to understand their ministry vision, mission and clearly identify their foundational reasons for ministry expansion. He works with churches in the areas of financial feasibility, needs analysis, design consultation, property/building procurement, governmental approvals, funding procurement, construction and warranty follow through. Matt and his wife, Kathie, have three sons, Ryan, Colby and Braeden.
Megan Cook is the graphic designer at Fishhook, a marketing communications and creative services company based in Indianapolis, IN. Her greatest passion lies in getting to know people and hearing their stories. Through Fishhook, she combines her passion with her design abilities to help churches visually communicate their story to others. She graduated from Anderson University in Anderson, IN with her husband (who is also a graphic designer).
Nolan Menefee is an Oklahoma native, with a degree in Automotive Computer Engineering. His ability to understand technical issues while focusing on people made him a natural fit for Creative Animation. Nolan has a successful sales background in several fields, and his gifts and enthusiasm continue to serve Creative Animation and their clients.
Nolan is a car aficionado, often buying and refurbishing classic cars in his spare time. He and his (Canadian) wife, July, were married in 2006.
Pat is a Project Consultant at Cogun, Inc. and serves in coastal South Carolina and Georgia. Pat and his family enjoy life in the low country. Pat comes to Cogun from Indiana with 26 years experience in new business development, strategic marketing planning/implementation and project consulting. Before joining Cogun, Pat was a Marketing Director for a facilities planning, design and construction firm, serving; churches, senior living, healthcare, public libraries and college & university clients, but also with a depth of experience in the advertising/marketing communications industry.
Randy Ongie joined Cogun, Inc. after serving as Executive Pastor at Grace Fellowship Church in Johnson City, TN. At Grace Fellowship, he helped lead the church from a congregation of 500 to 3,000 and through three major facility expansion projects. He has also served as an organizational consultant to churches and other faith based organizations, and helped them with strategic planning, values clarification and development of mission. Randy began his career in sales and sales management in the wholesale grocery business. Prior to joining the team, he served as a elder at his local church for many years. Randy and his wife, Claranne, are the proud parents of three grown boys.
Rex Miller is a futurist and author of the book, The Millennium Matrix: Reclaiming the Past and Reframing the Future of the Church. He is an organizational expert with a well proven track record of building and leading high-performance teams. He recently completed a second book for the construction industry, The Commercial Real Estate Revolution, and was awarded the 2009 CoreNet Global Innovator of Year Award. This award recognizes unique and proven solutions for the commercial real estate and construction industry. Rex speaks to groups around the country on the new rules for a digital era, innovation, leadership and mapping your future.
Richard has spent the better part of the last decade serving the church through leadership and consulting roles with the Catalyst Conference and Injoy under Dr. John C. Maxwell‘s guidance. He’s now serving on the front lines helping churches prepare their ministry for the challenge of adding worship space with Cogun, Inc.
Richard and his wife, Kristy, and daughter, Jordan, have had the incredible opportunity to be a part of North Point Community Church for more than a decade and have grown tremendously under Andy Stanley‘s leadership. They’ve enjoyed the opportunity to lead small groups and starting point along the way.
During the day Richard spends his time coaching churches through the construction process as a Project Consultant with Cogun, Inc. Most of all he’s fallen in love with what God is doing through the local church, and Richard’s blog is another piece of the puzzle for him to encourage, inspire, and educate the men and women fight the battle of daily church leadership.
Rusty Lewis joined the Generis team in 2001, following a fourteen-year career raising money for schools and non-profit youth groups. With experience in education and as vice-president of a $22 million corporation, Rusty’s breadth of experience fuels his calling to serve churches and faith-based non-profits.
Rusty has earned certification as a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE), holds a Bachelor of Education degree from the University of Central Missouri and is a member of the Association of Fund Raising Professionals (AFP) and the National Association of Church Business Administrators (NACBA). He serves as a coordinator for Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, teaches courses for Crown Financial Ministries and serves on the generosity team in his own church.
Rusty and Andrea live in the St. Louis area and are proud parents of Ryan and Ashley. Rusty enjoys great music, golfing, motorcycling and Cardinal baseball.
Sam S. Rainer III serves at Sarasota Baptist Church, a multi-site church on the Sun Coast of Florida. Sam is the co-author of the recently released book, Essential Church. He has written numerous articles for several publications. He serves as president of Rainer Research, a firm dedicated to providing answers for better church health. He is a frequent conference speaker on church health issues. Sam holds a BS in Finance and Marketing from the University of South Carolina and an MA in Missiology from Southern Seminary. He is currently working on his PhD in Leadership Studies at Dallas Baptist University. Sam enjoys hanging out with friends and family in the Florida sunshine.
Tom Lorenzen, the principal consultant of dBA Acoustics in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, has worked in the electronics and architectural industry all of his adult life. After completing several semesters of college credit in Architectural Design, he changed his course of study to Electronic Engineering due to his interest (and part time job) in this rapidly evolving field.
After receiving degrees in engineering, Tom worked for several manufacturers and contractors in related areas while pursing post-graduate studies in Architectural Acoustics. Mr. Lorenzen's unique background and experience provides a well rounded insight as to the complete scope of any project dealing with Acoustics. Communication Systems, and Noise Control.
