DJ Johnsen

Daniel "DJ" Johnsen is the Director of Compassion, Mercy, and Justice at Oceanhills Covenant Church in Santa Barbara. DJ is a Westmont College grad ('15) and is currently pursuing graduate work in Christian Formation at North Park Theological Seminary. Compelled by the pattern of Christ found in Philippians 2, DJ is a champion of service, self-giving love, and solidarity with the poor and marginalized. He works especially with unhoused peoples, underserved youth, and those who need a second chance.

DWIGHT RADCLIFF

Dwight Radcliff is Academic Dean for the William E. Pannell Center for Black Church Studies and Assistant Professor of Mission Theology and Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary. Black church studies, cultural anthropology, and missiology are a few of the areas where he has expertise. He completed his M.Div. degree in Fuller’s School of Theology and Ph.D. degree in Fuller’s School of Intercultural Studies. Prior to his academic career he was a deputy and a chaplain in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. In addition to teaching he serves as senior pastor of The Message Center in Gardena. He and his wife have two daughters.

felicia Song

Felicia Song is a sociologist who studies the social and cultural effects of digital technologies on community and identity in contemporary life. Trained in history, communication studies, and sociology from Yale, Northwestern and University of Virginia, she is Professor of Sociology at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, CA.

Lena Giffoni

Lena Giffoni was born in Ukraine  and accepted Christ in 1994 through a YWAM missionary outreach. She currently reaches viewers around the world with her Russian language ministry on YouTube. For many years she has been involved with ministries in Russia and Ukraine. She is an author of Return to Joyful Living: Reclaiming Life From Fear, Anxiety and Toxic Overthinking.

Paul Jensen

Paul Jensen is the Founder & President of The Leadership Institute. He is also an Affiliate Professor of Christian Spirituality in Contemporary Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary. He has served on the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ and pioneered secular campus ministries and trained campus chaplains for the Adventist Church in North America. Paul was a graduate visiting student under N. T. Wright at Oxford University and completed a Ph.D. at Fuller Seminary’s School of Intercultural Studies under Wilbert R. Shenk and Richard V. Peace. He is the author of Subversive Spirituality: Transforming Mission through the Collapse of Space and Time(Pickwick Publishers 2009) based on his Ph.D. work. He has written articles on spirituality and discipleship including entries in Blackwell’s Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization (2012) and Zondervan’s Encyclopedia of Christian Spirituality (2011).

Sean Chow

Rev. Dr. Sean Chow is the Executive Director of the San Diego Presbytery. He is leading the presbytery through a strategic vision to plant churches, revitalize churches, and be more missionally focused. Sean was the Associate for 1001 New Worshiping Communities for Training and Leadership Cohorts for the Presbyterian Church. He resources and consults with regional denomination bodies, churches, and church plants as they launch new creative expressions of church.

He is a graduate of Azusa Pacific University (2005), Master of Divinity from San Francisco Theological Seminary (2009) and a Doctor of Ministry at New York Theological Seminary (2022). Through it all, there is an inner desire is to be a part of a God driven movement that impacts the world for God’s glory. His aim is to prepare, equip, and sustain leaders to do the work in which God calls them. Sean is the author of “Rediscovering Vitality: A Handbook for Church Visioning and Missioning”. He is a frequent speaker to churches, committees, gatherings, and conferences.

 Sean and his family live in Southern California where he can be found on a local tennis court having reconnected to an old passion.  

Tom Stephen - Conference Pastor

Rev. Tom Stephen serves as pastor of Monte Vista Presbyterian Church in Newbury Park, California.  Tom is committed to helping people grow in prayer, compassion, humility and their enthusiasm for the gospel of Jesus.  He grew up in Southern California and received a Bachelor of Arts in Music from University of Redlands.  He graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1990, where he met his wife Virginia, who is an ordained Methodist Minister.  Together they have written articles for Youth Worker Journal and curriculum for Focus on the Family and published Fearless: 40 Days of Living with No Fear, which incorporates extreme surf photography and devotional scripture readings.  Tom and Virginia have four kids, three dogs and lots of fun.

Dave Peterson - Emcee

Dave Peterson currently serves as the Area Director for Young Life in Santa Barbara, CA. He has spent the past 20 years walking alongside young people and encouraging them to follow Jesus. He’s helped build teams in the Pacific Northwest, the Carolinas and now on California’s central coast. He’s dedicated to passing on the lessons he’s learned to other leaders and to laughing as frequently as possible.