Efrem Smith is the co-senior pastor of Bayside Church Midtown, located in Sacramento, California. He is also the co-owner of Influential LLC, a speaking, consulting, and coaching ministry, along with his wife, Donecia Norwood-Smith. He completed a doctor of ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary and was granted an honorary doctor of ministry degree from Ashland Theological Seminary. He is the author of Raising Up Young Heroes; The Hip Hop Church; Jump: Into a Life of Further and Higher; and Killing Us Softly.

Curtiss Paul DeYoung is the Chief Executive Officer of the Minnesota Council of Churches. He has also served as the Executive Director of Community Renewal Society in Chicago, and as Professor of Reconciliation Studies at Bethel University in St. Paul, MN. He is the author of Living Faith: How Faith Inspires Social Justice, and the co-editor of The People's Bible.