CHICAGO, IL (October 22, 2014) — Early registration for Midwinter 2015 pastors conference is now open and runs through Friday, November 21.

The popular annual event will be held Monday, January 26 to Friday, January 30. The event continues to evolve in response to participants’ suggestions. The 2015 event will include a series of seven- to nine-minute CovTalks.

Speakers for the main sessions will be:

• Monday evening, January 26: C. McNair Wilson
• Tuesday evening, January 27: Eugene Cho
• Wednesday morning, January 28: Roberta Hestenes
• Thursday morning, January 29: Soong-Chan Rah
• Thursday evening, January 29: Roberto Miranda
• Friday morning, January 30: Rodney Cooper

Wilson has published a number of plays, musicals, and books, including Hatch: Brainstorming Secrets of a Theme Park Designer. McNair has been a member of the California Shakespeare Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse, Minneapolis Children’s Theatre Co., and Lamb’s Players. He is co-founder of three companies: Orlando Theatre Project, Theater Quest, and SAK Theatre. McNair lives in the San Francisco Bay area with three ventriloquist dummies. At the core of McNair’s work is his belief that each person has God-given creative gifts, and he desires to help others discover and use their creative gifts in ministry.

Cho is the founder and lead pastor of Quest Church, an urban, multicultural, and multigenerational church in Seattle, as well as founder and executive director of Q Café, an innovative non-profit community café and music venue. His first book Overrated was released in September. To read an interview with Cho about the book, click here.

Hestenes is an ordained Presbyterian minister who currently serves as a teaching pastor at Bayside Church in Granite Bay, California. As a Fuller seminary professor, Christian college president, pastor, international speaker, and author, Hestenes has been a leader in Christian ministry for more than 40 years. She has served congregations in Washington, Pennsylvania, and California. During her 13 years on the theology faculty at Fuller Seminary, she created and led the program in Christian Formation and Discipleship before leaving to become the first woman president at Eastern College. She has been involved with World Vision for more than 25 years.

Rah is the Milton B. Engebretson Professor of Church Growth and Evangelism at North Park Theological Seminary and the author of The Next Evangelicalism, Many Colors, co-author of Forgive Us: Confessions of a Compromised Church, and an upcoming commentary on the Book of Lamentations. He currently serves on the board of World Vision, Sojourners, the Christian Community Development Association, Evangelicals 4 Justice and the Catalyst Leadership Center. He has been an active member of the Boston Ten-Point Coalition and is a founding member of the Boston Fellowship of Asian-American Ministers. Rah is formerly the founding senior pastor of the Cambridge Community Fellowship Church (CCFC), a multiethnic, urban ministry-focused church committed to living out the values of racial reconciliation and social justice in the urban context.

Miranda is the senior pastor at Congregación León de Judá in Boston, Massachusetts. Congregación León de Judá is one of the largest churches in Boston and widely known for its ethnically diverse population and variety of ministries offered to minority youth and Latino immigrants. Roberto is well known in New England for his ability to ignite spiritual revitalization in churches of all denominations. He is founder and past president of the Fellowship of Hispanic Pastors of New England (COPAHNI), an organization serving more than 70 Latino churches in the New England area.

Cooper is the Kenneth and Jean Hansen Professor of Leadership and Discipleship at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. His prior positions include associate professor of leadership at Denver Seminary; director of the Leadership Institute at Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon; National Director of Educational Ministries for Promise Keepers; and the first president of the College of Biblical Studies. He was also a chaplain for the Houston Oilers and the Houston Astros franchises. Cooper maintains a private counseling practice but also continues to speak around the world.