Mark W. Birkholz is pastor of Zion Lutheran Church, Naperville, Illinois. He was an intern at St. John Lutheran Church, Wheaton, Illinois, supervised by Scott Bruzek. Birkholz holds a PhD from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois. He is the coeditor of Feasting in a Famine of the Word (2016) and Church as Fullness in All Things (2019). Birkholz is married to Amberleigh, and they have two children. Marcus James Nelson is senior pastor of St.

John Lutheran Church in Wheaton, Illinois. Raised in a loving Baptist home, he eventually became a Lutheran under Scott Bruzek's leadership. Following a period of discernment, Pastor Nelson attended Concordia Theological Seminary before being called to St. John, where he has served with Bruzek for sixteen years. Nelson is married to Holly, and they have four children.