Battle Cry Speakers
Ron Luce
Ron is the President and Founder of Teen Mania Ministries, a Christian youth organization that reaches millions of young people worldwide. Ron passionately declares the truth of the Gospel without compromise as he challenges teenagers to take a stand for Christ in their schools, communities, and throughout the world.
Raised in a broken home, Ron ran away at the age of 15 and became involved in drug and alcohol abuse before finding Jesus at the age of 16. The life-transforming impact of Christ inspired Ron to dedicate his life to reaching young people. After receiving both bachelor's and master's degrees in counseling and psychology, Ron and his wife, Katie, started Teen Mania in 1986 with nothing more than a hatchback car and a dream to raise up an army of young people who would change the world. He has received an honorary doctorate by Jerry Falwell from Liberty University and was appointed by President Bush to serve as an advisory member for the Commission and Drug free Communities from 2002-present.
Ron is a sought-after speaker who has traveled to more than 50 countries and has made numerous media appearances, such as Dr. James Dobson's Focus on the Family radio broadcast and The 700 Club. He is also a frequent host and guest on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Ron and Katie live in Garden Valley, Texas with their three children, Hannah, Charity, and Cameron.
STEVE FITZHUGH
Steve Fitzhugh is the founder and President the nationally acclaimed communication organization, PowerMoves. He is a modern-day champion for the youth and young at heart. In a matter of moments, Steve commands attention, engages and entertains, then impacts and educates, with skill and effectiveness. With over 20 years of experience as an advocate for youth, Steve successfully communicates precepts for success and significance. “Purpose changes everything!” Steve says, as he explains his personal conversion experience. As a one-time NFL athlete with the Denver Broncos and as a seasoned motivator-speaker-preacher, Steve, offers expertise in any youth-relevant topic and all discussion/presentation formats. An ordained minister, Steve has found success in both the faith and the secular communities with “keeping it real” and “easy to understand” exhortations of the truth.
Originally from Akron, Ohio, he has been living and working in Washington, DC since the late 1980’s. As a high school all-American in track, and as a scholarship athlete in both football and track at Miami University (Ohio), Steve’s athletic success paved the way for a career in professional sports. Sidelined by a shoulder injury after two seasons, Steve uses his NFL experience as a platform to capture the attention of America’s youth and young adults in order to inspire, educate and motivate.
It was in college that Steve acknowledged a call to ministry, but not until his NFL career was over did he travel to Washington, DC to prepare. Steve attended the Howard University Divinity School as a candidate for the Master of Divinity degree. Following Divinity school Steve began a full-time work of ministry and motivation, inspiring young and old through his gifts as a writer, preacher, poet, humorous and educator. Today he is the National Spokesperson for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes One Way 2 Play – Drug free project. As such, Steve is in over 100 high schools annually impacting thousands of students with a moving message of purpose and potential. His ministry also includes but is not limited to regular missions to Africa, chapel services for professional football teams, radio and television appearances and a variety of national and local conventions, conferences and special events.
When not traveling you will find Steve at The House, a renowned after-school teen youth center he co-founded as a safe place for the youth of Southeast Washington, DC. He is married and is the father of two daughters.
TRAVEL THE ROAD
Travel the Road, the groundbreaking reality television series that documents the adventurous lives of young missionaries Tim Scott and Will Decker over 18-months, through 25 countries, across 40,000 miles is a unique look into the world of frontline mission work.
The journey is filled with danger, excitement, adventure and epic triumph as Tim and Will undertake unbelievable expeditions into the most remote areas of the world to bring the gospel. From the deserts of Ethiopia to the island villages of Papua New Guinea they travel from country to country with one backpack, a change of clothes, and a message of hope that pushes them deeper into the unknown.
WALID SHOEBAT
Born in Bethlehem of Judea, Walid's grandfather was the Muslim Mukhtar (chieftain) of Beit Sahour-Bethlehem (The Shepherd's Fields) and a friend of Haj-Ameen Al-Husseni, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and notorious friend of Adolf Hitler.
Walid's great grandfather, Abdullah Ali Awad-Allah, was also a fighter and close associate of both Abdul Qader and Haj Amin Al-Husseini, who led the Palestinians against Israel. Walid lived through and witnessed Israel’s Six Day War while living in Jericho.
As a young man, he became a member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and participated in acts of terror and violence against Israel, and was later imprisoned in the Russian Compound, Jerusalem's central prison for incitement and violence against Israel.
After his release, he continued his life of violence and rioting in Bethlehem and the Temple Mount. After entering the U.S, he worked as a counselor for the Arab Student Organization at Loop College in Chicago and continued his anti-Israel activities.
In 1993, Walid studied the Tanach (Jewish Bible) in a challenge to convert his wife to Islam. Six months later, after intense study, Walid realized that everything he had been taught about Jews was a lie. Convinced he was on the side of evil, he became an advocate for his former enemy.
Driven by a deep passion to heal his own soul, and to bring the truth about the Jews and Israel to the world, Walid shed his former life and his work as a software engineer and set out to tirelessly bring the cause of Israel to tens of thousands of people throughout the world: churches and synagogues, civic groups, government leaders and media.
Jack Hayford
Dr. Jack W. Hayford is the Founding Pastor of The Church On the Way, located in Van Nuys, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. In 1999, he celebrated with his wife Anna thirty years of faithful leadership and fruitful harvest to the congregation. Dr. Hayford is also Founder and Chancellor of The King's Seminary, which was formally dedicated during the 1999 Autumn Leaders Conference.Pastor Hayford has become an acknowledged "bridge-builder," helping to forge healthy bonds among all segments of the Church. He is recognized for his balance in preaching the Word, avoiding extremes while not diluting or compromising the demands of truth - graciously revealing the heart of a holy and merciful God.
Pastor Hayford's heart to bring unity to the Body of Christ has given him an open door to minister in all kinds of settings, including LOVE L.A., a gathering of pastors from Los Angeles united in prayer on behalf of our city; as Master of Ceremonies over a million Promise Keepers at the Mall in Washington, D.C. in 1997; serving as a key participant in the Nationally Broadcast Concert of Prayer held each May on the National Day of Prayer; and hosting the annual Pastors Seminar.
PHIL JOEL
Like teens the world over, Phil struggled with image in his teenage years, but he found strength in God's promises, in the companionship of Christian friends and in music. When given the ultimatum, "Do your homework or get a job", He chose the latter and left school to become a hairdresser. At the same time, He spent every spare moment in his "off-time" as lead singer and guitarist in his band Drinkwater. Five years later, after being offered a position with Newsboys, Phil found himself in Nashville - his long lost home away from home. Knee deep in the music business, Phil met Heather, the girl of his dreams, in Kansas and married her a year later. All these experiences sharpened and matured him, but the questions he's always wrestled with, about himself and his place in life persisted.
The past two years, however, have been a revelation. Having learned more about his biological parents-his birth father is a London musician; his mother, a wigmaker from Perth, Australia-Phil had the opportunity to meet his birth mother. The reality, as you can only imagine, could never have matched the high expectation. But some major pieces of his life-puzzle came together during their visit. "For the first time in my entire 27 years," he says, "I realized that I had not become the person I am because of nature or nurture. While those things have their place, I realized that I had become who I am because of the commitment I made to Christ when I was eight and the continuing commitments I have made to God, to myself and to others in my life up to now." It's easy to forget, he says "that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. Not that I'm trying to say that I'm a good man, but my commitment to Christ has always been central.
Or to put it in the words of American essayist, Ralph Waldo Emerson, "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." Such a revolutionary lesson is worth repeating.
Daren Streblow
Remember all those uncool, awkward, geeky kids bullies used to love to pick on at school? Whatever happened to them anyway? Well, one of them, DAREN STREBLOW, the tall, lanky one with the bad overbite, turned all that ridicule into a highly successful, fast-paced, hysterically funny comedy act. So who's laughing now?
Daren Streblow's unique style of observational stand-up comedy (and he's 100% clean, too!) has been entertaining thousands of people throughout the United States and abroad ever since he first stepped on stage in 1995. "Daren Streblow makes me laugh until I can't breathe," says noted comedian and national radio host, Ken Davis. An in-demand comic for corporations, schools, youth rallies, and churches, Streblow has also opened for such well known comics as Weird Al Yankovich, James Gregory, Jeff Allen and Brad Stine. He is also featured in the nationwide Funny People of Faith Tour, and a regular performer at the National Pastor's Conventions and Youth Specialties.
Born in the frosty north woods of Ely, Minnesota in 1971, Daren began exhibiting comedy potential at an early age. At age four, he was already entertaining family and friends with his impersonations of super heroes. He would wrap a blue cape around his neck and safety-pin a large letter "S" to his chest, then proceed to leap out in front of moving traffic in order to stop the cars. This could account for one of the reasons he was laughed at in school. It might also account for the high number of tread marks in front of Daren's home. Daren never lost his love for entertaining others, and at age 17, Daren was invited to join the staff of KDNW radio. This gave Daren the distinction of being the youngest announcer in the Northwestern College Radio Network. (It also got him out of his Superman cape...except for weekends.) Daren worked at the station throughout his high school and college years.
Comedian Mark Lowry says that "Daren Streblow is funny. Not kinda funny. Not sorta funny. But, cough-up-a-lung, can't-catch-your-breath, throw-your-head-back-and-guffaw funny." Daren had been married for only a year when he felt God leading him to be a stand-up comedian. He figured this wasn't something that God regularly leads people to do (Moses was never told to "Go to Pharaoh and do a ten-minute set"), but it was a clear message to Daren and he knew he should pay attention. The more Daren began to think about the calling, and the more he looked at the raw talents that God had apparently instilled in him, the more he knew that comedy was what he was to do with his life. Daren dedicated his talents to God, started writing and honing his act, and moved into full time comedy in 1998. And he's been going strong ever since.
