Creators and Guests

Kevin A. Thompson is a husband, father, and Married Life Pastor at Bayside Church in the Greater Sacramento Region. The author of multiple books, including, Friends, Partners & Lovers and Fearless Families. Kevin is passionate about seeing families thrive. Originally from Arkansas, Kevin has been a frequent guest on Focus on the Family, Family Life, and featured in the New York Times. He writes at kevinathompson.com and changetheodds.com. He and his wife, Jenny, along with their two children reside in Auburn, CA.

Adrienne Neufeld is a comedian who turns the chaos of parenting, marriage, and everyday life into laugh-out-loud comedy. She also co-hosts the Change the Odds podcast, bringing humor, honesty, and heart to conversations about faith, life, and relationships.

Dr. Barbara Wilson is an author, Doctor of clinical psychology and the founder of Freedom Bound Communications, an organization that brings healing and hope to those with a sexual past. She speaks internationally to youth and adults with her message of sexual bonding and healing. Released from a past of her own, Barbara combines neuroscience and psychology, with her own story of healing to explain what sexual bonding is and how to move freely into your future in her books, The Invisible Bond: How to Break Free From Your Sexual Past and Kiss Me Again; Restoring Lost Intimacy In Marriage. Barbara has a group study called Free, Finding Healing and Freedom from your Past, available in women’s, men’s and young women versions, that is being used locally and nationally to walk men and women through an empirically-based, trauma-focused approach for healing from past abuse, sexual trauma and destructive relationships. Barbara and her husband have been married over 30 years.

Janelle McGuckin is a registered nurse, wife, mother, and California girl through and through. When a cancer diagnosis meant trading her nursing scrubs for a patient gown, a remarkable journey of true healing began. Now she's pouring her care for others onto the pages of her debut book and inviting all who thirst to draw near to the One who calls each of us by name.

Jim Sheppard is CEO & Principal of Generis, a consulting firm passionate about helping churches inspire and cultivate generosity through giving development, coaching, and strategy. After college, Jim passed the CPA exam and pursued a career as a financial executive. Though he grew up in the church, Jim was not a believer until he was 28. That part of his life intersected with his business life in 1991 when he thought he might be called to the pastorate. This came at a time when he was at a very high level in a major financial services company. After an intense spiritual period in his life, Jim realized that was not where God was calling him. Seven months later through a corporate buyout and a series of providentially inspired events, Jim moved from the corporate world to giving development for churches and ministry organizations. Jim is a student of generosity and is passionate about spreading it throughout the Church. For the last 27+ years, he has devoted his life to coaching pastors especially in navigating the resource limitations that restrict their ministry potential. Jim understands the financial challenges that churches face today; annual giving, debt, capital projects, and planned giving. He is a positive force in bridging these needs with the power of spiritually motivated stewardship. Cumulatively, Jim has partnered with his clients to raise over $1.7 billion for local church ministry. Jim is a frequent writer and speaker on generosity and ministry funding. He is co-author of Contagious Generosity: Creating A Culture Of Giving In Your Church. Jim and his wife, Nancy, live in the Atlanta, GA area and they have two married daughters. He is actively involved in his church where he serves as an elder and provides guidance to the Generosity Ministry Team.

Mark Clark founded Village Church, a multi-site church with locations in multiple cities across Canada and online around the world, that seeks to reach skeptics and challenge Christians. He is now one of the Senior Lead Pastors at Bayside Church, California. He is the author of The Problem of Jesus (Zondervan, 2021) and The Problem of God (Zondervan, 2017) winner of the 2018 Word Award for Evangelism. His new book, The Problem of Life releases February 2025. He is also the host of The Mark Clark a podcast. He has been the subject of several articles in Christianity Today and Outreach Magazine voted him one of the Top 25 Leaders to Watch. He has three beautiful daughters with his wife, Erin.