Dr. David A. Noebel is founder and president of Summit Ministries and edits and writes Summit's monthly publication, The Journal. Dr. Noebel has been a college professor, college president, and candidate for the U.S. Congress.

Dr. Noebel has a B.A. from Hope College in Holland, a M.A. from the University of Tulsa, and was a Ph.D. candidate in Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin. He is an author, editor, public speaker, and ordained minister. He is recognized as an expert on worldview analysis and the decline of morality and spirituality in Western Civilization. He travels worldwide lecturing in high schools, universities, and churches.

David has been a guest on numerous national radio and television programs. He has authored a number of books and has written extensively on the subject of Western Civilization's moral and spiritual decline. His most popular works include Understanding the Times (which has sold over 500,000 copies), the New York Times' best selling Mind Siege (co-authored with Tim LaHaye), and Clergy in the Classroom (co-authored with Kevin Bywater and J.F. Baldwin).

He and his wife Alice live in Manitou Springs, CO. They have two children and five grandchildren.

Elected in 2006, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is the first Republican woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota. In only her first term, Congresswoman Bachmann developed a reputation as a "principled reformer" who stays true to her conservative beliefs while pushing for real reform of the broken ways of Washington. And, her strong advocacy for her constituents earned her a second term in Congress in November 2008.

She is a leading advocate for bipartisan earmark reform and tax relief and is a staunch opponent of wasteful government spending. She is among the leaders in the U.S. House pushing for increased energy exploration in the U.S. to provide much needed relief at the pump for hard-working Americans and put our nation on the path to energy independence.

Congresswoman Bachmann currently sits on the Financial Services Committee. This committee is tasked with the oversight of numerous financial sectors including housing, real estate and banking. This also gives the Congresswoman keen insight into the housing crisis and credit crunch, leading her to be a staunch opponent of the taxpayer-funded bailout of Wall Street.

Bachmann and her husband, Marcus, live in Stillwater where they own a small business mental health care practice that employs 42 people. The Bachmanns have five children, Lucas, Harrison, Elisa, Caroline, and Sophia. In addition, the Bachmanns have opened their home to 23 foster children, which has inspired Congresswoman Bachmann to become one of Congress’ leading advocates for foster and adopted children. She was recently honored with an appointment to the bipartisan Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute’s Advisory Board.

Becky Norton Dunlop, the Heritage Foundation’s vice president for external relations, previously served inside the White House, at the Department of Justice and at the Department of the Interior as a senior official in the Reagan administration from 1981-1989. She ran her own strategic management and communications consulting firm, Century Communications, and also served from 1994-98 as secretary of natural resources in Virginia under Gov. George Allen.

Dunlop considers her work for the nation on behalf of President Ronald Reagan to be among the greatest privileges of her life. From his inauguration in 1981 to 1985, her White House posts included deputy assistant for presidential personnel and special assistant to the president and director of his Cabinet office.

Senator Jim DeMint was our featured speaker for our iGovern East Washington D.C. day trip. 

Senator DeMint has represented South Carolina in the senate since 2005 and represented the fourth district of South Carolina for three terms in the House of Representatives before his run for Senate. He has been a friend of GenJ and a friend of homeschooling throughout his time in office and received the Generation Joshua Defender of Liberty award during our iGovern East 2011 Summer Leadership Camp.

Morton Blackwell began in 1960 to identify, train, and place bright young conservatives for activism in the public policy process. 

He was one of the original eleven members of the Steering Committee of National Youth for Goldwater.  Barry Goldwater’s youngest elected national convention delegate in 1964, Blackwell served as the state chairman of the Louisiana College Republicans and Louisiana Young Republicans.  In 1965, he became executive director of the College Republicans and held that position on and off for five and a half years under four College Republican national chairmen.

Blackwell became the youth coordinator for the successful Louie Nunn for Governor of Kentucky campaign in 1967, an opportunity which enabled him to create the nation’s first mass-based youth effort.

Founding the Leadership Institute in 1979, Blackwell is an experienced conservative activist with wide experience in and out of government.  In 1980 he organized the national youth effort for Ronald Reagan, going on to serve on President Reagan’s White House Staff.  

In 1984, Blackwell left the White House to work full-time as the President of the Leadership Institute, his educational foundation dedicated to training and placing conservatives.  Blackwell’s writings have been published in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Washington Times. 

Today Morton Blackwell continues to increase the number and effectiveness of conservative activists and leaders through the programs of the Leadership Institute, which in 2009 trained 11,633 people in its 41 types of training schools.  Its Campus Leadership Program currently has more than 1,360 currently active, independent conservative student groups and campus publications in colleges and universities in all across America.

Wendy Wright, President of Concerned Women for America (CWA), works on pro-family and pro-life issues, trains grassroots activists and students, testifies at government hearings, and advocates for ethical policies at the United Nations.

Miss Wright’s exercise of freedom of speech against abortion has resulted in cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, Texas Supreme Court and Florida Supreme Court.  Her international work includes teaching at the Sri Lanka Bible College, training pro-family leaders in Mexico, and advising Kosovo’s new government.

A frequent guest on national TV (such as FOX, CNN,  MSNBC, ABC World News Tonight and others), her editorials and articles have been published in USA Today, Washington Post, Atlanta Journal- Constitution, Federalist Society, Washington Times, Human Events and other outlets. Wendy was named among “The 100 Most Powerful Women of Washington” in 2006 by the Washingtonian Magazine. The National Pro-Life Religious Council awarded Wendy for her “continuous leadership in the cause of life.”

Michael P. Farris is Chairman of the Home School Legal Defense Association and Chancellor of Patrick Henry College.  He also serves as President of ParentalRights.org.

Since founding HSLDA in 1983, Farris has used his extensive experience in both politics and appellate litigation to defend parental rights and help grow the organization to over 80,000 member families.  He is also the founder of Patrick Henry College, a Christian institution with the mission of training students through a classical liberal arts curriculum and apprenticeship methodology.

Most recently, Farris started an organization called ParentalRights.org.  This campaign exists to secure a constitutional amendment that defends the rights of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children.

Mike and Vickie Farris live in Purcellville, Virginia, and have ten children and eleven grandchildren.

Born in New York City and raised on Long Island, Paul Teller graduated in 1993 from Duke University in Durham, NC, with a B.A. in political science.  Paul has had a variety of political jobs around DC, including The Washington Times--National Weekly Edition, the National Center for Public Policy Research, the College Republican National Committee, the Bush/Quayle ‘92 campaign in Washington and North Carolina, and the American Enterprise Institute.  After completing his undergraduate work, he went into American University’s Ph.D. program as a Dean’s Scholar in political science, which he completed in 1999.    
 
Shortly afterwards, he became a staff member for the Committee on House Administration under Rep. Bill Thomas (R-CA) in the U.S. House of Representatives.  In early 2001, Paul joined the staff of the House Republican Study Committee (RSC), the caucus of House conservatives, where he has done legislative research, analysis, and strategy, as well as coalitions and communications work across a broad range of issues.  As the RSC’s Deputy Director, Paul continued with these responsibilities, while leading the RSC’s outreach to K Street and conservative coalitions, as well as directing the 100-person Conservative Staff Meeting.  Now as the RSC’s Executive Director (serving under his sixth RSC chairman) and the Conservative Movement’s point-man on the House side, he sets and implements strategy for the RSC’s policy, communications, and coalitions efforts.  

The Washington Post recently described Paul as “one of the most influential conservative aides in Congress.”

Paul also helped found, and continues to advise, the House Conservatives Fund, the PAC aimed at electing conservatives to the U.S. House of Representatives.  Additionally, Paul was the Senior Policy Advisor in 2004 for Bill Spadea for Congress (NJ-12) and is on the board of directors of the Duke Club of Washington.

Tom Minnery, executive director of CitizenLink, has led the Government and Public Policy division of Focus on the Family since 1988. His views and influence have helped to shape public policy at both the national and state levels.

Minnery and his staff track federal policy in bioethics issues from abortion to euthanasia; sexual abstinence education; pornography and obscenity; education; marriage; religious civil liberties; homosexuality; and gambling. The expert commentary they provide helps mobilize informed grassroots participation of Christians in the political process. This is accomplished mainly by providing family advocates with trusted news and information on pressing social issues through Focus’ Citizen magazine, CitizenLink daily e-mail, Family News in Focus radio broadcast, as well as a variety of online videos ranging from the humorous Stoplight commentaries to in-depth analysis and the TurnSignal news videos. Minnery himself regularly appears in the weekly “CitizenLink Report” webcast.

Minnery also oversees the network of 38 state-level family policy councils, which are increasingly helping to affect the tone of national policy, including playing a major role in passing the 31 marriage amendments that have garnered media attention across the U.S.

Minnery been featured on countless media programs and print outlets, including CNN, Fox News, all network news programs, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal  and Newsweek.

Minnery has a Bachelor of Science in journalism from Ohio University and Master of Arts in religion from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.  He is the author of the book Why You Can’t Stay Silent, published by Tyndale House (2002).

Mr. Eric Smith is the Director of Summit Semester, a Summit Ministries Institute, held each fall in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. In the summers he is the Staff Director for Summit Colorado Student Conferences. Eric enjoys pulling together the best of Summit's resources and some of the brightest staff and students in the country. He holds a Masters of Divinity degree from Denver Seminary, and a B.S. in Business Administration from Miami University (OH). Eric and his wife Sara, along with their four children, Elsie, Alden, Liam, and Evie, live most of the year in Manitou Springs, Colorado.

Joel started his life as an advocate when he was in 6th grade and convinced his mother to homeschool him. In 2007, after working on Capitol Hill for J.C. Watts and then delving into the world of demographic research, Joel started training future leaders as Generation Joshua’s National Clubs Coordinator.

He now serves as the deputy director of all of Generation Joshua’s national efforts. A graduate of his hometown college, Eastern Washington University, he travels around the United States training youth to influence the political world for Christ. When Joel speaks, he draws on his 15 years of ministry experience and 10 years of political campaign experience to make the message relevant to a generation that he says, “Will change the world.” Living in the Washington, D.C. area, Joel, his wife Christie, and their 6-month-old son enjoy life in the fast lane.

Joel is the iGovern Camp Director and will be overseeing iGovern East and West.

 Jeremiah is the iGovern Camp Producer and will helping lead both iGovern East and West.

Ken Cuccinelli was a member of the Virginia Senate from 2002 to 2009 when he was elected as the Attorney General of Virginia .  His experience as a small business owner, an attorney, and Homeschool Father has uniquely prepared him for his role in the General Assembly where he served on the influential Senate Courts of Justice Committee. 

Now as the Attorney General of Virginia, Ken is one of the primary architects in the constitutional challenge to the recently passed health care bill. 

As a statesman, Ken Cuccinelli has led the fight to defend constitutional rights, stop tax increases, protect life and families, and keep Virginia a low-regulation and pro-business state.

In the 2005, 2006 and 2007 Legislative Sessions, Ken worked tirelessly to pass meaningful eminent domain laws that now prevent local and state governments from taking private homes and businesses for developers’ projects instead of for true public uses.

Ken also has a strong record of supporting our police officers as they protect our communities. He passed legislation that stopped local governments from unfairly exploiting our law enforcement officers’ overtime work.

Ken’s wife, Teiro, was almost the girl next door. Actually, she lived three doors down from his family’s Northern Virginia home. Ken and Teiro married in 1991, after Ken graduated from the Engineering School at The University of Virginia and Teiro graduated from James Madison University. After over 17 years of marriage, they have been blessed with five daughters and two sons.

A homeschool graduate from Pennsylvania, Will began working for HSLDA in January 2004 as a legal assistant to Staff Attorney Scott Woodruff. After graduating from Oak Brook College of Law with his J.D., he moved on to direct HSLDA’s Federal Relations department and to serve as HSLDA’s federal lobbyist.

As HSLDA’s representative on Capitol Hill, Will uses his passion for homeschooling to advocate for all homeschoolers before Congress and the federal departments. He has testified before Congress and met with senior officials from federal agencies and the executive branch. In October, 2007, Will became the director of Generation Joshua, a division of HSLDA, where he works with young people who are passionate about making a difference in politics, along with continuing to serve as HSLDA’s federal lobbyist. He is a member of the California bar.

Will and his wife, Rachel, also a homeschool graduate as well as an accomplished portrait artist, reside in northern Virginia.

Mike Pence was born in Columbus, Indiana, graduated from Hanover College in 1981 and earned his J.D. fromIndiana University School of Law in 1986.

Pence began his career in radio broadcasting in 1992 and two years later, Network Indiana syndicated his show throughout the state of Indiana. "The Mike Pence Show" aired Monday through Friday on 18 stations.

Pence was first elected to Congress in 2000 and was most recently elected to a fifth term in November of 2008. He also was elected unanimously by House Republicans to serve as House Republican Conference Chairman in November 2008. In his role as Conference Chairman, he helps to develop and disseminate the message of the Republican Conference and to promote its Members.

Congressman Pence describes himself as "a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order."

Congressman Pence and his wife Karen have three children and reside in Columbus, Indiana. The Pence family lives in Arlington, Virginia, while Congress is in session.

In November of 2007, Congressman Pence was named one of the top 20 most influential conservatives in America, coming in at nineteen according to the London Daily Telegraph.

The ACU honored Congressman Pence in 2006 with the Courage Under Fire Award, which recognizes those who have stood for principle when doing so puts them at risk physically, politically or economically. Past recipients include Charlton Heston, Wayne LaPierre, and Ambassador John Bolton.

In 2005, Congressman Pence was named "Man of the Year" by the leading conservative publication Human Events for his leadership on behalf of fiscal discipline. Previous honorees include President Ronald Reagan and the late Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia.

He was also awarded the Friend of the Family Award by the Indiana Family Institute, and the Distinguished Christian Statesmanship Award by the Center for Christian Statesmanship. Congressman Pence has repeatedly received the "True Blue Award" from the Family Research Council for his commitment to the family and sanctity of human life and the "Tax Payers' Friend" award from the National Taxpayers' Union for his commitment to advocating for responsible tax and spending policies.