Craig Terrill

Craig has led Engage from its inception and is passionate about Web tools and resources that help equip church leaders to maximize their effectiveness with their church’s core Matthew 28 mission. He has seen the excitement from pastors and leaders grow as they see how this tool can help people to take ownership of their spiritual growth and engage regularly with Jesus, spiritual friendships and the church community.

Craig joined the staff of the Willow Creek Association in 2009. As US Chief Operating Officer, Craig oversees technology, REVEAL™, transformation, Web and training initiatives, resourcing, social media and membership. He passionately champions innovations and strategic alignment.

Prior to the WCA, Craig helped with strategic planning and initiatives for several leading churches and nonprofit organizations. He was the co-founder and president/COO of venture capital-backed DigitalWork, an online software platform company, and served on the management teams for high-growth organizations including Quantum, Endeavor and Nequity. Craig taught MBA courses for more than a decade, most recently as an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He also consulted for more than 50 large companies including IBM, Hewitt, Ameritech, Bank of America, Baxter and American Medical Association in the areas of strategy and innovation. Craig was a senior partner and manager at management consultancies K&A and Accenture.

Craig has published numerous business articles and is the author of Market Leadership Strategies for Service Organizations, published by McGraw-Hill. Craig earned an MBA from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Science degree from Miami University in Ohio. He enjoys coaching youth leagues, pursuing international adventures, being near water and playing basketball anytime. Craig and Joanne and their four children live in the Chicago area.

Forward Momentum

HOW ENGAGE IS A CORE DISCIPLINESHIP INITIATIVE: WATCH THE VIDEO

Jim Mellado

Jim is passionate about Engage and its potential to help churches be more effective in helping people move forward in their spiritual journey toward Christ-centered living. He has been a champion, spokesperson and thought leader from inception and leads the relationships with our investor partners. Jim’s 15 years of experience on the leadership team of the Willow Creek Community Church and his 18 years serving churches worldwide give him deep insights into the needs of the church and how Engage can add value.

Jim has been with the Willow Creek Association since 1992, serving as president since late ’93. Under his leadership, the WCA’s worldwide revenues grew from $2 million to $25 million, membership grew from 860 churches to more than 9,500, and annual conference attendance from 10,000 to 150,000. In 2009, the WCA passed the threshold of 1.6 million leaders trained since its inception and eclipsed 20 million units of church resources sold. His present leadership team of six has an average tenure of 10 years.

A 1991 graduate of Harvard Business School, Jim wrote a case study on Willow Creek Community Church while still a student. That study has since become a part of the curriculum at Harvard Business School, Stanford Business School, Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Business and others. Jim graduated cum laude from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, with degree in mechanical engineering.

In 1988, Jim competed in the Seoul Olympic Games, placing 26th of 42 athletes in the decathlon for his birth country, El Salvador. A year prior, he placed fourth in the decathlon competition at the Pan American Games. After 20 years, he still retains two national athletic records. Married to Leanne since 1986, Jim is a father of three. His family currently makes their home in South Barrington, Illinois.

Big Questions

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Chris Cooper

Chris leads the sales and marketing strategy for Engage. This includes managing relationships with churches and developing the tactical plans for enabling churches to take full advantage of Engage. He brings more than 17 years of enterprise software sales and sales management experience to the Willow Creek Association and has been part of the Engage team since 2010.

Chris has held management roles with ADP, Kelly Services, Mobius Management Systems, BrassRing and Kenexa. Individually and under his leadership, has sold more than $100 million in new licensed enterprise software and services. Some clients include: DOW Chemical, Sprint, Prudential, Sysco, Perot Systems, RR Donnelly, Abbott, Pioneer Electronics, United Airlines and Sears Holdings.

Holding a BS in Business Administration from Baker University and a Practical Theology Diploma from Christ for the Nations in Dallas, Chris has traveled on behalf of business and ministry throughout Europe and Africa. Beyond serving as an advisor to several ministry and business boards, Chris enjoys golf, watching the Chicago Bears and any family time he can find with his wife of 15 years and young daughter.

Rolland Suh

Rolland sets the technical architecture strategy and leads design and development of the Engage system. This includes managing developers and technical infrastructure that powers the system. Rolland has led technology and Web-related strategies for the WCA for more than 12 years. He developed the first e-commerce system for church resources in the mid ‘90s. He led the team that developed and implemented the proprietary church management system for Willow Creek Community Church in 2003 that supported the church’s growth for more than seven years.

His work has included everything from multi-million dollar custom application development and systems integration to network infrastructure. A life-long technologist since writing his first software program at age 10, Rolland has led and provided strategic direction along with deep architectural expertise to a variety of different technology projects during his career.

During his consulting career, Rolland worked with organizations such as Accenture, McKinsey & Company, Classified Information, Preferred Hotel Group, Joint Aid Management International, Alpha North America and Willow Creek Community Church, along with numerous other churches and not-for-profit organizations.

Rolland received dual BS degrees in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. He also studied at Lancaster University, UK, focusing on finance and business. Born in South Korea, he moved to California as a teenager and became a beach volleyball enthusiast. Rolland makes his home in downtown Chicago with the family he loves deeply.

Mindy Caliguire

In her position as Director of Transformation Ministry Mindy provides visionary guidance to church leaders, empowering them to become more effective in authentic spiritual transformation. Key WCA initiatives under her leadership include: The Transformation Intensive, contributions to Engage, The LIFT Project (Leadership Intensive for Transformation) online courses, and new product development such as STIR (Spiritual Transformation In Relationship) online experience.

Mindy is a frequent teacher of spiritual formation classes at Willow Creek Community Church and a requested speaker on the topic of leadership and transformation at churches. She is also the founder and president of Soul Care, a spiritual formation ministry launched in 1998 dedicated to helping people restore health to their souls. Mindy has authored four books and served as a contributing editor for Conversations Journal and Leadership Journal.

Draw Near

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Keith Sherrer

As founder of Oncore Strategy, Keith is passionate about developing clear communication tools and marketing systems that serve the end customer. Building on 18 years of experience in advertising, design and organizational development, he consults with the Willow Creek Association on multiple aspects of Engage product development, contributing to the system and mobile application User Interface (UI) as well as to the overall strategic planning, brand communication and graphic design.

Clients have included: Checks Unlimited, Compassion International, Warner Bros., NASCAR, Wal-Mart, McAfee, Smith+Nephew, LearningRx (Entrepreneur “Fast 50” Top Franchise), Strang Communications, NavPress, Group Publishing, David C. Cook Communications and Pivot Video Recording Eyewear, among many others.

Keith holds a BA degree from Florida State University in Visual Communication and Advertising. He also has a Practical Theology Diploma from Christ for the Nations in Dallas, which he applied during seven years in full-time ministry taking him to unreached people groups in West Africa, Indonesia and Thailand. He now lives in Franklin, Tennessee with his wife and three children.

Cally Parkinson

Cally directs REVEAL™, an initiative within the Willow Creek Association that utilizes research tools and discoveries to help churches better understand spiritual growth in their congregations. To date, REVEAL™ has served 1,500 churches and surveyed 350,000 congregants. Cally has co-authored four books with Willow Creek’s Executive Pastor, Greg Hawkins, describing the insights from REVEAL.™

Cally previously served as the director of communications at Willow Creek Community Church, a role she took on following a 25-year career at Allstate Insurance Company. At Allstate, she held a number of different director- and officer-level positions in strategic planning, research, finance and communications. She has a BA in languages from DePauw University and a master’s degree from the American Graduate School of International Management. Cally and her husband, Rich, live in the Chicago suburbs and have two grown children. She also became a grandmother for the first time in September 2010.

Terry Schweizer

Terry is a problem solver at heart. As a member of the Engage Development Team, he brings clarity to complex issues and research questions.

Before joining the Willow Creek Association in 2008, Terry served as the Vice President and General Manager of TNS, the world’s largest custom market research firm. He led a staff of 35 at the Chicago office, the second largest regional sales and service group in North America.

For more than 24 years, Terry’s ability to help structure and collect “actionable research” has set him apart, helping elevate the role of research in strategic decision-making. His clients include consumer goods firms Kohler, Kimberly-Clark, Quaker, SC Johnson, Unilever, World Kitchen and Wrigley; financial service companies HSBC, Allstate, PNC and State Farm; and marketing consulting firms Prophet, ZS Associates, McKinsey & Company, and The Cambridge Group.

While with the WCA, Terry has been recognized for the market defining insights published in REVEAL™: Where Are You? and the in-depth sequel FOLLOW ME: What’s Next For You?

Terry received his undergraduate double major in Marketing and Human Resources from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and his MBA from Marquette University. He is married, a proud father of five, and resides in the greater Chicago area.

Tricia LoPiccolo

Tricia is that rare person who can hang with the web developers, run circles around most with her artistic wizardry and hold it all together with her project management skills. She focuses on web design for Engage.

Tricia joined the IT department at the Willow Creek Association as a web designer in 2007. More recently she added the responsibilities of IT Project Manager where she oversees web design, development and maintenance relating to user interface, event registration, and email marketing. Her valuable insight and leadership have been instrumental in improving internal and external operations for the entire organization.

Tricia graduated from DePaul University with a B.A. in Graphic Design. In those non-working times, Tricia likes music and bands (playing 5 instruments kind of puts her in the zone), connecting with her twin daughters and doing anything that relates to a body of water.

Mel Probst

Mel is the resident rocket scientist – no literally, he worked on rocket technology back in the day. He has an impressive background during his marketplace years as an IT professional with extensive experience in software development, consulting, and marketing. But he is too humble to get more out of him for this bio! Mel joined the WCA in September 2007 supporting the REVEAL Spiritual Life Survey. His duties have included data analysis, data reporting to churches, and church consultations. More recently he has been involved in development of the Engage Spiritual Life Assessment survey and the tagging process for the Engage Growth Plans and Church Life Activities.

Mel has a B.S. degree in Physics from Indiana University and an M.S. degree in Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin. When he’s not rethinking Quantum physics, he likes to go really fast in his sports car.

Hanna Koenig

Every organization needs that person who is all about the customer. This is never more true than for a web-based system and the online experience of its users. Enter Hanna. Passionate, smart, strategic, impatient for positive change. She champions getting and translating user research into new flow, user interface features for Engage.

Hanna began her ministry career on staff at Peace Lutheran Church in Ohio, the place where she learned that the passion part about ministry is transformation. At Peace she served as a lead member of the planning team for mission trips, created and led a communication department, and implemented a marketing team to promote The Global Leadership Summit at a regional level. In 2008, Hanna strategically moved to Chicago with her husband Brandon to begin working at Willow Creek Association. She developed and now leads the WCA social media, coaches the executive team on opportunities for social media involvement, and leads new initiatives for building deeper relationships with church leaders. Driving for positive change, she recently designed and launched a new web platform to better serve the constituents of the WCA.

Hanna has a BA in Communication from The Ohio State University, a Masters Degree in Nonprofit Management, and a Certificate in Professional Counseling. For fun she rehabs homes, loves to write, likes challenges and prefers running as her stress relief.

Rachel Lance

Rachel provides project management and other technical and implementation assistance. Each person desires that one cool, get the conversation started fact about themselves. For Rachel, it is that she’s from Alaska, the place with bears and wide-open spaces. She has been with the WCA for eight years with a focus on keeping priorities and projects on track. She is able to bridge the gap between what the business or ministry side wants and what the technical side can do within constraints. Rachel is not new to ministry. Prior to the WCA, she worked at Hope Community Resources where she helped kids with disabilities.

Rachel’s undergraduate degree in Information Management from Judson University is a perfect complement to her work at Willow Creek Association. She is now working on a Master’s Degree at Dominican University. Her expertise around the organization is diverse as she prompts innovation and updates current systems. In short, she’s someone you want on your team. But sorry, she’s already taken.

Michelle Stiles

Michelle helps to orchestrate and manage the church implementation process for Engage. She joined the staff of the Willow Creek Association in 2004 as the Executive Assistant to the President and Vice President.

Prior to WCA she was at Mid-West Automation Systems, Inc. for 10 years where she excelled in the areas of sales, marketing and event planning. She was promoted to interface with and handle special projects from the Executive Management Team and Board of Directors while acquiring a variety of responsibilities ensuring the efficient day-to-day running of all business operations. She was also the manager of an FHA Streamline Refinance department for 21st Century Capital Inc. and the manager of three regional sales offices that were rated the most productive in sales volume for Keystone Triple A located in Mt. Laurel, NJ.

Michelle is from New Jersey and she moved to Illinois a few years after receiving her Bachelor of Arts in Behavioral Science from Messiah College in PA. She has been recognized for leadership skills, self-initiative and willingness to do whatever it takes to get the job done.

Judson Poling

Judson is the best kept secret. He is a teacher, writer, speaker, small group formation expert, personal growth facilitator, ministry consultant and doer of good deeds. He is the most prolific author that you’ve never heard of ranking in the top 5 all time at Zondervan in terms of the number of published works to which he has contributed.

He served on staff at Willow Creek Community Church for most of his career. Across three decades he contributed to various Willow Creek training and study resources, and did research for Bill Hybels, John Ortberg, Mark Middleberg, Nancy Beach, Lee Strobel and many others on the teaching team. He had significant roles in Group Life and Spiritual Formation ministries throughout the years. Currently he is a regular teacher to scores of people each week on a variety of spiritual formation topics during Willow’s mid-week classes.

Judson is a founding Board member and retreat leader with The Crucible Project, a men’s ministry dedicated to promoting transformational retreats and other initiatives that help unlock men's God-given passion and potential (www.thecrucibleproject.org).

Judson is co-author of The Be-With Factor: Mentoring Students in Everyday Life, The Be-With Factor Student Guide: Six Questions Students Need to Ask About Life with God, the Walking With God small group study series (Silver Medallion Winner), the Tough Questions series (Silver Medallion Winner), the Pursuing Spiritual Transformation series (Silver Medallion Winner), author of Interpretation: Discovering the Bible for Yourself (from the Bible 101 series), author of Taking the Old Testament Challenge: A Daily Reading Guide and is the general editor of The Journey: The Study Bible for Spiritual Seekers.

He has a B.A. in Hebrew and Semitic Studies from University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a M.Div. from Trinity Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois. He is an ordained minister.

Judson is married to Deb, and they have two grown children: daughter Anna (who is married to Ben Greeno with grandson Max), and son Ryan.