“The Eucharist”
Inspirations Vol. 1

Cardinal Justin Rigali is the Archbishop of Philadelphia, Roman Catholic Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was born in Los Angeles on April 19, 1935, one of seven children born to Henry Alphonsus Rigali and Frances Irene White. He was ordained a priest by Cardinal James
Francis McIntyre in the Cathedral of St. Vibiana in Los Angeles on April 25, 1961.

In October 1961, he began graduate studies in Canon Law at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome from which he obtained a doctorate in 1964.

From 1964 to 1966, he followed the course of studies at the Pontifical
Ecclesiastical Academy, while serving in the English-language section of the Secretariat of State of the Vatican.

From September 1966 to February 1970, he served at the Apostolic Nunciature in Madagascar, which also was the Apostolic Delegation for the islands of Mauritus and La Reunión. During this time in July 1967, he was named a Papal Chamberlain (Monsignor) to His Holiness Pope Paul VI.

In February 1970, Monsignor Rigali became the director of the
English-language section of the Vatican Secretariat of State, and the
English-language translator for Pope Paul VI. Monsignor Rigali served as a professor at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome from 1972-1973. He also accompanied Pope John Paul II on a number of international pastoral visits, including the Holy Father’s first two major journeys to the United States in 1979 and 1987. The 1979 trip included a visit to Philadelphia.

On April 19, 1980 he was named a Prelate of Honor of His Holiness. He became a magistral chaplain in the Knights of Malta on October 25, 1984. On October 13, 1986, he became a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre.

On June 8, 1985, he was named President of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy and Titular Archbishop of Bolsena. Pope John Paul II ordained him to the episcopacy on September 14, 1985 in the Cathedral of Albano.

From 1985 to 1990, he served as President of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy. On December 21, 1989, he was named Secretary of the Congregation for Bishops and on January 2, 1990 he became the Secretary of the College of Cardinals.

On January 25, 1994, Pope John Paul II appointed him the eighth Bishop and seventh Archbishop of St. Louis. He was formally installed on March 15, 1994. In January 1999, he hosted the Pastoral Visit of Pope John Paul II to the Archdiocese of St. Louis, the only such visit to a single diocese in the United States during the pontificate.

On July 15, 2003, Pope John Paul II appointed Archbishop Rigali as the
twelfth Bishop and eighth Archbishop of Philadelphia. On October 7, 2003, he was installed as Archbishop of Philadelphia in the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. Two weeks after his installation, he was formally created a Cardinal by Pope John Paul II on October 21, 2003.

The successor of Saint John Neumann, the fourth Bishop of Philadelphia
(1852-1860) and the first canonized male American saint, Cardinal Rigali is the spiritual leader of almost 1.5 million Catholics in the City of
Philadelphia and the surrounding counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery.

“Gideon”
Inspiration Vol. 1

Pastor Derik Hines is the Teaching Pastor at Community Church of Joy where he directs the Missions Ministry and oversees various other ministries.

Derik has been married to his bride Deborah for almost 28 years. They have been blessed with five daughters, three sons-in-law and two grandsons. In his free time he enjoys spending time with family, taking walks with God, working out, reading, frequenting coffee bars and looking for ways to share God’s love.

His passion is to “Live like Jesus, Love like Jesus and to Leave what Jesus left behind”.

As a teacher, his passion is to help others do the same.

“Go For The Gold”
Inspirations Vol. 1

The Reverend Dr. William H. Willimon has been a Bishop of The United Methodist Church since 2004. He leads the 157,000 Methodists and 792 pastors in North Alabama. For twenty years he was Dean of the Chapel and Professor of Christian Ministry at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

Dr. Willimon is a graduate of Wofford College (B.A., 1968), Yale Divinity School (M.Div., 1971) and Emory University (S.T.D., 1973). He has served as pastor of churches in Georgia and South Carolina. For four years, beginning in 1976, he served as Assistant Professor of Liturgy and Worship at Duke Divinity School, teaching courses in liturgics and homiletics and served as Director of the Ministerial Course of Study School at Duke, and Presiding Minister in the Divinity School Chapel.

When he returned to the parish ministry in 1980, he was Visiting Associate Professor of Liturgy and Worship at Duke for three years. He has been awarded honorary degrees from a dozen colleges and universities including Wofford College, Lehigh University, Colgate University, Birmingham-Southern College, and Moravian Theological Seminary. In 1992, he was named as the first Distinguished Alumnus of Yale Divinity School. He also serves on the faculties of Birmingham-Southern College as Visiting Distinguished Professor and as Visiting Research Professor at Duke Univeristy Divinity School.

He is the author of sixty books. His Worship as Pastoral Care was selected as one of the ten most useful books for pastors in 1979 by the Academy of Parish Clergy. Over a million copies of his books have been sold. In 1996, an international survey conducted by Baylor University named him one of the Twelve Most Effective Preachers in the English-speaking world.

His articles have appeared in many publications including The Christian Ministry, Quarterly Review, Liturgy, Worship and Christianity Today. He is Editor-at-Large for The Christian Century. He has served as Editor and Expositor (with his wife, Patricia) for Abingdon’s International Lesson Annual. He has written curriculum materials and video for youth, young adults, and adults. His Pulpit Resource is used each week by over eight thousand pastors in the USA, Canada, and Australia. A 2005 study by the Pulpit and Pew Research Center found that Bishop Willimon is the second most widely read author by mainline Protestant pastors.

Bishop Willimon has given lectures and taught courses at many pastors’ schools and at colleges and universities in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. These include the Belden Lectures at Harvard as well as lectureships at Princeton, Vanderbilt, Pepperdine, and Oxford. In 1998, he served on the theological faculty of the University of Bonn, Germany and in 1991, he was Distinguished Guest Professor at the University of Muenster, Germany. His books have been translated into eight languages.

He has served as vice chairman of the Board of Trustees, Wofford College; chairperson of the University Council Committee for the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale; and on the Board of Overseers for Memorial Church, Harvard University, and the Boards of Emory, Birmingham-Southern, and Huntingdon Colleges. He serves on the editorial boards of The Christian Century, The Christian Ministry, Preaching, The Wittenburg Door, and Leadership.

“Finding Righteousness”
Inspirations Vol. 1

Dr. J. Michael Feazell is the Vice President of Grace Communion International. Grace Communion International is a Christian denomination with more than 47,000 members worshiping in about 900 congregations in almost 100 nations and territories.

Founded in 1934 by Herbert W. Armstrong as the Radio Church of God, and later known as the Worldwide Church of God, it was a seventh-day Sabbatarian, prophecy-based ministry until the death of Armstrong in 1986. After Armstrong’s death, the church shed Armstrong’s aberrant doctrines and firmly embraced the biblical touchstone of salvation by grace through faith.

Grace Communion International has been a member of the National Association of Evangelicals since 1997.

Books about the church’s transformation include Transformed by Truth (Multnomah, 1997) by Joseph Tkach, and The Liberation of the Worldwide Church of God (Zondervan, 2001) by J. Michael Feazell.
Dr. Feazell earned his M.A., M.Div. and D.Min. degrees from Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California.

He and his wife, Victoria, have three children and they live in Hemet, California.

Inspirations Vol. 1, Chapter 1: “Chase The Lion”

Mark Batterson serves as lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington, DC. NCC was recognized as one of the Most Innovative and Most Influential Churches in America by Outreach Magazine in 2008.

As one church with nine services in five locations, NCC is focused on reaching emerging generations. Approximately 70% of NCCers are single twenty-somethings. The vision of NCC is to meet in movie theaters at metro stops throughout the DC area.

NCC also owns and operates the largest coffeehouse on Capitol Hill. In 2008, “Ebenezer’s” was recognized as the #1 coffeehouse in the metro DC area by AOL CityGuide. Mark has two Masters Degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago, Illinois. He is the author of a best-selling book In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. His latest release is Wild Goose Chase. He is a daily blogger at www.markbatterson.com. Mark is married to Lora and they live on Capitol Hill with their children Parker, Summer, and Josiah.