Dallas Anderson

Over the past 30 years Dallas has taught, trained and mentored individuals and churches to find their unique calling from God in the critical work of seeing Christ’s Kingdom advanced. He has traveled in over 25 countries proclaiming Christ in numerous cultures and situations. Presently Dallas serves the Mission America Coalition as National Facilitator of Evangelism, the nation’s largest evangelism coalition with leaders from over 80 denominations and some 325 ministries. Dallas also serves as Director of Proclamation Ministries for the Institute of Strategic Evangelism at the Billy Graham Center, giving direction to the task of publicly proclaiming Christ through the Institute. In 2000 the Billy Graham Center entered into a collaborative project with about 20 national ministries called Operation Starting Line. As OSL Coordinator for the Institute of Prison Ministry at BGC Dallas gives direction and training to the evangelism side of Operation Starting Line, which has been tremendously succesful. Over the past few years God has called Dallas to join with several leading evangelists in the nation to form The Company of Evangelists under the umbrella of the Billy Graham Center. Under the auspices of The Company, Dallas and his team hold Heartland Missions in communities and cities in order to present Christ in simple but culturally relevant ways to all who will listen.

Topics:  Evangelism and Spiritual Revival

Contact:  605-881-3300 (cell)  dallas@itctel.com (email)

 Tom Beckner 

Tom Beckner is Assistant Vice-President of Ministry for Good News Jail & Preson Ministry.  Prior to that, he served as professor and head of the Justice Education department at Taylor University, Fort Wayne.  A former prison chaplain, Dr. Beckner is the producer of a video training series, "I Was a Prisoner... Did You Visit Me?" and co-editor of Effective Jail and Prison Ministry for the 21st Century.  He holds degrees from MIlligan College (B.A.), Kent State University (M.A.), Georgia State University (M.S.) and the University of Tennessee (Ph.D.).

Topics:  Chaplaincy

Contact:  260-580-7064 (phone)  wtbeckner@att.net (email)

Jack Cowley 

Jack was a prison warden at three separate facilities for the majority of his 30-years of service with the State of Oklahoma Department of Corrections. Upon retirement in 1996 Jack joined the staff of Prison Fellowship Ministries as a public policy advocate for criminal justice reform and later Director of the InnerChange Freedom Initiative (IFI), an intensive faith based prison re-entry program located near Houston, Texas. He went on to be the National Director of Operations for IFI establishing programs in Iowa, Kansas and Minnesota. Through IFI a model was established which vastly reduces the rate that inmates released from prison re-offend. As the National Director for Prisons & Re-Entry with Alpha USA his primary function is to assist the church in providing ministry opportunities to prisoners that include both in-prison and re-entry resources. Mr. Cowley has consulted on prisons and criminal justice issues on a national level and serves on the Advisory Board of the National Institute of Corrections, as well as the Billy Graham Institute of Criminal Justice Ministries. He serves as a criminal justice staff member at the University of Phoenix. He is a founding board member of the Oklahoma Criminal Justice Association and a member of the Restorative Justice and Victim’s Committee of the American Correctional Association.

Topics:  Criminal Justice Interventions that work, "Stories from Behind the Walls," Organizational leadership

Contact:  918-231-8847  jack_cowley@msn.com (email)  www.jackcowley.com (web)

Bo Cox

Bo grew up in church but turned to drugs and alcohol at fifteen. He went to prison with a life sentence at age twenty-two for killing another man in a drunken fight. After four years in prison, he stopped using drugs on April 6, 1990, and on that first Christmas Eve, God found him and his faith was restored. Bo started writing for the prison magazine a few months later. In 1992, he won a Society of Professional Journalists award, and later he began writing for the daily Bible meditation, Forward Day by Day. He wrote for Forward Movement Publications for several years and published God is not in the Thesaurus in 1999. He made parole on a life sentence in 2003, after seventeen years in prison. Now he is working as a recreational therapist at a state-run alcohol and drug treatment center and finishing a Bachelor's degree in Human Relations. He is also an Advisory Committee Member at IPM.

Topics:  Substance Abuse

Contact:  405-579-2202 (phone) bodebcox@yahoo.com (email)

 Vicki Hallman

Vicki Hallman is the Region II Director for the TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE-PAROLE DIVISION for the North Texas area which covers 18 counties including the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. As Regional Director, Ms. Hallman is responsible for overseeing the operations of Parole for the North Texas Region and managing the development, implementation and planning of all parole related functions in these offices. Ms. Hallman holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in both Pre-law and Psychology and has over 27 years of experience in the Criminal Justice field. She has been the instrumental force in developing programs for the offenders in the Dallas/Fort Worth area that report to the District Resource Center. Programs that have been positively influential in the reintegration process such as the Females First and Foremost, Cognitive Restructuring, African American Male Survival Skills Program, Hispanos Survival Skills, Anger Management, and GED have added to the positive recognition of the Parole offices in her area from clients, family, community, and the media. Her affiliations with Inner Change Freedom Initiative, Operation Oasis, Mayor’s Taskforce for the homeless and numerous other organizations have blessed her with countless opportunities to keynote banquets, luncheons conferences and workshops.

Topics:  Re-entry, the criminal justice system, community collaboration, the role of the church and faith-based community

Contact:  vicki.hallman@tdcj.state.tx.us

Karen Swanson

Karen is the Director of the Institute for Prison Ministries (IPM) at the Billy Graham Center. She has been involved in correctional ministry since 1998, when she began volunteering in the Life Learning Program at the Cook County Jail. She served with several other prison ministries and spent three years as the Executive Director of Life House ministries, a Christ-centered reentry program for ex-offenders. Now she oversees the Charles W. Colson scholarship program at Wheaton College and pursues the goals of the Institute for Prison Ministries through networks, collaboration and strategic partnerships. Karen has held a faculty position for 17 years in Christian higher education. She holds degress from Conerstone University (B.S.), Calvin College (B.S.), Western Michigan University (M.A.), Northern Illinois University (Ed.D.) and Taylor University (Certificate in Justice Ministries). Karen is a widow and a cancer survivor. Her testimony is one of persevering faith as she and her husband both battled cancer experiencing God's faithfulness.

Topics:  Jail and Prison Ministry, Persevering Faith

Contact:  630-752-5727 (phone)  karen.k.swanson@wheaton.edu (email)

 Carmen Warner-Robbins

Rev. Carmen Warner-Robbinx grew up in Minnesota, and always knew she wanted to help people, inspire potential and encourage hope.  Twenty-five years after developing the nation's first emergency care text, she continues to seek positive change for growth in the lives of incarcerated women as a journal editor, author, nurse consultant, encourager and social entrepreneur.  Following her RN, BSN, PhN and MSN degrees, Carmen became an ordained minister, graduating from Fuller Theological Seminary with her MDiv, and began her journey as a chaplain for women in jail.  She served as Supervising Chaplain for Women in San Diego County Women's Detention Facilities and was also involved as a volunteer with the KAIROS Prison Ministry for nine years.

In 1996, the Lord revealed the vision for Welcome Home Ministries to Carmen, a holistic peer service model for intervention, reintegration, and restoration of incarcerated women reentering the community from jail, prison and work camps.  Welcome Home Ministries is now being recognized nationally and internationally.  As a nurse, pastor, author and encourager, Carmen continues to share her passion and vision with incarcerated women whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Topics:  Prison re-entry, Faith-based Ministry, Women's Services, Social Entrepreneurship

Contact:  rhnrbbns@sbcglobal.net (email) www.welcomehomeint.com  (web)

Joseph Williams

At 28, Joseph Williams was serving a one-year sentence in the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas when he met two young men from similar backgrounds to his own of hardship, crime, and drugs. These men had successfully overcome their drug dependencies and lifestyles of crime through faith in Jesus Christ. Meeting them showed Joe that the change he so desperately wanted was indeed possible. Joe committed his life to Jesus Christ and never returned to drugs and crime. Joe is the founder and CEO of New Creations Community Outreach, Inc., an international ministry model for serving prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families. He received a Bachelor of Religious Education degree in Urban Studies and Bible from William Tyndale College and a Masters of Arts degree in Applied Sociology from Wayne State University. Joe has worked with prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families since 1982, becoming one of the most sought after prisoner reentry authorities in the country. He is a frequent speaker and panelist at reentry forums around the nation. He serves on the Executive Management Team of the Michigan Prisoner Reentry Initiative and the national advisory board for the Billy Graham Center’s Institute for Prison Ministry. He annually hosts the nation’s largest faith-based prisoner reentry conference and is the founder of the Christian Association for Prison Aftercare (CAPA). Joe is the Author of Sheep in Wolves’ Clothing: When the Actions of a Christian Turn Criminal. Joe has been married to his wife Sharon since 1985. They have two sons, two daughters, and a granddaughter.

Topics:  Ministering to Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners, Effective Outreach, Overcoming Past Adversity

Contact:  313-875-3883 ext. 11 (phone)  jwilliams@nccoinc.org (email)

Christopher Yuan

What many would consider their worst nightmare has become a reality for Christopher Yuan. While attending dental school, he began living a promiscuous homosexual lifestyle and experimenting with illicit drugs. Within a few years, he was expelled from dental school, imprisoned for drug dealing and discovered that he was HIV positive. But God has turned his nightmare into an exciting and inspiring story of redemption, transformation and grace. Christopher has an understanding heart for those struggling with same-sex attractions or living with HIV/AIDS. Christopher speaks locally and internationally; speaking to youth, on college campuses, in churches and in prisons. Christopher graduated from Moody Bible Institute in 2005 and is currently in his second year at Wheaton College Graduate School pursuing a Master of Arts in Biblical Exegesis.

Topics:  Sexual purity/brokenness, HIV/AIDS,

Contact:  christopheryuan@gmail.com