Evangelism Leaders Navigating the Future
with AI and Emerging Technologies
[ Presented by Every Home for Christ ]
October 3-4, 2023
Colorado Springs, CO
This Summit invites CEOs and CIOs of Christian Evangelism Ministries to explore the complex intersection of spiritual values, AI, and innovative technologies. The event encourages thoughtful decision-making through open dialogue, addressing the opportunities and challenges posed by AI and emerging technologies in evangelism.
SPEAKERS
Dr. K
SVP of Impact and Leadership Development
Joni and Friends
Dr. K spent over twenty years as an English and Biblical Ethics Professor at Biola University and Talbot School of Theology respectively. Dr. K began her tenure at Joni and Friends in 2007 where she, along with Reverend Steve Bundy, stood up the Christian Institute on Disability (CID). Dr. K served as Director of Academic Studies and Public Policy of the CID for nearly 10 years. In 2016, Dr. K was recruited to the intelligence community in Washington D.C. where she served her country in the national security space for over six years. Artificial Intelligence was in her portfolio and her team won several awards for leading the Incident Management Team during the pandemic. She was awarded the Exceptional Service Award for her role as the Incident Commander. In 2022, Dr. K returned to Joni and Friends to serve as Senior Vice President of Leadership Development & Impact.
Dr. Wei-Jing Zhu
CEO/President
Cherith Analytics
Dr. Wei-Jing Zhu studied physics at Harvard and obtained his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Cornell. He is best known for being the 1st place winner of the 1986 Science Talent Search, and one of the co-authors of the seminal BLEU metric for automatic evaluation of Statistical Machine Translation systems while at IBM Watson Research. He has been a quant in hedge funds for 13 years, including VP Quantitative Research at Two Sigma Investments and at Nipun Capital. Currently he is CEO and co-founder of Cherith Analytics, applying AI technology to faith and discipleship.
Jack FitzGerald
Principal Applied Scientist
Amazon AWS
Jack FitzGerald is a principal applied scientist with Amazon. He was a founding member of Alexa’s Large Language Model (LLM) organization and lead author of the original plan. Jack has deep experience training, building, evaluating, and applying LLMs and other AI models, as well as complementary work with data processing, distributed computation, and system design. Prior to his work with LLMs, Jack was a people manager with Alexa and Amazon Retail, and before that he was a captain and a nuclear physicist with the US Air Force.
Ian Speir, Esq.
Non-profit Attorney
Covenant Law
Before founding Covenant Law, Ian served first at a large law firm and then at a small firm he helped co-found. Ian graduated cum laude and Order of the Coif from Georgetown University Law Center in 2011 and spent the next year clerking for Hon. Jerome A. Holmes, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. As an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Ian has taught constitutional law and the First Amendment to undergraduates, many of whom have gone on to law school and careers in law. Ian is actively involved with family, church, and the Colorado Springs community, and serves on the board of The Springs Rescue Mission. Ian Speir founded Covenant Law in 2023 after more than a decade serving religious, nonprofit, and commercial clients.
Tanner Peake
CEO/President
Every Home for Christ
In 2012 after three years of serving with Every Home for Christ, Tanner was appointed director of prayer mobilization. In 2015, Tanner stepped into the role of international director. In this role, he spearheaded the launch of Every Home’s Oikos initiative, a strategic plan to reach everyone, everywhere, with the gospel within this generation. Tanner was named executive director in 2020 and helped lead the ministry through the COVID-19 pandemic. In September of 2021, at Dick’s recommendation, the board of directors approved Tanner as Dick’s successor, and in September 2022, Tanner formally succeeded Dick as president.
Erick Todd
Chief Information Officer
Every Home for Christ
Erick Todd, a University of Colorado alum with a B.S. in Computer Science and an MBA, has passionately bridged technology and ministry for over 20 years. As the CIO for Every Home for Christ, he develops practical solutions to support missionaries around the globe in his commitment to the great commission. Beyond his tech expertise, Erick’s diverse background includes marketing, music, and photography. He toured and recorded numerous albums with The Desperation Band and traveled extensively worldwide, capturing the work of missions through photographs and documentary videos. He has led marketing and development initiatives by integrating technology with creative arts. This multi-faceted experience has given Erick a unique view of churches and ministries worldwide and allowed him to forge deep connections with numerous leaders and pastors.
