WHO WE ARE

INTERNATIONAL BOARD

  • Deb Hirsch

    Deb Hirsch is a speaker, church leader, and writer. She has led churches in both Australia and Los Angeles. She is one of the founders of Forge Mission Training Network and is a current member of the Forge America national team. She also serves as a board member for Missio Alliance. She co-authored (with Alan Hirsch) Untamed: Reactivating a Missional Form of Discipleship. Her new book Redeeming Sex reflects something of her own journey and attempts to bring new conversations around sexuality into the context of the church. Deb has been involved in social work, community development and is also a trained counsellor. She and her husband live in community with others in Los Angeles.

  • Alan McWilliam

    Alan is passionate about bringing glory to Jesus, serving his Bride and reaching those who don’t know the good news about Jesus.He believes the church (local and translocal) is the greatest hope of the world and wants to see a vibrant Kingdom expression in every locality and network in Scotland and Ireland. Alan has been an ordained minister in the Church of Scotland since 1993, planting in Whiteinch, Glasgow, before being released to serve the wider church. Through consultancy, training and support Alan works with many denominations, agencies and others to see new church plants and mission projects established. He leads the Forge Global team as well as serving on the Forge Scotland team. He serves on the Boards of Evangelical Alliance (UK) and Sound Church (Bath).  He is married to Diane, has two sons and is a fervent Rangers FC supporter.

  • Rowland Smith

    Rowland lives with his wife Kitty in Colorado Springs, Colorado. They have four adult children and one grandchild. In addition to Forge, he serves as the Pastor of Missional Culture at Pulpit Rock Church in Colorado Springs. He is the director of The Pando Collective, a missional practitioner network. Rowland adjuncts at Denver Seminary, Fuller Seminary, and Grand Canyon University. He is the author of Life Out Loud: Joining Jesus Outside the Walls of the Church, and is the general editor and creator of Red Skies: 10 Essential Conversations on our Future as the Church.

  • Anna Svernedal

    Description goes here

ADVISORY BOARD

  • Brad Brisco

    Brad is currently the Church Planting Strategist for a network of churches in Kansas City. He holds a doctorate in the area of missional ecclesiology; his doctoral thesis was on assisting existing congregations in transitioning in a missional direction. He also serves on the National Leadership team for Forge America Mission Training Network and is co-founder of the Sentralized Conference. Brad is the co-author of Missional Essentials, a twelve-week small group study guide and The Missional Quest. He blogs regularly at missionalchurchnetwork.com.

  • Michael Frost

    Michael Frost is an internationally recognised Australian missiologist and one of the leading voices in the missional church movement. Dr. Frost has been the founding Director of the Tinsley Institute, a mission study centre at Morling College. He is also an adjunct professor with Asbury Seminary and Northern Seminary. He is the author or editor of several theological books, the most recent of which are The Shaping of Things to Come, Exiles, and The Road to Missional. He speaks at conferences across the US, the UK and Europe, and as far as Nairobi, Rio de Janeiro and Moscow. He was one of the founders of the Forge Mission Training Network and the founder of the missional Christian community, smallboatbigsea, based in Manly. He was the weekly religion columnist for The Manly Daily for over a decade and helped establish Action Against Poverty, a localised micro-financing agency, linking the cities of Manly and Manado, an impoverished Indonesian community. He was instrumental in launching Street Pastors Manly, a church-based initiative aimed at curbing alcohol-related violence.

  • Hugh Halter

     Hugh and his wife Cheryl have planted two churches and are currently working on planting a third. He is the founder of Missio, a mission training organisation, and the author of Sacrilege, BiVO, and co-author of The Tangible Kingdom and Flesh. His latest book is titled Brimstone: The Art and Act of Holy Nonjudgement. He speaks extensively, encouraging and equipping pastors in incarnational ministry and missional leadership.

  • Alan Hirsch

    Alan Hirsch is the founding director of Forge Mission Training Network. He recently co-founded 100 Movements and currently co-leads Future Travelers, an innovative learning program helping megachurches become missional movements. Alan is considered to be a thought-leader and key mission strategist for churches across the Western world. Hirsch is the author of numerous award winning books including The Forgotten Ways, The Shaping of Things to Come, and On the Verge. His experience includes leading a local church movement among the marginalised, developing training systems for innovative missional leadership, and heading up the mission and revitalisation work of his denomination. Alan is co-founder of the M.A. in Missional Church Movements at Wheaton College (Illinois). He is also adjunct professor at Fuller Seminary, George Fox Seminary, Asbury Seminary, and he lectures frequently throughout Australia, Europe, and the United States. He is series editor for Baker Books’ Shapevine series , IVP’s Forge line, and a contributing editor of Leadership Journal.