Speakers & Pastors

Ken Whitten

Ken Whitten has served as the Senior Pastor at Idlewild Baptist Church, Lutz, for 22 years.

Willy Rice (Classes)

William (Willy) Rice is the pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater, Florida. Willy spent his High School years at Calvary, responded to God’s call to ministry there, and met and married his wife Cheryl at Calvary. Willy was called, licensed and ordained to preach at Calvary all under the leadership of Dr. William (Bill) Anderson who pastored there for 27 years. In 2004 the church called Willy to come back home and pastor the church. Since that time the church has completed a complete relocation from its historic campus in downtown Clearwater to a new campus in east Clearwater. The complete relocation project exceeded 23 million dollars, and the total value of the campus exceeds 30 million dollars. Since then the church has experienced renewed health and has experienced significant growth in every area, more than doubling in worship attendance. In 2006 Dr. Rice was elected President of the Florida Baptist Convention, and was reelected in 2007 to a second and final term. Before coming to Calvary Dr. Rice pastored the Hillcrest Baptist Church in Pensacola for seven years. During that time the church experienced great growth and more than doubled in size. The church built a new 2000 seat worship center in 2002. Prior to pastoring Hillcrest, Dr. Rice pastored churches in Alabama and Florida. Dr. Rice is a graduate of Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama with a B.A. degree (1985) and the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree (1990) and a Doctor of Ministry degree (1996). He is married to Cheryl, a graduate of Samford University, and they have three children.

Ron Sylvia (Classes)

Ron Sylvia is the founding and lead pastor of Church at The Springs in Ocala, Florida, and the Director of NEXT Churches. The Springs began in an office building in 1994 with only 21 people and now averages 3,000 in weekly attendance. While leading a fast-growing church, Ron learned first-hand the value of mentoring and coaching. As a result, Ron started NEXT Churches, an organization that provides coaching networks, conferences and resources to lead pastors nationwide. Ron and the NEXT team have coached hundreds of church planters and pastors to start and lead healthy churches. Ron also leads coaching networks as one of the few certified in the well-known Tom Paterson Strategic Planning Process, using the process to help pastors think and act strategically in the local church. Ron is the author of Launching a Purpose Driven Church conference curriculum and recently authored his story and methods in the book, Starting New Churches on Purpose.

Robert Morgan

Rob Morgan is the pastor of The Donelson Fellowship in Nashville, TN, where he has served for over 30 years. He graduated magna cum laude from Columbia International University in Columbia, SC, with high honors from Wheaton Graduate School, Wheaton, IL (MA n Christian Education), and from Luther Rice Seminary, Atlanta, GA with a Master of Divinity. He is a best-selling and Gold-Medallion winning writer with over 20 books in print and over 2 million in print circulation. He is also a staff writer for Dr. David Jeremiah and Turning Points Magazine, and has many articles published in other leading Christian periodicals. Rob has appeared on numerous national television and radio shows and has a wide-ranging Bible teaching ministry. He and his wife Katrina have three daughters and ten grandchildren.