Chapel

Speaker: Mark Yaconelli
Mark Yaconelli is a writer, speaker, retreat leader, spiritual director, community activist, youth worker, storyteller, disco dancer, husband, and father. He is the founder and executive director of The Hearth: Real Stories by Regular Folks, a registered non-profit that assists cities and service-based agencies in producing personal storytelling events designed to help communities and individuals deepen relationships and cultivate compassion. Mark is in demand as a speaker and retreat leader. He speaks to a variety of audiences each year across North America and the United Kingdom. Mark spent 20 years working with young people and the people who serve them in congregational, camp, and conference settings. In 1996, he co-founded the Youth Ministry and Spirituality Project at San Francisco Theological Seminary, a grant funded project that sought to test the integration of contemplative practice and awareness within congregational youth ministry programs. He directed that project from 1996 to 2006. Mark is the author of The Gift of Hard Things (IVP 2016), Wonder, Fear, and Longing (Zondervan 2009), Downtime (Zondervan 2008), Growing Souls (2007 Zondervan), and Contemplative Youth Ministry (2006 Youth Specialties). Mark Yaconelli holds an MA in Christian Spirituality from the Graduate Theological Union and a Graduate Diploma in the Art of Spiritual Direction from San Francisco Theological Seminary. Mark lives in Southern Oregon with his wife Jill, and their three children–Noah, Joseph, and Grace.