1. Jeannie Mai- host of Character Fantasy on USA Network, and a rising star in Hollywood for hosting award shows and events. Was the backstage host for Catalyst West.

2. Owen Leimbach- formerly with MTV, Owen is now Chief of Staff for a brand new branch of the Rwandan government in Kigali, Rwanda, helping move forward this emerging African country.

3. Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey, and Laren Poole- founders of Invisible Children. Recently appeared on Oprah. Helping bring awareness and solutions to the terrible injustice of Child Soldiers in Uganda.

4. Tyler Wigg Stevenson- A pastor and writer who is leading the charge on the Two Futures Project, and the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

5. Zach Wililams- incredible musician and soon to be major star. Tore it up recently at South by Southwest, one of the largest musical festivals in the country.

March edition.

1. Dan Cooper- a partner in Fox River Financial Resources, international business leader, and strategic advisor and connector with major initiatives in Rwanda.

2. Joshua Dubois- executive director of the White House office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

3. Nicole Baker Fulgham- national director of Faith Community relations for Teach for America.

4. Skye Jethani- managing editor of Leadership Journal and author of the recent book The Divine Commodity.

5. Justin Mayo- founder and executive director of Red Eye Inc., a progressive community of young leaders and peers in Hollywood who are working together to pool their talents and passions to impact the city of Los Angeles.

6. Leroy Barber- founder of Mission Year and author of New Neighbor. Leroy is doing great things with college students and young professionals all over the country.

February 2009 Edition:

1. Barton Damer- motion graphics, animation, designer and illustration guru. Follow his blog here.

2. Wendy Kopp- founder of Teach For America, an amazing organization that places recent college graduates as teachers in poor communities and underperforming schools across the country.

3. John Bishop- pastor of Living Hope Church in Vancouver, Washington. This guy is the real deal.

4. Kristian Stanfill- many of you are probably aware of Kristian. A talented songwriter and worship leader who recently released a new EP. Leads at North Point, Catalyst, and Passion events regularly.

5. Jon Gordon- best-selling author of The No Complaining Rule and The Energy Bus. He is impacting major influencers in the business/corporate community.

6. Austin Gutwein- founder of Hoops of Hope, and one of my heroes. Austin has impacted more people at 14 than most of us will during our entire lives.

January 2009 Edition

1. Josh Loveless- leads the charge on Status, a ministry to students and young professionals in Orlando, and also brand director for Neue.

2. Vicky Beeching- talented worship leader and songwriter born in the UK but now hanging out in the US.

3. Jon Bell- works with The Image Group in Grand Rapids, and also leading the charge on Rob Bell's upcoming tour (you'll hear more about this later). Very involved with Heart Support, an online care community.

4. Dave Barnes- uber talented musician, singer, songwriter, and insanely funny and all-around good guy. Take time to watch some videos on his site. You will laugh.

5. Lindsay Orr- founder of LUO, an initiative focused on setting children free from poverty, sickness, slavery and other injustices around the world. Talented artist as well.

6. Scott McClellan- editor of Collide Magazine, and also purveyor of the Collide blog.

The December edition of the Young Influencers List.

1. Tad Agoglia- founder of the First Response Team of America. This is an amazing organization and Tad is one of the winners of the CNN Heroes Award.

2. Natalya Radford - worship leader at Crossroads Church in Costa Mesa, CA, as part of the Generate Student Ministry.

3. Tripp Crosby- sketch comedian, host and filmmaker. Founder of Green Tricycle Films and the maker of perhaps the funniest video ever at Catalyst featuring Lanny Donoho and Jeff Foxworthy.

4. Jessica Flannery- co-founder of Kiva, an incredible organization that is a platform for micro-finance throughout the world.

5. Rick Devos- founder of Spout, an interactive online community that is designed to connect and inspire film lovers.

November edition of the Young Influencers List.

1. Cathleen Falsani- award winning Religion columnist for the Chicago Sun Times. Her recent book Sin Boldly is a refreshing take on faith in today's culture. Love her humor and wit.

2. Kevin Palau- EVP of the Luis Palau Association. Among his many duties, Kevin spearheaded the Portland City Fest, which has helped churches, schools, the mayor's office, businesses, and local government all collaborate on service projects in the city of Portland. Amazing work.

3. Santino Stoner- Partner with Dot Cross. Also Film Director on the very popular NOOMA series.

4. Jay King- A and R guru at Integrity Music. Jay is one of the good guys in the music industry. He is out constantly finding new talent as well as handling current artists such as Hillsong United.

5. Brian Pirkle- COO of BigStuf Events. You will usually find Brian with a headset on calling a show from the production area. 20 years from now will be the creative/technical producer for the Grammys, or the Oscars, or the Presidential Inauguration!

October edition of the Young Influencers List

1. Daley Hake- talented musician and photographer from CA. Check out his work and some recent shots he took at Catalyst. He makes Carlos Whittaker look like a runway model! Daley- help me!

2. Steven Furtick- you've probably already heard about Steven and the incredible work happening at Elevation Church in Charlotte. Make sure to subscribe to his Sermon podcast. Prepare to be challenged.

3. Justin Dillon- visionary and Director of the recent rockumentary Call and Response. Also a musician and former member of the band Dime Store Prophets. His work in fighting sex trafficking and slavery is inspiring.

4. Danielle Bennett- Virginia native, a Junior at USC (that's Southern Cal), and the most recent addition to the Catalyst team- our West Coast Catalyst intern. Danielle is gonna be president of something substantial someday.

5. Aaron Keyes- gifted worship leader, and a fresh voice to worship leaders all over the world. Aaron has forgotten more scripture than I can remember. His approach to leading worship is fresh and extremely Biblical.

6. Jonathan Bostic- if you need motion graphics, amazing videos, or just basic branding/graphics, Bostic is your man. Jonathan did the recent opening video and motion graphics display on the screens at Catalyst. He also helps out with Orange Conference, Passion Conferences, and does work with several bands and musicians.

September edition of the Young Influencers List:

Brandon McCormick – Founder of Whitestone Motion Pictures. He is young, talented, and will soon be creating feature films.
Jena Lee Nardella - Took over as Executive Director of Blood:Water Mission when she was 22, and has been running this great organization for the last 4 years.
Matthew Emerzian - founder of Every Monday Matters. Writer, visionary and speaker whose book Every Monday Matters: 52 Ways to Make A Difference has sold over 100,000 copies.
Brad Abare - Brad started Church Marketing Sucks, leads communications for The Four Square Church, and is a big idea guy.
Charles Lee - Charles is the cultural catalyst and pastor at New Hope South Bay in CA, a founding member of Just One (addressing poverty and slavery), and a professor on the side.

August edition of the Young Influencers List

Again, for all of you who like to try and read into things, there is no significance to order- simply listed alphabetical by last name.

1. Chuck Anderson- a great designer/illustrator in Grand Rapids who is doing work for the likes of Puma, Amp Energy Drinks, Honda, VANS, Nike, and Mountain Dew. He’s good.

2. Alex and Brett Harris- twin 19 year old authors who have taken the teen world by storm with their best-selling book Do Hard Things. These guys are the real deal, and are challenging teens around the world to not settle for mediocrity.

3. Daniel Homrich- founder of The Passport and Innocence Atlanta. Daniel is working on a number of projects in the Atlanta area and globally, specifically to bring attention to and raise awareness of issues of sex trafficking, slavery, and child pornography.

4. Anne Jackson- blog queen of the church leadership world. Anne recently moved to Nashville where she can get her fill of sweet tea on a regular basis!

5. Mark Reddy- founder of Karbon, a film/media company out of Sydney, Australia. Mark is a talented director, and currently working on a great project called The Disposable Ones in conjunction with Compassion International. He also has worked on a number of projects with Hillsong.

July edition of the Young Influencers List

1. Jon Tyson- church planter in New York City. Launched Origins NYC, and is now set on helping plant churches and leaders in strategic cities around the world.

2. Blake Mycoskie- founder of TOMS Shoes. You may know about Blake's story already- if not, it is worth knowing and getting involved.

3. Bethany Hoang- director of the International Justice Mission Institute. Bethany is very involved in a number of projects around the world, is a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, and a frequent speaker.

4. Eugene Cho- pastor in Seattle of Quest Church. Also soon to launch a new organization focused on global poverty. You can watch a video introducing the idea here.

5. Carlos Whittaker- writer of the uber popular Ragamuffin Soul, service program director at Buckhead Church, and also worship leader and musician.

June edition of the Young Influencers List:

1. Jonathan Acuff- writer/blogger/consultant, and the voice behind the wildly popular Stuff Christians Likeblog.

2. Chris Heuertz- International Executive Director of an amazing organization called Word Made Flesh. Chris spends most of the year around the world serving the poorest of the poor, and has a new book out called Simple Spirituality due out in July.

3. Shannon Sedgwick Davis- Shannon is incredibly well connected, and is involved in a number of projects, including The Bridgeway Foundation and The Elders, which boasts some amazing names attached to this high level humanitarian project.

4. Tony Wood - leader of the College/Young Adults ministry at Crossroads Church in Corona, CA.

5. Lecrae- songwriter, rapper, musician and speaker. Lecrae is part of Reach Records, and very involved in the Memphis community.

May edition of the Young Influencers List.

1. Bobby Triplett- pastor of a great church plant called Element Church in Lakeland, FL.

2. Jared Herd- great new young communicator. former associate teaching pastor at Rock Harbor in Orange County, and frequent speaker at Big Stuf Camps, Orange Conference, North Point, and other student ministry environments.

3. Shauna Niequist- The author of Cold Tangerines, daughter of Bill Hybels, and former creative director at Mars Hill Bible Church.

4. Chris Capehart and Micah Davis- founders of Roov.com in Dallas, an innovative new social network community.

5. Elizabeth Paul- have you seen the latest commercials with Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich, or Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson sitting together on a couch talking about solving the current global warming issues? Well, Elizabeth is involved in crafting those commercials.

6. Krish Kandiah- my friend over in Cambridge in the UK, who helps run the Evangelical Alliance in the UK, and is a budding author, speaker and thought leader for the global church. Started Slipstream which is a great network for young global leaders in the church.

April edition of the Young Influencers List:

1. Jamie Tworkowski- Founder, To Write Love on Her Arms

2. David Hodges- Singer, Songwriter, and Producer

3. David Platt- Senior Pastor, The Church at Brookhills, Birmingham

4. Matt Chandler- Lead Pastor, The Village Church, Dallas

5. Catherine Rohr- Founder, Prison Entrepreneurship Program