Afshin Ziafat is the lead pastor of Providence Church in Frisco, TX. Before taking his current role in October 2010, Afshin spent over a decade traveling nationally and internationally proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ in churches, retreats, camps, conferences and missions. Afshin helped launch Vertical Bible Study at Baylor University in Waco, TX and has also traveled into the Middle East to train Iranian pastors. Afshin’s passion is to teach the Word of God as the authority and guide for life, to preach Jesus Christ as the only Savior and Redeemer of mankind and to proclaim the love of Christ as the greatest treasure and hope in life. He and his wife, Meredith, currently reside in Frisco, TX, along with their three children, Elyse, Ansley, and Isaac.

If you met Mary DeMuth today, her joy would confuse you. Who she has become in light of tragedy is a testimony of Jesus’s ability to transform a broken life. A child of three divorces, a victim of sexual assault at a young age, with a father who died when she was ten, Mary wanted to end her life in her teens. In the tenth grade, she heard about Jesus, and she knew she wanted to chase after Him for the rest of her life. Thankfully, He chased her.

Mary is the author of thirty-two books, including her latest: Jesus Every Day. She has spoken around the world about God’s ability to re-story a life, bringing needed freedom to her audiences. She’s been on the 700 Club, spoken in Munich, Cape Town, and Monte Carlo, and planted a church with her family in southern France. Her best work? Being a mom to three amazing young adults and the wife of nearly 25 years to Patrick. She makes her home in Dallas alongside her husband, and two dueling cats.

As Vision Advocate for pureHOPE, Noel is a “voice for the vision” of a world free of sexual exploitation and brokenness. As a writer and speaker, he communicates pureHOPE’s life-giving message to audiences across the country, and works with the pureHOPE team to form strategic and collaborative partnerships globally to advance the life-changing reality that everyone who hopes in Jesus purifies him or herself, just as He is pure (1 John 3:3).

Prior to joining PureHope in 2008, he was a litigation attorney and worked in law firms in New York, Washington, DC, and Cincinnati. He received his law degree with honors from The University of Texas School of Law, and his undergraduate degree from South Dakota State University, where he quarterbacked the football team.

Noel lives in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area with his high-school sweetheart, Dr. Vanessa Bouché, and their two daughters. You can find him poolside with his family, musing in an armchair over some obscure piece of literary brilliance, or in the kitchen perfecting his hummus recipe. Noel has a hospitable heart and is generous with his prayers and encouragement of others.