Dr. Jeffrey Leininger graduated from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, in 1995, and after a year interim, spent six years at the University of Cambridge where he received an MPhil and PhD in Ecclesiastical History.   

Pastor Leininger previously served parishes in San Diego, Houston, Chicago, and Cambridge, England. He is currently the pastor at First St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, a historic congregation on the North Side of Chicago. 

For twenty-one years Pastor Leininger led the campus ministry at Concordia University Chicago. While at CUC, he conducted daily worship, led all the Spiritual Life activities, directed the Pre-Seminary program, and supported the university’s church relations and development offices. His greatest joy at Concordia was in serving young people, helping to shape them for ministry and service.  

His recent book, Callings for Life: God’s Plan, Your Purpose, applies Luther’s theology of vocation to the every-day life of the Christian.   

Heather Ruesch is the founder and speaker of The You Matter Tour™ and executive director of L3 Resources, a 501(c)3 Christian, nonprofit organization.  

She is passionate about youth and about being a voice of God’s truth in their lives. Heather is an abstinence educator and certified pregnancy center advocate and has served as executive director of crisis pregnancy centers.  

Heather leads assemblies and retreats, produces educational resources for the church on life issues and sexuality, and oversees The You Matter Tour™ Mentorship Program. 

Dr. Vicki Anderson teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and English as a Second Language (ESL) endorsement programs at Concordia University, Nebraska, as well as general education courses. Her favorite courses to teach are those on linguistics, second language acquisition and language and culture.  

Dr. Anderson serves as Communications Director on the MidAmerica Teachers of Speakers of Other Languages board, regularly consults with ministry organizations to train ESL volunteer teachers and conducts education and ESL professional development sessions for churches and schools in Nebraska and throughout the Midwest, and for schools in Ethiopia, China and Hong Kong.  She also leads groups of Education students in short-term experiences in China and Hong Kong to teach in ESL summer camps for children, and in preparing and teaching online ESL curriculum to students in international contexts. 

Before serving at Concordia, Dr. Anderson earned a B.A. in World Mission and Bible from Summit Christian College, an M.A. in Linguistics and TESOL from Ball State University, and a Ph.D. in Linguistics from Indiana University. She taught as an ESL teacher for a church in Santiago, Chile, and at the University of Nancy in the northwest region of France as well as serving in adult Intensive English Programs for international students at Ball State University and Indiana University. 

Kealan, a surgeon, and Cody, a financial planner, are brothers and both live in Maryland with their families. After experiencing the freedom and purpose that results from setting a financial finish line, they created the Finish Line Pledge in 2020. Not long after, they launched the Finish Line Podcast where they are joined by pastors, financial advisors, radically generous givers, entrepreneurs, CEOs, and nonprofit leaders to explore one central question: How do we best steward God’s wealth? In 2021, Kealan and Cody co-founded Compound Impact, a nonprofit real estate fund that purchases and rehabs homes that are rented to refugee families. 100% of Compound Impact’s returns are granted to organizations advancing the gospel in hard-to-reach places. Both Kealan and Cody are passionate about generosity and about seeing the Gospel proclaimed in every corner of the world.