Chuck Ripka is the CEO/President of Rivers Int'l, developing community banks globally with Kingdom purposes and President of Ripka Enterprises, an international import and export company. Chuck and his wife, Kathi, are the founders of Rivercenter International Network of Christians, a nonprofit ministry networking Christians to advance God's Kingdom throughout the nations.

He is a firm believer in bringing "church" outside of the four walls and into his sphere of influence in the marketplace; reaching business, education and government within the Elk River community, the State of Minnesota and into the nations. Prayer and radical obedience are in the forefront of Chuck's ministry.

In October 2004, the New York Times Magazine featured Chuck for his openness to bring Christian faith and prayer into his business resulting in extraordinary financial and spiritual growth. Chuck's testimonies in his book titled God Out of the Box shares how God can use a simple man to do extraordinary things through the power of the Holy Spirit. He was also featured as the November/December 2007 cover story of the New Man magazine.

Chuck has been meeting with the Elk River area pastors and marketplace for over eight years praying for transformation within their community. Chuck and Kathi of Big Lake, Minnesota, have been married for 29 years. They also have been abundantly blessed with five children, four of whom are married, and nine grandchildren.

www.chuckripka.com
www.faithatworkelkriver.com
www.rivercenterinc.com

Charley Shin is the president and CEO of GOSH Enterprises, Inc. which owns Charley's Grilled Subs restaurant, www.charleys.com. At the age of 14, Charley left South Korea and came to America with his mother and sister. Charley helped his mom with the family business while attending high school and college, but his sights were always set starting his own company. On the way to NYC during a family vacation, Charley took a wrong turn and landed in South Philly where he enjoyed his first Cheese Steak. Totally hooked, he took his findings back home to Columbus, Ohio and began testing recipes on his college buddies. After perfecting his recipe, Charley borrowed from his Mom's life savings and opened his first restaurant in 1986 across the street from the Ohio State University campus. The tiny, 16-seat eatery featuring fresh grilled subs, fries and lemonade was an instant hit. Although Charley was only 22 and a junior at the Ohio State University when he opened his first restaurant, he knew that he was on to something big. His goal was to establish a business where he could share his success with others. In 1991, Charley began to franchise his business. Locations popped up all over the country, including mall food courts, airports, and free-standing locations.

Today, Charley's Grilled Subs is in 350 locations-39 states and 10 countries. It is recognized at one of the top franchise companies in the country and was recently named the #1 Philly Steak Chain. Charley's vision is the same as it always has been -to honor God and strengthen our neighbors.

Charley and his wife, Sungae, are actively involved in their church in Columbus Ohio and other Kingdom advancement work, and they have one daughter and one son.

Pong Hsu was born in Taiwan, came to the U.S. in 1974 for graduate study and received a master's degree in Math and EE. Pong has been working in Silicon Valley semiconductor companies for 30 years, including AMD, Fairchild, National Semiconductor, VLSI technology, small start-up (50 employees), and now the big start-up company SMIC (12,000 employees) as a senior director of strategic alliance.

SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation) is one of the leading semiconductor foundries in the world and the largest and most advanced foundry in Mainland China, providing integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing service at 0.35 micron to 65 nanometer and finer line technologies. Headquartered in Shanghai, China, SMIC has 300-millimeter wafer fabrication facility (fab) and 200-millimeter wafer fabs in Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Chengdu, Wuhan and Shenchin. SMIC also has customer service and marketing offices in the U.S., Europe, and Japan, and a representative office in Hong Kong.

Most of the SMIC officers and high level managers are Christians. There is an article on July 3rd, 2008 Businessweek, titled "Praying for Success in Shanghai - The head of SMIC is a born-again boss who mixes evangelical Christianity with business" describes some details:

He became a believer in 1987 at age of 37. He and his wife Jane have 2 children, Benjamin and Diana.

DJ Bakken fulfilled a dream when he went into business with his father, Jerry, in 1997. Like most companies, they started out working from home and eventually were blessed with the current location in Big Lake, MN. Bakken Building and Remodeling’s true mission is to honor God in all they do. This is not their business but God’s, and they try to be good stewards in what He has given them. Bakken’s goal is to build a company that will impact the community and beyond. A great team has been brought in that shares the same vision in working hard and being the best they can be. They all believe that God has given them the potential to make great things happen and succeed through service.

DJ’s heart for service was apparent at an early age. When he was fifteen, he raised his own support to go on his first missions trip. He worked with a construction team building a youth camp. His passion was ignited there and he continued to go on mission trips to other countries building orphanages, churches and hospitals. In 2005, following Hurricane Katrina, DJ headed to the Gulf Coast to help. When he saw the destruction and despair following the hurricane, he felt the need to continue reaching out to those affected by such a disaster. DJ and his wife, Merry, founded a non-profit organization named Hope Filled Hands. Hope Filled Hands raised almost $200,000 in its first year and led several teams of volunteers for rebuilding efforts on the Gulf Coast.

One of the biggest highlights of DJ’s life was meeting Millard Fuller (founder of Habitat for Humanity and The Fuller Center for Housing) the fall of 2005. Since that time, DJ has committed his time and resources to partner with The Fuller Center for Housing to eliminate poverty housing throughout the world. DJ has been a board member at his church since 1998. He led a prayer effort in Big Lake to pray for the city officials, teachers, businesses and civic organizations which has continued leading up to the 4th Annual Big Lake Prayer Breakfast. He also sits on the local Habitat for Humanity board. DJ married his high school sweetheart, Merry in 1986. They have been blessed with four children; Brittany, Vanessa, Justin and Colten. The family resides in Elk River, Minnesota.