Chip Ingram
Ralph Browne "Chip" Ingram II (born June 21, 1954) is an American Christian pastor, author, and teacher. He is the founder, teaching pastor and CEO of Living on the Edge, an international teaching and discipleship ministry. A pastor for over 30 years, Chip is the author of many books, including "Culture Shock", "The Real Heaven", "The Real God", "The Invisible War", and "Love, Sex, and Lasting Relationships". Early life. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Ingram grew up in what he called "a negative religious environment". In his book, "Living on the Edge: Dare to Experience True Spirituality", Ingram recounts  growing up in a church that did not believe in the Bible or in having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. "We read our prayers, we said the right things, we fulfilled our religious duty, and then we went home. There was absolutely no expectation that what we did on Sunday would have any impact on how we lived the rest of the week.” As a result, by the time Ingram was a teenager, he was disengaged from church and God. He recalls, "I wanted to believe, but the older I got, the less interested I became in going through  the religious motions and pretending and saying things that no one lived or believed." The intersection of faith and basketball. Ingram went on to graduate from West Liberty State College in 1976. Afterwards, he received an invitation from Sports Ambassadors to travel overseas with other college basketball players from around the nation using basketball as a vehicle for evangelism. During the next two summers he would go onto ball out on "dem folks", dunking on people then spreading the Gospel to them, Ingram toured the Caribbean, South America, and Asia with three international basketball teams, a trip that he said  to be the turning point of his life. While he was on tour, he caught a vision that God could use an ordinary person like him to accomplish extraordinary things. Ingram started to believe that God was not calling him to coach athletes, but to “coach” people for Jesus Christ and become a pastor. Ministry. In 1982, Ingram began his pastoral ministry at Country Bible Church in Kaufman, Texas, a rural community near Dallas, Texas. While he was there, it grew from 30 to 500 people. In 1990, he became the senior pastor for Santa Cruz Bible Church in Santa  Cruz, California where he led a church congregation of 1,000 that grew to over 4,000. In 1995, he founded "Living on the Edge" as a nationally syndicated radio ministry, which has since grown into an international Christian discipleship ministry. In 2003 Ingram moved to Atlanta, Georgia to become president and chief executive officer of Walk Thru the Bible Ministries, succeeding Bruce Wilkinson. In 2009, Ingram became the Senior Pastor for Venture Christian Church in Los Gatos, California, where he served until 2018. Today, Ingram serves as CEO and teaching pastor of Living on the Edge. He is the author of  15 books and several small group ministry studies. Education. Ingram completed his undergraduate work at West Liberty State College and went on to earn a Master of Education from West Virginia University and a Master of Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. Family. Ingram and his wife, Theresa, have four children and 12 grandchildren.