David Kinnaman
President, The Barna Group
Ventura, California
Age: 37
David Kinnaman is leading The Barna Group, the foremost provider of research, data and statistics defining the intersection of faith and culture, into a new era. Kinnaman says the public’s access to information has changed since George Barna founded the company in 1984 as one of the first to approach research from a Christian perspective. “Now we have more information but less discernment, wisdom or the ability to make sense of those trends,” he says. Leveraging technology to connect to more people and give instant access to education and content, Kinnaman refers to Barna as a knowledge business. He first heard of the company’s work as a college student reading Barna’s book, “User Friendly Churches,” and credits his ascent from an intern to president and majority owner of the business to God’s sovereignty. The father of three’s busy speaking calendar and frequent quotes in USA Today, New York Times and The Wall Street Journal show his ability to translate research to the general culture. As a speaker, Kinnaman strives for “moments of illumination” that force audiences to think differently about a subject and believes face-to-face meetings create environments that make that possible. —Jennifer Garrett
How can planners use The Barna Group?
“They can use data to clarify topics and trends that need to be covered [at their conferences]; use diagnostic services [to discover] the experiences people are having, who’s coming, their motivations, what they want to learn or any other custom research; and we have speakers available who bring an unconventional view of what’s happening in the church.”
