KEVIN PALAU

Kevin Palau is president of the Luis Palau Association, a Portland, Oregon based ministry that has shared the Good News of Jesus Christ with 1 billion people around the world through Kevin’s father, evangelist Luis Palau.

Kevin joined the Palau Association in 1985 and began directing the day-to-day operation of the ministry in the late 1990’s. Under his leadership, LPA has produced some of the largest Christian events ever staged, including festivals that have drawn crowds from south Florida to south America of up to 1 million people. The festival model for mass evangelism is based on free, family-friendly celebrations that bring together well-known Christian and main-stream music artists, prominent Christian athletes, extreme sports exhibitions, interactive children’s areas, and much more.

In 2008, he pioneered the Festival 2.0 model that includes a citywide service initiative preceding the festival event. Designed for long-term sustainability well after the festival, this service initiative—which has come to be known as “CityServe”—is a massive, area-wide outreach showing the love of Christ through community service projects. These projects meet the city’s greatest needs, which are determined by local city officials. The effort has received widespread media coverage in major outlets including USA Today, Reader’s Digest, and PBS’s Religion and Ethics.

The first CityServe in Portland, Oregon has developed into a long term movement for the Gospel and city transformation around the Portland-metro area. Cities across the country have begun to take notice, and now similar movements are taking place under Kevin and the Palau Association’s guidance, with or without a Palau festival.

Kevin also developed the Next Generation Alliance, which exists to serve up-and-coming evangelists through mentoring and equipping, collaborative outreach events and training and conferences. The experience and resources of decades of evangelism are shared with more than 500 partner evangelists who are taking the Gospel to the world in the 21st century. One particularly strong aspect of NGA is action sports ministries, including BMX, FMX, surfing, and snowboarding, many of whom participate in Palau festivals.

While Kevin’s brother Andrew joins Luis Palau as an evangelist in his own right, Luis remains the leader and driving force of the ministry. “As long as Dad continues proclaiming the Gospel—and he shows no signs of slowing down—I’ll encourage the team to take full advantage of his spiritual gifts and steadfast commitment to evangelism. We must do everything we can as a team to share the Good News with a world that is searching for hope.”

Kevin holds a degree in religious studies from Wheaton College. He lives in Beaverton, Oregon near LPA’s international headquarters with his wife, Michelle, and their three children.