Pastor Ed Backell is a Washington state native, and has taught for 40 years in churches in Oregon, Washington and Nebraska, currently in Spokane Valley, WA. He has traveled extensively throughout the United States and Canada with various musical groups. As a youth minister, he specialized in creating teen performance groups that helped students use their gifts and talents to explore and share their own faith. He holds an M. Div. from Bethel Seminary in St Paul, MN, as well as an M. A. in Ministry. Ed and his wife Jami (originally from Ephrata, WA), his bride of 34+ years, have been involved in fandom for many years. They were very involved with the I.S.S. Mystery, a Mirror Universe Star Trek club based in Seattle, and even wrote a Trek themed cookbook called Mysterious Foods. They have three married daughters, and two grandchildren. The entire family have competed in the costume contests at RadCon, and have done well for themselves.