Rich Melheim grew up on the plains of North Dakota but never did own a pick up with a gun rack. An entrepreneur, author, speaker, playwright, songwriter, family counselor, business systems consultant, amateur complexity theorist, log cabin builder, preschool designer, cartoonist, and student of the human brain, Melheim has appeared on 50 network television news shows from WNBC-NY to KTLA to CNN consulting on family issues.

Rich is also an ordained Lutheran pastor with a specialized call from the St. Paul Area Synod (ELCA) to experiment with family-connected Christian education systems.

Rich is the founder and initiating force behind Faith Inkubators, a Christian education systems design think thank and resource provider dedicating to “incubating faith every night in every home.” He serves as CEO and Chief Creative Officer of Faith Inkubators, and founder of the Faith Inkubators Foundation, a MN 501(c)(3). Rich is also founder and acting CEO of The Preschool Incubators Project (PIP), a new entity dedicated to creating “access to excellence” in early learning through the arts.

Rich holds a BA in journalism from UND where he graduated summa cum laude in three years and was chosen Outstanding Graduate of 1977. With an MDIV from Luther Seminary, Rich served parishes in Owatonna and Stillwater, MN (1981 to 1993). In the fall of 1993 Rich left salary, pension and parish life for a sabbatical, threw his wife and babies in the back of a borrowed Winnebago, and hit the road as a faith entrepreneur to speak about changing the educational paradigms of the church. The restless pastors and frustrated Christian education pioneers who heard him speak in 75 cities that fall started the national think tank and learning organization that became Faith Inkubators. 275 churches joined the movement that first year. A year later there were 540. A year later 1000 churches were members. A year later 1500. A decade and a half later, tens of thousands of churches and millions of families from Minnesota to Australia have been impacted by the ministries of the Faith Inkubators Foundation, the Faith Inkubators Endowment Fund, and Faith Inkubators Publishing.