Founder and President of Spirit Venture Ministries (SVM), in 1995 Len launched Sweet’s Soul Cafe and opened up “Sweet’s Body & Soul Cafe and Mountain Store” in Thomas, West Virginia. Len is a popular and highly sought-after speaker throughout the world. In the past couple of years, he has spoken in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, England, Wales, South Africa, South Korea, Iceland, Scotland, and most recently, China, Indonesia, and Latvia, India and Russia.

Author of more than 200 articles,1500 published sermons, and more than seventy books, Leonard Sweet’s publications include the best sellers Soul Tsunami and its successor Rings of Fire, Aqua C hurch 2.0, Jesus Manifesto (with Frank Viola), the “Songs of Light” series with Lisa Samson, Contextual Intelligence (with Michael Beck), as well as many other volumes that are revolutionizing the church’s mission. Len published the first religion e-book on Amazon: The Dawn Mistaken
for Dusk in 2000. In 2011 Len published his first novel, The Seraph Seal (co-authored with Lori Wagner).

Currently, the Charles Wesley Senior Professor of Doctoral Studies at Evangelical Seminary (Kairos), the E. Stanley Jones Professor Emeritus at Drew University (New Jersey) and a Visiting Distinguished Professor at George Fox University (Oregon), Len was also the Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Theological School at Drew University from 1995 to 2001. Previous to Drew, Len served for eleven years as President and Professor of Church History at United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio and is currently their President Emeritus. Prior to 1985, Len was Provost of Colgate Rochester/Bexley Hall/Crozer Divinity School in Rochester, New York and has been Involved in a number of leadership positions in the United Methodist Church.  Len was chosen to speak at various Jurisdictional and General Conferences as well as the 1996 World Methodist Congress in Rio de Janeiro. He also serves as a consultant to many of America’s denominational leaders and agencies.

Len served a term on the Council of the American Society of Church History. He was an associate editor of the Journal of the American Academy of Religion for ten years, and is a member of numerous professional groups. An honors and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Richmond, he earned his Master of Divinity degree from Colgate Rochester Divinity School and Ph.D. from the University of Rochester. Len is the recipient of honorary doctorates from the University of Richmond (Virginia), Baker University (Kansas), Otterbein College (Ohio), Coe College (Iowa), Lebanon Valley College (Pennsylvania), and Anderson University (Indiana). Len has held distinguished lectureships at various colleges, universities, and seminaries, and has presented academic papers before major professional societies. He is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences, state conventions, pastors’ schools, retreats.

Len resides on Orcas Island in the San Juans with his wife Tia and son Luke.