Jim Wallis is a New York Times bestselling author, public theologian, speaker, and international commentator on ethics and public life. He recently served on the White House Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships and was former vice chair of and currently serves on the Global Agenda Council on Values of the World Economic Forum. [More]

Emilie Townes, an American Baptist clergywoman, is a native of Durham, North Carolina. She holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School and a Ph.D. in Religion in Society and Personality from Northwestern University. Townes is the Dean and Carpenter Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society at Vanderbilt University Divinity School, becoming the first African American to serve as Dean of the Divinity School in 2013. [More]

Shane Claiborne graduated from Eastern University and did graduate work at Princeton Seminary. In 2010, he received an Honorary Doctorate from Eastern. His adventures have taken him from the streets of Calcutta where he worked with Mother Teresa to the wealthy suburbs of Chicago where he served at the influential mega-church Willow Creek.  [More]

Rev. Dr. Paula Stone Williams was the CEO of one of America’s largest church planting organizations, a preaching pastor at two megachurches, a magazine editor, and a seminary instructor. After 35 years in New York, Paula moved to Lyons, Colorado, where she currently serves as a pastoral counselor and church consultant. Paula has three grown children and five granddaughters. [More]

Joerg Rieger and Rosemarie Henkel-Rieger are co-authors of the forthcoming book Unified We Are a Force: Growing Deep Solidarity between Faith and Labor (Chalice Press, 2016). [More]

Doug Pagitt is a pastor (Solomon’s Porch – Minneapolis), author, speaker, Ultra-Marathoner, goodness conspirator (The OpenNetworkUs.org) & possibility evangelist. [More]

Mirabai Starr writes creative non-fiction and contemporary translations of sacred literature. She taught Philosophy and World Religions at the University of New Mexico-Taos for 20 years and now teaches and speaks internationally on contemplative practice and interspiritual dialog. A certified bereavement counselor, Mirabai helps mourners harness the transformational power of loss. [More]

Matthew Fox is the co-founder of The (r)evolutionary Creation Spirituality movement – based in ancient Judeo-Christian tradition, supported by leading-edge science, bearing witness for social, environmental, and gender justice, and voiced most powerfully for this generation by spiritual theologian Matthew Fox – is flourishing in the creative and prophetic spirit of our times! Matthew was a Dominican for 40 years, was sent to Paris by Thomas Merton to study spiritual theology, and there he met his mentor Chenu who was a grandfather of liberation theology. [More]

Brother Dyron Holmes is an educator, theatre artist, monastic and founder of The Peoples Monastery. The Peoples Monastery serves community through artistic offerings, educational forums and ritual while illuminating spiritual and cultural commonalities within all of humanity. He is an ordained interfaith minister (One Spirit Seminary) and monk (Order of Universal Interfaith). [More]

Mike McHargue  (better known as Science Mike) is an author, podcaster, and speaker who travels the world helping people understand the science of life’s most profound and mundane experiences. Mike’s the host of Ask Science Mike, and cohosts The Liturgists Podcast with his friend Michael Gungor. [More]

Gary Rand loves making music and creating ritual experiences that open up people to mystery, justice, and a greater sense of community. He currently does that at LaSalle Street Church in Chicago and at McCormick Seminary, as well as through a new arts/liturgy collective, pluralguild.com. He’s also producing a new band [More]

Michael Gungor is an American singer-songwriter. He leads the musical collective Gungor, which has received multiple Grammy nominations. The group’s music has been compared to the music of Sufjan Stevens, Bon Iver, and Arcade Fire. Aside from his work with the band, he has written and produced music for several other artists. He has also written a book titled The Crowd, the Critic, and the Muse: A Book for Creators. [More]

Nicole Massie Martin is the author of the book, “Made for this: Empowering Women for Leadership in Ministry.” She currently serves as the Executive Minister at The Park Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Soulfire International Ministries, which empowers individuals to reach their highest potential by providing economic and educational opportunities with mentorship and support. [More]

Adam Bucko is an activist, spiritual director and co-author of Occupy Spirituality: A Radical Vision for a New Generation and The New Monasticism: An Interspiritual Manifesto for Contemplative Living. He grew up in Poland during the totalitarian regime and spent his early years exploring the anarchist youth movement as a force for social and political change. At the age of 17, Adam immigrated to America where his desire to find his path towards a meaningful life led him to monasteries in the US and India. [More]

Through preaching, writing, training, network development, and public witness Lisa Sharon Harper engages the church in the work of justice and peacemaking. As Chief Church Engagement Officer at Sojourners, Ms. Harper manages Christian networks and develops coalitions focused on racial justice, environmental justice, foreign policy, and evangelical public witness. Having earned her masters degree in Human Rights from Columbia University in New York City, Ms. Harper’s books [More]

C. Christopher Smith is a writer and community developer, who is the founding editor of The Englewood Review of Books and the author of Reading for the Common Good (IVP Books, 2016). He is also co-author of Slow Church: Cultivating Community in the Patient Way of Jesus. He lives and works as part of the Englewood Christian Church community on the urban Near Eastside of Indianapolis. [More]

Teresa Pasquale Mateus, is a trauma therapist, a contemplative practice and yoga teacher, and contemplative actioner. She is author of two books on trauma, spirituality and healing, Mending Broken: A Journey Through the Stages of Trauma & Recovery and Sacred Wounds: A Path to Healing from Spiritual Trauma. She is a graduate of The Living School at the Center for Action and Contemplation, Sivananda Yoga Teacher Training, and New York University’s School of Social Work. [More]

Charles Eisenstein is a speaker and writer focusing on themes of human culture and identity. He is the author of several books, most recently Sacred Economics and The More Beautiful World our Hearts Know is Possible. His background includes a degree in mathematics and philosophy from Yale, a decade in Taiwan as a translator, and stints as a college instructor, a yoga teacher, and a construction worker. He currently writes and speaks full-time. He lives in Asheville, North Carolina with his wife and four children. [More]

Michael Kimpan works with OPEN Network, a Convergence initiative working to organize and mobilize progressive non-denominational and evangelically-rooted individuals, organizations and communities of faith. 

Michael is a prolific contributor to Tony Campolo’s Red Letter Christians website, and has written numerous articles for other in print and online publications such as Relevant Magazine and patheos.com and is currently working on his first book, The Jesus I Believe In (available 2017). [More]

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Micky ScottBey Jones is a “contemplivist” leader and organizer who hosts & facilitates conferences, trainings and online conversations, writes & speaks on a variety of topics including self-care in community (healing justice), contemplative activism, intersectionality, race & justice & theology from the margins, and curates contemplative spaces/activities. Micky was recently named one of the Black Christian leaders changing the world in Huffington Post. [More]

Sarah Withrow King is the Deputy Director of The Sider Center of Eastern University and the co-Director of CreatureKind, which engages the church on farmed animal welfare issues. After college, Sarah went straight to work in the nonprofit world, ensuring her lifelong material poverty.  [More]

Anita Grace Brown lives in NJ with her husband, two teens and golden retriever, Sierra. They live by the family mantra “Either everything’s a miracle, or nothing is!”. She enjoys filling each day with plenty of time in nature, cooking, writing, yoga + meditation. Personally since yoga as spiritual practice has helped heal her from anxiety, depression, + IBS , she is passionate about sharing it with underserved populations- the incarcerated, the inner-city + interestingly enough…Christians!! [More]

Jennifer Bailey is an ordained minister, public theologian, and emerging national leader in multi-faith movement for justice. She is the Founding Executive Director of the Faith Matters Network, a new interfaith community equipping faith leaders to harness the power of story to challenge structural inequality in their communities. She writes regularly for a number of publications including Sojourners and the Huffington Post.  [More]

Dr. Jacqui Lewis is Senior Minister Middle Collegiate Church in the East Village of Manhattan. Middle Church is a dynamic 900-member multiracial, multicultural, inclusive congregation in which everyone is welcome just as they are as they come through the door. Lewis is also the Executive Director of The Middle Project, an institute that prepares ethical leaders for a more just society. [More]

Phil Wyman is a musician, songwriter, writer, poet, wanna-be philosopher, pastor, creator of interactive “blank canvas social art”, and a general instigator looking for people to join him in a revolution. He is the pastor of The Gathering in Salem, Massachusetts and is working with a team of friends to plant spiritual communities in festivals in the US and UK. The festivals include places like Haunted Happenings in Salem, Burning Man, and Rainbow Gatherings. The recently published Burning Religion highlights his concept of a “Wild Theology,” which envisions God, creation, and humanity as wilder than most “radical” theologies have imagined. [More]

Christine Sine is a contemplative activist, passionate gardener, author, liturgist and executive director of Mustard Seed Associates. She loves messing with church traditions and inspiring creative approaches to spirituality that entwine the sacred through all of life. She blogs extensively and speaks about spirituality and gardening, simplicity and sustainability and about how to develop a more spiritual rhythm for our lives. Christine is inspired by Celtic Christian spirituality, which has opened her eyes to the God who is present in every moment, every experience and every place. [More]

Tom Sine is an older author who is both learning from and celebrating the innovative of the under 35 – how are creating new ways to have an impact and to live. They are fashioning a rich array of new ways of being different and making a difference. Tom and his wife Christine are seeking to join them by living in an intergenerational household in Seattle. We grow 30% of our veg on an urban lot. [More]

Frank Schaeffer is an artist and a New York Times bestselling author of both fiction and nonfiction. Frank is a much sought after speaker and has lectured at a wide range of venues from Harvard’s Kennedy School to the Hammer Museum/UCLA, Princeton University, Riverside Church Cathedral, DePaul University and the Kansas City Public Library. Frank has been a frequent guest on the Rachel Maddow Show on NBC, has appeared on Oprah, been interviewed by Terri Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air and appeared on the Today Show, BBC News and many other media outlets. [More]

Julie E. Richardson authors the blog Someone Stole My Coffee. She is the co-editor of It’s Not All About You, a series of essays for and by young adults about what it means to engage in mission as a way of life, and the author of the 2014 Lenten devotional, Fellowship of Prayer. Julie and Chalice Press have recently released Available Hope. Julie writes from her home in Louisville, Kentucky, where she lives with her daughter, Madeleine, and her rescued hound, Skye. [More]

Bushi Yamato Damashii is a Buddhist monk and lead resident teacher at Daishin Zen Buddhist Temple in Thomasville, North Carolina. Bushi is also the Vice-president and Zen monk at Still Water Farms Retreat Center in Franklinville, NC. A former Christian minister and pastor, Bushi now speaks of much deeper understanding of the love and compassion of the Historical Jesus and the Historical Buddha. Bushi is classically trained in Mahayana Buddhism and Daishin Zen. [More]

Chris Crass is the author of the new book Towards the “Other America”: Anti-Racist Resources for White People Taking Action for Black Lives Matter. He writes and speaks widely on anti-racist organizing, feminism for men, strategies to build visionary movements, and creating healthy culture and leadership for progressive activism. He was a founder of the anti-racist movement building center, the Catalyst Project, and helped launch the national white anti-racist network, SURJ (Showing Up For Racial Justice).  [More]

Onleilove “Chika” Alston, is a speaker, writer, sister and native New Yorker who directs PICO-Faith in NY a multifaith, multiracial federation of 70 congregations representing 80,000 families dedicated to Building the Beloved City. Onleilove is also the Founder of Prophetic Whirlwind: Uncovering the Black Biblical Destiny which seeks to uncover the Afro-Asiatic contributions to the Abrahamic faiths, her book is forthcoming about this subject. [More]

Dr. Scott R. Burson (Ph.D., Brunel University—London, England) is the Associate Professor of Philosophical Theology at Indiana Wesleyan University, where he teaches courses in philosophy, theology, sports ministry, and C.S. Lewis. His course on C.S. Lewis includes a spring break trip to Oxford and London. Scott is the author of Brian McLaren in Focus: A New Kind of Apologetics which includes a Foreword by Brian McLaren. Scott’s wife, Deb, created the artwork for the cover of this book, which is available for purchase at this year’s Wild Goose Festival. [More]

Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon is a pastor, writer, and academic who cares deeply about God’s heart for the poor and the oppressed. She is the author of Social Justice Handbook: Small Steps for a Better World (IVP, 2009), Just Spirituality: How Faith Practices Fuel Social Action (IVP, 2012) and co-author of Forgive Us: Confessions of a Compromised Faith (Zondervan, 2014). Mae earned her doctorate in American History with the minor in Middle Eastern studies from the University of California – Davis, focusing her dissertation on the history of the American Protestant church in Israel and Palestine. She has worked as both a consultant to the Middle East for Compassion International and as the Senior Director of Advocacy and Outreach for World Vision. [More]

Kristyn Komarnicki is ESA’s director of communications. Passionate about relational wholeness, she writes and speaks about both sexual justice and sexual exploitation; helping Christians understand pornography as hate speech that it is directly linked to human trafficking is a particular concern of hers. She also directs ESA’s Oriented to Love dialogues about sexual diversity in the church. These help Christians of different sexual, gender, and theological orientations come together to get to know, understand, and love each other, unified by the love of Christ. [More]

Linda Flynn is the Executive Director of the Charlotte Spirituality Center which provides spiritual direction training and serves the wider North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia community with spiritual formation, spiritual direction and retreats. She has 15 years experience as a retreat leader and spiritual director, specializing in a contemplative style of spiritual direction, Ignatian spirituality , the Enneagram and Twelve Step. Linda received spiritual direction supervision training from “Together in the Mystery,” a program of San Franscisco Theological Seminary. In 2015, she published her first book “Praying Twelve Steps with Jesus” which blends the work of the twelve steps with Ignatian contemplative prayer. A progressive Catholic, she is passionate about the ministry of spiritual direction and her hero is Dorothy Day. [More]

AnaYelsi Velasco Sanchez is an Indo-Latinx interlocking mujerista living in the Latin diaspora. She is a cis-straight ally working for The Reformation Project (TRP) as their Organizing and Programs Director. TRP is working to Change the way churches think and act when it comes to the LGBT community by training Christians to support and affirm gender and sexual minorities. AnaYelsi also runs the organization’s Academy for Racial Justice- a program that combines biblical teaching, interactive skills training, and cross-cultural dialogue around the intersection of racial identity and LGBT issues. [More]

Michael Poffenberger is the Executive Director of the Center for Action and Contemplation, a place of teaching and practice in the Christian contemplative tradition founded by Fr. Richard Rohr. He previously co-founded The Resolve, a research and advocacy organization working to protect civilians from violence perpetrated by armed groups in central Africa. Michael serves on the board of Invisible Children and graduated from the University of Notre Dame. He guides CAC’s work of teaching contemplative spirituality and is passionate about helping people connect with their sacred vocation in service to the needs of the world. [More]

Therese Taylor-Stinson is a retired Federal Senior Program Analyst, whom also served as a lead mediator for Equal Employment Opportunity disputes across Government. She is an ordained deacon and ruling elder in the PC(USA), currently serving as Moderator of National Capital Presbytery. A graduate of the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation, Therese is a spiritual director in private practice. She is a member of the Shalem Society for Contemplative Leadership and was commissioned associate faculty for Shalem’s Personal Spiritual Deepening Program. [More]

Tessa Bielecki co-founded the Spiritual Life Institute and live there as monk and Mother Abbess for almost 40 years. During that time she built four monasteries in three countries and now lives as a lay hermit. The monastic life that she developed was deeply rooted in the Carmelite tradition of St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross, but she translated it to serve contemporary needs and meet today’s problems. In that sense Tessa was one of the precursors of what we now call New Monasticism. In 2005, she co-founded The Desert Foundation with Fr. Dave Denny, an informal circle of friends who explore the wisdom of the world’s deserts [More]

Emily Joy is a spoken word poet and author whose passion is to use her writing to aid in the dismantling of patriarchy, purity culture, and toxic ideas of the Divine. Emily cut her teeth on the Chicago slam poetry scene while getting a degree in philosophical theology, and has since traveled the country performing and released two studio albums of spoken word poetry. Her newest album, All Prodigal Daughters & Sons, explores the question of what happens after doubt and despair set in—after faith loss can no longer be avoided. How do you begin to rebuild? [More]

Whitney Brown is an artist-theologian, freelance writer, and educator who is always seeking adventure. Whether through work, volunteer opportunities, or just to support friends, Whitney has traveled throughout the Eastern United States exploring many avenues of ministry-in-action. Now settled in Memphis, she seeks to lead and serve through the arts in multiple venues. While poverty, addiction, racism, and fear seem to abound at every turn in our world [More]

Bill Guerrant and his wife Cherie raise vegetables, chickens, pigs and goats on White Flint Farm, their chemical-free farm in Keeling, Virginia. Bill is a former attorney, a graduate of Asbury Theological Seminary and is the author of Organic Wesley: A Christian Perspective on Food, Farming, and Faith (Seedbed, 2015). [More]

Carl McColman is a Life-Professed Lay Cistercian — a contemplative Christian who receives formal spiritual guidance from Trappist monks. He is a member of a Lay Cistercian community affiliated with a monastery near his home in Clarkston, Georgia. Carl is the author of several books, including “The Big Book of Christian Mysticism,” “Answering the Contemplative Call,” and “Befriending Silence.” His writing appears on Patheos and the Huffington Post in addition to his own blog [More]

 Jade Perry is an artistic soul, a higher education professional by day (working in multicultural student success and access) and a writer / contributor for a variety of platforms by night & weekend. Her personal mission is twofold: 1) to offer information, ideas, & counter-cultural narratives that will empower people to thrive and 2) to lovingly and creatively challenge systems toward greater levels of inclusion. [More]

Jacqueline Bussie is an author, professor, theologian, public speaker, and student of life in all its messy beauty. An active servant-leader in the E.L.C.A, Jacqueline teaches religion and theology classes at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, where she also serves as the Director of the Forum on Faith and Life. Every day Jacqueline is amazed and grateful that she actually gets paid to do the three things she loves most [More]

Awakened by a poem in September of 2014, Amy Vaughan spent the next year writing a poem every day. Beginning first as a spiritual discipline, she shared her poetry on social media and developed a community of “followers.” Soon her work appeared in art shows in Charlotte galleries alongside or integrated into painted pieces, in yoga classes, leadership retreats, and Bible studies. Using her poetry to draw attention to issues of social justice and faith, she frequently speaks, preaches, teaches classes on healing poetry [More]

Executive Chef, Renee Boughman, has been a founding member of F.A.R.M. Cafe from concept, August of 2009, to opening day, May of 2012. Renee has over 35 years in food service experience as well as a Master’s Degree in History from Appalachian State University. She received her B.S. Degree in Culinary Arts from Asheville Buncombe Technical College and worked in several fine dining kitchens in Blowing Rock [More]

Jason Bilbrey is a father of two, husband of one, living in Chicago. Jason’s engagement in the work of interfaith cooperation was inspired/necessitated by his wife’s newly realized atheism back in 2012. In early 2015, he teamed up with Alicia Crosby to co-found and co-direct Center for Inclusivity, an interfaith community from Chicago with a mission to foster generous and meaningful dialogue [More]

Tessi Muskrat Rickabaugh is a graduate of Shalem Institute’s Spiritual Guidance Program and founder of Anam Cara Deaf Ministries, as well as The Barefoot Journey, an online community of people seeking to recognize God in the raw beauty of their story. A Native woman of Cherokee and Irish descent [More]

Joshua Hearne is a storyteller in the traditions, and native, of Central Appalachia. He is a founding member, and the spiritual director, of Grace and Main Fellowship, an intentional, ecumenical, Christian community devoted to hospitality, prayer, simplicity, and grassroots community development in Southside Virginia. [More]

Lyndon Harris is the Co-director of Tigg’s Pond Retreat Center in Zirconia, NC, where he is developing a Journey to Forgiveness Institute. Harris is also a forgiveness coach, and an inspirational and motivational speaker, having spoken at numerous conferences across the United States and around the world. He served more than 20 years as a pastor and his work at Ground Zero [More]

Rachael Anne Clinton is a pastor, theologian, and therapeutic practitioner. She is a Master of Divinity graduate of The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology and was privileged to collaborate with Dr. Dan Allender as a research assistant on his book Sabbath, part of the “Ancient Practices” series edited by Phyllis Tickle. Rachael’s work with The Allender Center involves training therapists, pastors, leaders, and lay counselors to work thoughtfully, compassionately, and powerfully with survivors of trauma and abuse. [More]

Rachel Pinto is a psychotherapist and clinical director at Chenal Family Therapy in central Arkansas where she gets to hear breath-taking stories of pain, recovery, and regeneration on a daily basis. She is a trained trauma therapist (EMDR, mindfulness, meditation) who pulls wisdom from her own journey as a trauma survivor and recovering approval addict. She has worked as a psychotherapist for four years, and has mentored people in some capacity for twenty (as a high school teacher, a church minister [More]

Mark Longhurst is a United Church of Christ pastor in the Berkshire hills of Massachusetts. He is shaped by his experiences as a yoga teacher, activist, Catholic Worker, missionary kid, film lover, book nerd, husband and father. He studied at Harvard Divinity School and graduated from the inaugural class of Richard Rohr’s Living School for Action and Contemplation. He lives, writes, and tells stories in the tension between mysticism and everyday life. [More]

Rev. Alexia Salvatierra is the co-author of “Faith-Rooted Organizing” and the “madrina” of the faith-rooted organizing unnetwork. She has over 35 years of experience in community ministry, community development and community organizing/advocacy. She is adjunct faculty at seven academic institutions, including Fuller Theological Seminary, Azusa Pacific Seminary, Eastern University and Biblia Virtual, Argentina as well as training/coaching internationally for organizations such as Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, The Christian Community Development Association and World Vision. [More]

Rev. Andrew Wilkes is the principal of Wilkes Advocacy Group and the associate pastor of social justice and young adults at the Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral of New York. Rooted in the subversive spirituality of Southern black church traditions, Rev. Wilkes is committed to working towards a socialist political economy, writing as popular education, and forging a fellowship of Jesus that prioritizes compassion, friendship, and prayer. [More]

Mike Morrell is the Communications Director for the Integral Theology think-tank Presence International, co-founder of The Buzz Seminar, and a founding organizer of the Wild Goose Festival. Mike curates contemplative and community experiences via Authentic World, Relational Yoga, the ManKind Project, and (H) Opp, taking joy in holding space for the extraordinary transformation that can take place at the intersection of anticipation, imagination, and radical acceptance. Mike is also an avid writer, publishing consultant, author coach, futurist, [More]

Sarah Heath is an artist, writer, speaker, and pastor in the United Methodist Church, where she serves at Shepherd of the Hills UMC in Southern California. Born in Newfoundland, Canada, Sarah was raised in Ontario until her family moved to Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 1994, where she lived the rest of her childhood. Keeping close to her newfound southern roots, Sarah received her B.S. in Psychology and Biology at the University of Southern Mississippi. [More]

Shireen Awwad Hilal lives in Palestine where she is a member of “In His Image” – a Palestinian – Israeli women Initiative that works for peace. Shireen is the Dean of Students at Bethlehem Bible College. She has a passion to work with students and educate them towards knowing their purpose in life as Christian youth. Shireen is also the coordinator of Musalaha women’s ministry. As part of her work with Musalaha she desires to see women leaders in the area who are educated and trained toward leadership, reconciliation, nonviolence [More]

Holly Roach is a cultural organizer and contemplative activist who lives at the intersections of faith, justice and racial equity.  Holly loves holistic models for change that engage us in drawing from the deepest wells of our being to sustain our work for justice.  Holly’s activist roots are in numerous social justice movements including the struggles for political prisoners Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu-Jamal, the struggle against Peabody Coal at Big Mountain, AZ, and the Global Justice movement.  [More]

Kenji Kuramitsu is a social worker and Anglican seminarian at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, IL. He is a noted educator on issues of racism, doing theology online, and LGBTQ families. His writing has appeared in the Pacific Citizen, Inheritance Magazine, and Smile Politely Magazine. Kenji currently serves on the National Board of the Japanese American Citizens League, the oldest and largest Asian American civil rights group [More]

Akisha Townsend Eaton, OFS, is an animal protection consultant and attorney, and Candidate in the Secular Franciscan Order. In her career, she has worked to advance the well-being of animals through legislative and policy advancements on the local, state, national, and international level, including at the United Nations. She is an Associate Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, and serves on the Advisory Council of CreatureKind. [More]

Darren Calhoun is a photographer and community activist based out of Chicago. Currently, Darren actively serves within the leadership of arts ministries at his church, the downtown campus of Willow Creek Community Church, and volunteers with organizations such as Breakthrough Urban Ministries and The Marin Foundation, where he contributed in the development of the “I’m Sorry” campaign at gay pride parades. [More]

After a lifetime in the church, earning a Master’s degree in Theology, becoming ordained in a denomination that had no history of ordaining women, and serving for 15 years in her home congregation, Rachelle Mee-Chapman said goodbye to church. In the years following, she settled upon a hybrid approach to ministry, combining spiritual direction and life coaching, establishing the online soulcare community, Flock, and teaching at progressive Christian gatherings and in her own workshops. [More]

Alicia Crosby, Co-Founder and Co-Director of Center for Inclusivity (CFI), has always been the type of person to color outside the lines. Her affinity for strategizing and planning makes spending her days dedicated to managing the organization’s logistical and programmatic needs a great joy. Her love of justice, contemplative activism, and community engagement led her to pursue a M.A. in Social Justice and a Certificate in Non-Profit Management & Philanthropy at Loyola University Chicago. [More]

The Rev. Jonathan Myers, Episcopal priest, is the Commons Curator at Habitat Tavern & Commons and assistant brewer. Jonathan earned an M.Div and Certificate in Spiritual Direction from the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology and currently resides in Asheville, NC with roots [More]

Storm Rafael—“Rafael” meaning “God has healed”—is truly a “storm” that God has healed from a deeply painful and conflicted past. From 2009-2015 Storm worked in full-time ministry, during which he traveled internationally, immersing himself in missionary efforts. Much of Storm’s life was spent within largely Black congregations, where he observed the profound stigmatization of Black, gay, men and unearthed his passion to contend for justice for the Black gay community. Additionally, Storm is a journalist for the West Virginia Community Development Hub, blogger for The Political Pages blog, and a twice published author. [More]

The Reverend Gwen Fry is an ordained Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Arkansas and has 25 years of experience in a wide range of parish settings. Her experience coming out as a trans woman of faith makes her keenly aware of the necessity for the equality of all God’s children. Experiencing the effects of discrimination first hand, she has been actively involved in the work of justice in the transgender community both in Arkansas and across the Episcopal Church. Gwen is the Vice President of National Affairs for Integrity USA, an LGBT organization within the Episcopal Church, and a founding member of the Central Arkansas Integrity chapter. [More]

Rev. Dr. Lindsay Andreolli-Comstock recently transitioned from Executive Director of The Beatitudes Society, through a unique partnership, to Director of Justice Ministry Education at Auburn Seminary in New York City. She is an ordained Baptist minister who served congregations in Virginia and Massachusetts and served four years as an Advocate for Women and Children focusing on anti-human trafficking education and child sex tourism prevention in Southeast Asia. She is an accomplished speaker, teacher and preacher. [More]

Cicia Lee is the National Coordinator of Momentum, a community dedicated to incubating, training, and launching decentralized popular movements in the United States. She is also a member of the core team for Contemplative Action Circles, which is organizing young people of faith committed to contemplative practice, storytelling, and noncooperation through direct action. She worked for several years as a designer, and is currently finding ways to integrate design process with movement-building work. [More]

Alise Chaffins is the author of Embracing Grief, a book about learning to allow grief to become a part of the tapestry of our lives, rather than trying to cordon it off into something that is safe and manageable. She is a wife, mother, author, musician, eater of soup, and defender of the Oxford comma. [More]

Stan Mitchell serves as the Founding Pastor of GRACEPOINTE in Nashville,TN, a progressive Christian community. [More]

Gabrielle Claiborne was recently honored as Atlanta’s Best Activist for Trans Rights 2015. She is cofounder of Transformation Journeys, a transgender diversity training firm, and has been a lifelong church leader, both in her former life and as a transwoman. Within the LGBTQI community Gabrielle serves on the Board of Directors for Atlanta PRIDE. [More]

Jennie Belle is the Program Director for Farmworker and Immigrant Rights at the North Carolina Council of Churches. She hails from South Georgia, graduated from Rice University in Texas, and has lived and worked across Latin America and Spain. She came to North Carolina six years ago to pursue a dual degree M.Div./M.S.W. graduate program at Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill [More]

 Rev. Linda Herzer has served congregations in New York and Atlanta. However, when she joined the staff of a church where 10% of the congregation was transgender, she knew she had much to learn. Consequently, Linda read, studied, attended gender variant support groups and listened to her congregant’s stories. She is now an active ally and has written a soon to be published book on what the Bible says in support of the transgender experience. [More]

Rev. Dr. Shawn Casselberry is a passionate advocate for justice, writer, and Executive Director for Mission Year, a leading Christian ministry that equips 18-30 year olds to pursue a lifestyle of loving God and loving people in the city (www.missionyear.org). Shawn is committed to living out the holistic gospel, creating inclusive community, and mobilizing the church to be a force for justice in the world. [More]

Craig A. Steffen is an American author, educator, entrepreneur and activist. He is author of A Family Apart: Sleuthing the Mysteries of Abandonment, Adoption and DNA – A Memoir (2014 Greyden Press). Steffen has an extensive history in adult education as a dynamic and interactive Adjunct Professor at Indiana Wesleyan University, as a paradigm-shifting teacher in faith-based organizations, and as a successful thought-leading business consultant. A 1960s adoptee, into a fundamentalist Christian family, Steffen knows intimately how the experiences of [More]

As Kupenda for the Children’s executive director, Cynthia Bauer encourages others with disabilities to meet their God-given potential by sharing the message of God’s inclusive love in multiple ways including playing her guitar to demonstrate what is possible when opportunities are available to everyone. Born without her left hand, Cynthia was moved to action when she learned of the stigmas connected to disability in Kenya. Through her example, speaking, writing, and networking, Cynthia advocates for children with disabilities in Kenya, Tanzania [More]

Emily Lindin is the author of “UnSlut: A Diary and a Memoir” and founder of The UnSlut Project, ​which uses personal story sharing to work against sexual bullying and “slut” shaming. The project was inspired by Emily’s own experience being labeled the school “slut” at age eleven and being sexually bullied throughout middle school. Now a Harvard graduate and PhD candidate, Emily started The UnSlut Project by blogging her diary entries from middle school.​ Her award-winning, crowd-funded film, “UnSlut: A Documentary Film,” is currently screening at universities, theaters, and festivals around North America. [More]

Emily Wimbish has lived in central North Carolina for most of the last decade. She landscapes during the day and makes art and weaves magic and intrigue during her “off time”. She is mostly comfortable existing in such paradoxes as being a colorblind artist and a spiritual atheist, and does her best to remember that the present is all we have, and to be thankful for the experience of being alive. [More]

Eric Mayle is a pastor, advocate, and the Executive Director of Centenary Community Ministries, Inc. in Macon, GA, which seeks to develop sustainable communities through the revitalization of people and place. Much of Eric’s work at CCMI focuses on homelessness and addiction. He directs a residential recovery program for homeless men in recovery from drugs and alcohol. [More]

J. Nicole Morgan is a fat Christian whose work centers on the intersection of faith, fatness, body image, and community. She is passionate about honoring the “image of God” in each and every body. Her work and writing on fatness and faith has been featured in Christianity Today’s Her.meneutics and on Moody Radio’s “Up for Debate.” Nicole has a Master of Theological studies from Eastern University’s Palmer Seminary where she served as a Sider Scholar with Evangelicals for Social Action. [More]

Jaime Harris | International Peacemaker and Educator Jaime and his family live in Indonesia, where for the past 20 years they’ve promoted peace and reconciliation through education, serving the poor, organizing interfaith events, establishing a Peace Café, and inviting Muslims and Christians to pray together in a unique House of Prayer. As an author, Jaime has written books in both Indonesian and English promoting peace. [More]

Dr. Katherine Wilson serves as Executive Director of the Zeidler Center for Public Discussion, a non-profit that facilitates civil dialogue between groups in conflict. Based in Milwaukee, WI, the most racially segregated city in the US, the Zeidler Center’s current projects include facilitating meetings between the Milwaukee police department and communities of color; and facilitator training in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. [More]

John Pattison writes and speaks on topics related to culture, neighborhood flourishing, and the church. He is the coauthor of Slow Church (2014) and Besides the Bible: 100 Books that Have, Should, or Will Create Christian Culture (2010), both from InterVarsity Press. A member of the National Book Critics Circle, John previously served as Managing Editor of [More]

Lydia Strand is a member of the Core Team of the Contemplative Action Circles project, organizing to call for an integrity-filled response to the systemic and personal oppressions that have been and are sustained by the institution of the church. She has been shaped by time working in workers’ and immigrants’ rights, living in intentional community, and growing up as a pastors’ kid in the evangelical church [More]

Carla Ewert is a regular panelist on the Christian Feminist Podcast. Her work life is spent coordinating happenings for the OPEN Network, an initiative of Convergence. Carla is also a freelance writer and editor and recently co-founded Jot Writing Co. to give her an excuse to play with words, an obsession that began in childhood [More]

Brian Ammons is Chaplain at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina, USA. He is a Baptist minister and was among the first out LGBTQ folks to be ordained in mainline churches in the US South. Brian has taught courses in gender studies, practical theology, and education at several universities, and he writes and speaks widely about the intersection of spirituality, sexuality, and justice. [More]

Rev. Rebecca Anderson (church planter, Gilead Chicago) is ordained in The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She has a MDiv from the University of Chicago and a BA in Playwrighting from Hampshire College. A believer in the power of the spoken word, Rebecca’s been on Snap Judgment (radio) and The Broad Experience (podcast). As a comic [More]

Damien Durr is a native of Cleveland, Ohio who answered his call to ministry in 2001. Damien served at the Mt. Haven Baptist church until he came to Nashville in August of 2004 to attend American Baptist College. Prior to that he spent years working multiple jobs and looking for life purpose. As a result of not graduating from high school because of his inability to pass the Ohio Proficiency Test. [More]

Mary McGlauflin grew up in the Western North Carolina mountains. After living in Alabama and Texas during her early career, she returned to the mountains of her heart 28 years ago. Her spiritual journey has been a circuitous one, moving from fundamentalism to liberal Christianity to interspirituality. [More]

Anna Golladay serves as the Apostle of Creative, Marketing and Communications at St Marks Church in Chattanooga, TN where she has reinvented the way in which the church reaches the community through digital and traditional mediums. Her 20-plus year career as a corporate creative director and marketer provides her with a perspective on theological and philosophical growth that is sorely needed in the stagnant status-quo [More]

Tim Conder  is the founding pastor of Emmaus Way in Durham, NC. He organizes nationally with the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) and locally with Durham CAN serving on their Strategy Team and as a leader of their Clergy Caucus. Currently he working with IAF on a national campaign against gun violence (Do Not Stand Idly By) and locally with CAN on policing transformation, affordable housing, living wage legislation, and educational reform in Durham. Tim is a PhD Candidate at the University of North Carolina in Cultural Studies researching as a pastoral leader/ethnographer in the NAACP “Forward Together” Moral Movement in NC [More]

Brian D. Crisp is a native of North Carolina now living in Raleigh. He holds degrees from Furman University, Southern Seminary, and Vanderbilt Divinity School. Sherri is also a graduate of Vanderbilt Divinity School, a recent presenter at the Oxford Religious Symposium, and currently an adjunct professor teaching, Intro to Bible and Philosophy of Religion, while also working alongside and with inmates at Riverbend Prison. [More]

Christina Drouin has been a national leader in nonprofit strategic planning and a trusted adviser to schools and congregations for more than twenty years. She has facilitated hundreds of strategic plans and workshops that have led organizations to undreamed of growth and impact. Now she has customized her proven planning process so individuals can transform their personal futures as well. Christina’s own vision of her future was shattered eight years ago with the sudden death of her husband. But by intentionally inviting God into the conversation [More]

Jake Myers is a homiletician, constructive theologian, father, spouse, writer, and preacher. He serves as Assistant Professor of Homiletics at Columbia Theological Seminary. Jake holds a Ph.D. from Emory University in Person, Community and Religious Life, with concentrations in Religious Practices and Practical Theology and a graduate certificate in Comparative Literature. He writes and teaches on preaching, homiletical theory, poststructural philosophy, and emerging expressions of Christianity. [More]

Ximena is an advanced certified yoga teacher and activist. Her teachings are inclusive and healing for students of all shapes and sizes, skin colors, nationalities, religions, abilities, genders, gender identities and socioeconomic statuses. They draw from her own life experiences and reflect her strong call to live in the service of others. She was born in Lima, Peru, grew up in the suburbs of Washington, DC and currently resides in New York City. She teaches throughout the world, particularly in Latin America where she is able to teach in Spanish, her native language. [More]

Suzanne Teune is an artist from Asheville, NC. She is passionate about tuning into the Magic as she makes her art so that it may be a healing presence in the world. Her love for the earth, and respect for Native American ways of being human feed into her creative process. She grew up in Wheaton, IL and has lived in Asheville, NC for over 5 years. During most of this time, she has been working at “CooperRiis”, a holistic healing community for adults with emotional and mental health challenges. [More]

Robert Saler is Research Professor of Lutheran Studies and Executive Director of the Center for Pastoral Excellence at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis. He is the author of Between Magisterium and Marketplace: A Constructive Account of Theology and the Church.  [More]

The Rev. Jane Gerdsen is an Episcopal priest currently serving as Missioner for Fresh Expressions and Praxis Communities for the Diocese of Southern Ohio helping to encourage new forms of Christian community. She works predominantly with young adults and those who have been disenfranchised from the church in some way. She has a heart for those on the margins. [More]

Gareth Higgins is a writer from Belfast, Northern Ireland now living in Asheville, North Carolina. He was the founding director of the Wild Goose Festival, as well as the zero28 Project, a faith-based peace and justice initiative in Northern Ireland, and Movies & Meaning, a community making peace through story and image. He has written and spoken widely on religion and conflict, art & spirituality and cinema and reducing violence. [More]

Melissa Greene was a part of the Grammy Nominated and American Music Award wining Christian Music Group, Avalon, for almost 7 years. In 2009 after resigning from Avalon and full-time life on the road, Melissa began to work at GRACEPOINTE Church in Franklin, TN as the Worship and Arts Pastor. GRACEPOINTE is a progressive Christian community where conversation and dialogue are encouraged as a vital part of growth [More]

Sherri Person is a cursing, smoking, drinking, human/animal loving and a joyfully chaotic theologian, residing in the Bible Belt: Nashville, TN. Sherri is also a graduate of Vanderbilt Divinity School, a recent presenter at the Oxford Religious Symposium, and currently an adjunct professor teaching, Intro to Bible and Philosophy of Religion, while also working alongside and with inmates at Riverbend Prison. [More]

As a national speaker, advocate and emcee, Julian “J.Kwest” DeShazier has appeared on ABC, CBS, FOX, and Dr. Maya Angelou’s “Oprah & Friends” radio program. J.Kwest is also an Emmy Award-winning musician, featured in the video “Strange Fruit,” a commemoration of the Billie Holiday song and a meditation on racial violence. In 2012 he and his group, Verbal Kwest, appeared in the OXFAM and Bread for the World [More]

Chelsea Jackson is an ever-evolving poet, theologian and activist. With a heart for community organizing and empowerment, Chelsea engages in prophetic disobedience, and seeks to reimagine a Church that sees beyond its own walls. Born and raised in southeastern Virginia, Chelsea graduated from Shenandoah University with a Bachelor’s in Music Therapy, and Drew Theological School with a Master of Divinity [More]

Austen Hartke is the creator of the YouTube series “Transgender and Christian,” which seeks to understand, interpret, and share parts of the Bible that relate to gender identity and the lives of transgender individuals. Austen is a graduate of Luther Seminary’s Master of Arts program in Old Testament/Hebrew Bible Studies, and is the winner of the 2010 John Milton Prize [More]

Aline (Ah-lee-nee) Silva-Schreiner is a certified life coach and discernment workshop leader for the Fund for Theological Exploration. She has served as a young adult mentor for a Missionary Baptist Church, a youth pastor at a United Methodist Church, community outreach pastor at a Cooperative Baptist Church, associate pastor at an American Baptist Church, interim pastor at a Disciples of Christ Church, itinerant preacher for the American Baptist Churches and the prestigious Academy of Young Preachers.  [More]

Rev. Amy Cantrell lives and moves and has her being in the intentional community, BeLoved Asheville. BeLoved is a community of people from the streets and margins who conspire to do justice and end oppression including homelessness, poverty, and racism by doing the works of love and mercy. The community’s life and work includes the Homeless Voice Project, Rise Up Studio artists collective, a declared sanctuary in the New Sanctuary movement, Elders Free Farmers Market, ROYGBIV transitional housing for people who are queer, transgendered, or others facing discrimination in the shelter system [More]

I amThe Rev. Amanda Hendler-Voss co-pastors Land of the Sky UCC in Asheville, which she co-founded seven years ago as a progressive, open and affirming new church start. A long time advocate of the Appalachian mountains in the face of mountain top removal mining, in recent years she has focused on issues like the transition to renewables, coal ash toxins, and air quality within her congregation, the wider community, and directly with Duke Energy officials. [More] 

Anthony Smith lives in Salisbury, NC. Anthony is one of the curators (along with this wife Toni Cook-Smith) of Mission House, a kingdom experiment in Salisbury, NC. He is the ‘resident emerging theologian’ of an Emergent Village cohort in Charlotte and a co-host of the emergent cohort in Statesville, NC. He also serves on the leadership team of TransFORM, a global network of missional leaders and communities. [More]

Jeremiah Satterfield is a native of the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina. When not working his day job in finance, he can be found playing and writing music, practicing yoga [More]

Carl Sigel – NCIPL’s Executive Committee Chair, is deeply committed to nonprofit organizations that focus on the environment, community service, [More]

Mallory McDuff teaches environmental education at Warren Wilson College, where she lives on campus with her two daughters. She is the author of “Natural Saints: How People of Faith are Working to Save God’s Earth” (2010) and “Sacred Acts: How Churches are Working to Protect Earth’s Climate” (2012). She is also a co-author of “Conservation Education and Outreach Techniques” (2015). A lifelong Episcopalian, she was raised in a family that integrated faith with environmental stewardship [More]

Matt Morris came to the Goose in 2015 wearing his “performer” hat and rainbow overalls, and he left feeling completely revitalized in his faith, renewed in his sense of purpose, and strengthened in his convictions about the role artistic expression can and must play in the collective movement toward justice and liberation from systems of oppression. [More]

Michael Smith is a southeast representative of Bread for the World, living in Asheville, NC. Bread is a DC-based collective voice of people of faith and conscience, building the public and political will to end hunger in the U.S. and globally. His journey has included living & serving in Ethiopia & Indonesia, teaching in seminary and leading nonprofits. From neighbors in some of the world’s most vulnerable places [More]

Miea A. Walker, a graduate of North Carolina State University’s Master of Social Work program, brings a wealth of knowledge regarding mass incarceration and the roadblocks that returning citizens face as they are released from prison. She works tirelessly in developing strategic partnerships with agencies to effectively bridge the gap in service delivery [More]

Nikki Roberts is an author, public speaker, activist, and returning citizen, who’s studied both Mass Communications and Theology on collegiate levels. Nikki served 10 years without parole in Georgia’s Department of Corrections from 2004 – 2014 and frequently uses her lived experiences as well as systemic research [More]

Peggy Flanagan, a citizen of the White Earth Nation of Ojibwe, is a longtime advocate for Minnesota’s children and families. A noted community and political organizer, she was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in November of 2015. Prior to joining the legislature, she served as the executive director of Children’s Defense Fund-Minnesota, an organization dedicated to leveling [More]

René August used to be young, but now, just a black South African woman. A priest in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. I love questions and I love people. I work at The Warehouse where, among other things, I help host mulit-generational, racially diverse conversations that weave [More]

Sandra Bohlken is a singer songwriter and worship leader from Atlanta, GA. She is a wife to Greg and a mom to her furbaby, Wally. Words and melodies speak to our souls [More]

Shawn Blackwelder is a Florida native and the pastor of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Carolina Beach, NC. He is also the organizer of Cape Fear Beer & Hymns. He’s a big fan of Duke basketball, Jimmy Buffett [More]

Sean Gladding is a storyteller, pastor, writer, speaker, backyard chicken keeper, community gardener, and YMCA soccer coach. He is married to Rebecca, is father to Maggie and Seth, and they live, love, work and play in the MLK neighborhood of Lexington [More]

In his professional life, Sean Michael Morris is an internationally known educational leader whose work has brought together teachers, students, and administrators in higher education and K-12. He is the founder of Digital Pedagogy Lab, a non-profit focused on improving the landscape of education in the digital age. He also works in the Office of the Provost at Middlebury College. In his free time, Sean enjoys theory, philosophy, meditation, and yoga. [More]

Shawna Bowman hails from Iowa and used to get in trouble for drawing “too loud” in church. But really making stuff… music, crafts, woodworking, sewing projects were the life-blood of her family and she was just pitching in with her best gifts – visual arts. Shawna graduated from Iowa Wesleyan College with a degree in Studio Art and Art Education and used it to teach, learn and play [More]

Sheridan Hill has worked with the ability to confront grief since she was a teenager and lost a parent tragically. Since then, she has helped several relatives pass over and served for nearly three years as a volunteer for CarePartners Hospice, singing and playing the harp at the bedside of hospice patients. She currently facilitates a grief circle in Black Mountain, NC [More]

SueAnn Shiah is a Taiwanese American multidisciplinary artist working predominantly through the mediums of word, music, and film. Themes in her work explore spirituality, identity, race, gender, and sexuality. In addition to her own creative works, she also works in the business side with her management company and label Scorched Rice Records [More]

Susannah Tuttle is director of NC Interfaith Power & Light (NCIPL), a program of the NC Council of Churches (NCCC). She is grateful to have found her life’s purpose in Creation Care with great hope to inspire others to find meaning and joy in this faithful practice [More]

Taleese Morrill is the Youth Ministry Coordinator at First Congregational United Church of Christ in Asheville. She moved to the mountains with her husband seven years ago where they were inspired by the passion and activism of the faith community around them. She is passionate about doing away with the purity-culture shame [More]

Michael McRay leads a Belfast-originated monthly community storytelling night where 9 people have up to ten minutes each to tell a real story from their lives. Each month has a theme, and every month is free. It was founded in Nashville in September 2013 by author, educator, and storyteller Michael McRay [More]

Tyrone Greenlee is an Asheville native. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a community activist who currently serves on the boards of Just Economics of Western North Carolina, Green Opportunities, and Hands and Feet of Asheville. Tyrone has volunteered for many years with the Building Bridges [More]

Vahisha Hasan is a grassroots faith organizer and activist, living at the intersections of faith, social justice, and mental health. In Arabic, Vahisha means life and Hasan means to make things better. Speaking life and making things better permeate her ministry, love for people, and efforts in every intersection. [More]

Carlton David Johnson is a native of Atlanta GA.  He received his undergraduate degree from Emory University in English with a concentration in literature from the African diaspora.  Following a 25-year career in Project, Operation and Client Services Management, Carlton returned to the academy to receive the Master of Divinity at Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary and, most recently, the Master of Theology [More]

Rev. Claire Clyburn is an ordained Elder in the UMC and pastor in Raleigh, NC. She’s the co-founder of Raleigh Beer and Hymns. [More]

Danny Anderson is an Assistant Professor of English at Mount Aloysius College in Cresson, Pennsylvania. He has been a contributor to the Christian Humanist Podcast for the last few years. He has hosted his own podcast, [More]

Dale Thompson is a native of northeast Tennessee. A life-long fan of music, he first experienced drum circles 20 years ago and was immediately captivated by the power of the rhythm. Since then he has participated in drum circles large and small and performed with groups ranging from heavy rock to old-time front porch to funk jams. [More]

Originally from São Paulo, Brazil, Dr. Cláudio Carvalhaes is a former shoe shining boy and now is an activist, liturgist, theologian and artist. He has preached and performed in Brazil; Mozambique and El Salvador. He has taught at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia and is currently at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. [More]

Mr. Colber Prosper is the founder and senior consultant for Prosper & Partners, an international consulting firm that specializes in professional and organizational development. Mr. Prosper is an innovative and compassionate leader who has been recognized for his ability to educate youth and adult professionals on various topics. Colber has done extensive research on issues of inclusion, social justice, organizational change, middle management and higher education.  [More]

Inspired by the Wild Goose Festival Beer and Hymns last year, Gabriel Lawrence returned home to Savannah, GA to start his own. In just its first year, Savannah Beer and Hymns has seen a monthly average attendance of around 100. Members of the Savanah Beer and Hymns house band, Spirit to the People, are present at the festival this year. Gabriel is currently completing a music degree at Armstrong State University, operates a private voice and piano studio, and recently accepted a call [More]

Geoff Little leads the Beer & Hymns group in Nashville, Tennessee, which he began in 2013. His Nashville cadrea are pleased to be regulars at Mercy Lounge, one of the city’s finest rock clubs, where they have had ticketed crowds in excess of 400. They also have a special partner in local brewery, The Black Abbey Brewing Company [More]

One reviewer described Howard Hanger as more of a verb than a noun. Howard describes himself as A.D.D. For more than 30 years, Howard Hanger served as an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church. He left the denomination so that he could continue to officiate same-sex ceremonial unions. Both his father and grandfather were Methodist Ministers [More]

Isaac Archuleta, MA, LPC has a private practice devoted to LGBT+ health and the Executive Director of iAmProject, a non-profit that promotes LGBT+ inclusion in closeted Evangelical churches. [More]

Lenora Rand blogs with honesty, humor and disarming wisdom about trying to be more spiritual when you’re not very good at it on her Chicago-Tribune-hosted blog, Spiritual Suckitude, and is a regular contributor on RedLetterChristians.org. She co-directs The Plural Guild, a collective crafting music, prayers, visual art & liturgy for people who want to do justice, love mercy, [More]

Lindsey Nelson has participated in many and diverse conversations about LGBT people in the Church. Lindsey’s passions are to see Christians embrace their calling to love other people fully, both in who they are and in who they are becoming. How can the Church love well and make Christ known to all? What does it mean as we come alive in Christ? How does God’s grace enable us to walk along diverse paths as we seek first the Kingdom of God? Lindsey is especially concerned about how the dialogue in the Church has shifted towards being aggressively hostile towards transgender [More]

Lisa and Hailey Scandrette lives and attends college in San Francisco where she studies US history, and counseling. She is passionate about issues of social justice, living incarnationally, and the power of storytelling.  Lisa Scandrette has devoted herself to a life of care, hospitality, and teaching. She regularly facilitates workshops and provides administrative support for ReIMAGINE, a center for integral Christian practice with a mission to help people become more fully human through engagement with the life and teachings of Jesus. [More]

Christine Berghoef is the CEO of the Institute of Faith, Justice & Dialogue, and the author of Cracking the Pot: Releasing God from the Theologies that Bind Him. She leads seminars on civil discourse and educational trips for students and churches that study the history of oppression and injustice, with an eye to discovering what justice might call for today. Bryan Berghoef is a pastor and the author of Pub Theology: Beer, Conversation and God. [More]

Jay McNeal is a progressive Baptist minister. He is the founder and Executive Director of United Faith Leaders and he is the host of The Coffeepot Fellowship Podcast. Undergraduate and graduate degrees include civil engineering, economics, teaching and theology. After his first graduate school Jay volunteered as a front line soldier [More]

Ana Hernandez is a crowd whisperer and sharer of sticky tunes that show up just when you need them the most. She loves collaboration, and reminds us how amazing and capable we are at working together when we remember to listen deeply and respect the contributions of absolutely everyone. She believes there is a leader [More]

Bec Cranford is a Bapticostal Misfit floating in the Mainline. She works full-time in one of Atlanta’s largest homeless service agencies and supervises a contextual education course for Candler School of Theology. Bec enjoys getting messy with acrylic, theology [More]

Beth Carlson-Malena grew up as a Baptist pastor’s daughter in Saskatoon, SK, Canada. She met her wife Danice ten years ago when they were roommates in seminary at Regent College in Vancouver, BC, which sent them on a journey of figuring out their sexuality and how to reconcile it with their faith. [More]

Carlin Rushing is a native of Rocky Mount, North Carolina. As a graduate of Spelman College and Vanderbilt University Divinity School, her work lands at the intersection of race, gender, sexuality, theology, and social justice. She often uses the art storytelling and drumming to build relationships across difference and to inform her ministry. Currently, she is the Carpenter Fellow [More]

FolkPsalm explores the Book of Psalms with Bluegrass and Americana music since 2003, led by lifelong bluegrass musician Charles Pettee, (founding member Flying Fish recording artist The Shady Grove Band). Performing throughout the Southeast, including NC’s MerleFest, 2013 & 2015 Wild Goose Festivals, as well as countless churches, FolkPsalm holds the distinction of being the only bluegrass-based ensemble [More]

Chris S. Davies is the curator of Queer Clergy Trading Cards. She currently works for the United Church of Christ and is the point person for Congregational Assessment, Support, and Advancement at the National offices. Chris is a local beer enthusiast, creative queer liturgist, and dreamer beyond the normative church. She is a Connecticut native, a Cleveland transplant, and a wandering Irish Rover at heart. This project is a project of revolutionary love [More]

Poet of page and stage, cin salach has collaborated with musicians, video artists, dancers and photographers for over 25 years. Widely published in journals and anthologies, including Poetry Speaks: Spoken Word Revolution, her first book, Looking for a Soft Place to Land, was published by Tia Chucha Press. [More]

Through years of spiritual inquiry, meditation, personal transformation and relational training David Bollt has cultivated a remarkable capacity to help people map their inner landscapes. He has an uncanny ability to illuminate unconscious behavior patterns that cause people to feel disconnected from themselves

Rev. David McNair– The Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit, Mars Hill- Besides his long experience with young people, both teaching and program design, David is skilled as a centering prayer leader. He has a reverence for liturgy, community building and is passionate about the many community outreach ministries

De’Andrea Breann Lottier is a Southern California native. She is an avid activist for social justice and human rights issues including racial inequality, youth & homelessness, immigration rights, and LGBTQ issues. She has recently been exploring healing practices and popular education tools to facilitate inclusive spaces for healing spiritual trauma [More]

Deke Arndt is a climate scientist based in Asheville, North Carolina. For the past seven years, he has served as a lead editor of the State of the Climate report, published annually in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. The report is the “annual physical” of the climate system [More]

Dr. Emily Stone is a licensed marriage and family therapist as well as an ordained minister and serves as the child and family pastor at Renovatus Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. She received her PhD in Child and Family Studies from the University of Tennessee and her M.Div. from the Pentecostal Theological Seminary [More]

Hugh Hollowell is an ordained minister in the Mennonite Church USA, and is the pastor and founder of Love Wins Ministries in Raleigh, NC, a worshiping community that provides pastoral care among the chronically homeless community. Hugh’s writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Sojourner’s, The Huffington Post [More]

Jennifer Copeland is the Executive Director of the North Carolina Council of Churches. Prior to coming to the Council, she spent 16 years as the United Methodist Chaplain at Duke University, where she also taught undergraduate and divinity school classes, served on committees and task forces, and attended lots of basketball games [More]

Jensen Roll is a recent graduate of Elon University with a degree in social entrepreneurship and a nonprofit that works to fight hunger. In his first years out of school he is exploring alternative living options through building a Tiny House, which is on display. [More]

Jonathan Martin is a sacramental hillbilly Pentecostal mystic. He is the author How to Survive a Shipwreck and Prototype. He serves as teaching pastor at Sanctuary Church in Tulsa, OK, where he now resides. He is a graduate of Gardner-Webb University, has an MA from the Pentecostal Theological Seminary, [More]

Jonathan Williams is a writer, speaker, and pastor. Jonathan currently serves as the Senior Pastor of Forefront Church in New York, NY, a progressive church that works to bring a just and generous Christianity to New York City. Jonathan has spoken at several national conferences including Exponential, Eastern Christian Conference [More]

Josh Scott has served as a pastor at Morgantown Community Church (Morgantown, KY.) for more than a decade. In addition, he’s a husband, father, U2 fan, coffee enthusiast, avid highlighter, and a (self proclaimed) master of the obvious. [More]

JP Morrill felt bored all too often in the pews of churches, and chased mysticism and spiritual growth along paths of many faiths through his early twenties. The familiarity of the Christian stories, and his inability to ignore the compelling story of Jesus brought him back to Christianity. As a layperson who’s volunteered with youth [More]

Rev. Dr. Katie Hays is the Lead Evangelist for Galileo Church, a three-year-old Christian community that seeks and shelters spiritual refugees. “Spiritual refugees” are those for whom church has become boring, irrelevant, exclusive, and even painful – especially Millennials, and especially LGBTQ+ people [More]

Kent Annan is author of Slow Kingdom Coming (May 2016), After Shock, and of Following Jesus through the Eye of the Needle. He is co-director of Haiti Partners, a nonprofit focused on education in Haiti. He’s on the board of directors of Equitas Group, a philanthropic foundation focused on ending child exploitation in Haiti and Southeast Asia. [More]

Kimberly Knight is a regular blogger with Patheos.com and her blog Coming Out Christian. She is the Minister of Digital Community with Extravagance UCC and a pioneer in online church. For over a decade, she has led live, online worship in , Facebook, Twitter and Second Life. For the last four years, Knight has also served as the Director of Digital Strategy [More]

Kisha Parker is a native of Indianapolis, Indiana where she practices counseling and psychotherapy in a private practice setting that she owns entitled Healing Pathways Counseling & Consulting, LLC. There, Kisha works with children, adults, couples and families on their journeys towards mental and spiritual health and wholeness. Kisha is also an Associate Pastor [More]

Larry Reed is a creative writer, researcher, teacher and problem solver who has focused his career on finding ways to help people lift themselves, their families and their communities out of poverty. He currently serves as a Senior Fellow for RESULTS, a citizen lobbying group focused on bringing an end to extreme poverty throughout the world. Larry has also served as the Director of the Microcredit Summit Campaign [More]

Laura Parrott-Perry is the single mother of two amazing children. She studied Rehabilitation Counseling at Springfield College and has extensive experience in Special Ed classrooms both as an art teacher and para-educator. She is the author of the popular blogs, In Others’ Words, and The Golden Repair on DivorcedMoms.com [More]

Luke Harms is just your average guy who serves as a bureaucratic functionary by day and moonlights as a rabble-rousing activist on his time off. He has an utterly unmarketable degree in philosophy and likes to tell stories – most of them true – that bring people together in pursuit of our collective liberation. He is a repentant veteran [More]

Mary Mattmann is a 2008 graduate of the University of Georgia with an AB in Dance and an ABJ in Public Relations. Mary graduated Magna Cum Laude and with High Honors from the Honors Program, completing her honors thesis on cultural appropriation of African American dance forms. Currently, Mary is working on a Masters of Dance Education [More]

Selby Ewing works in digital media storytelling and is rooted in video production writing and editorial. She began her career on film sets and went on to produce projects for music industry, corporate and agency clients. She currently serves as director of Odyssey Networks’ ON Scripture – The Bible, a weekly video/commentary package deals faith back into the public square.  [More]

Michael T. McRay is the author of “Where the River Bends: Considering Forgiveness in the Lives Prisoners” with a foreword by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Desmond Tutu, and “Letters from ‘Apartheid Street’: A Christian Peacemaker in Occupied Palestine.” He lives in Nashville, TN, where he advocates for vulnerable [More]

Meridith Owensby is a cofounder and live-in community member at Lydia’s House, an intentional community in Cincinnati, Ohio. Meridith hales from Atlanta, Georgia, where she was first introduced to radical Christianity as a member of the Open Door Community, a Catholic worker house [More]

Morgan Guyton and his wife Cheryl are co-directors of the NOLA Wesley United Methodist Campus Center at Tulane and Loyola in New Orleans, LA. He has just released his first book How Jesus Saves the World [More]

Ndume Olatushani was wrongly convicted for first degree murder in 1985 and spent twenty-eight years in maximum security prison, twenty of those years were spent on death row. Ndume is the seventh of eleven children from St. Louis Missouri. His life’s story is one of human resilience [More]

Reverend Narcizo Martinez – known to most as ‘Pastor Nar’ – is a Mexican-American currently residing in Ohio. Growing up in a bi-racial household, he learned to appreciate the unique gifts offered through his differing familial cultures. He understands the struggles and beauty of integrating  [More]

Penny Hooper serves as the Leadership Council Chair of NC Interfaith Power and Light which is an organization under the NC Council of Churches. NCIPL focuses on hope filled solutions to climate change through all faith groups. [More]

Justin Goldstein has served as the rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel in Asheville since early 2014. Rabbi Goldstein teaches and writes frequently on environmental justice and sustainability in the Jewish tradition. He is a Rabbis Without Borders fellow [More]

Eric Brown is a community connector. He intentionally partners with all groups of people to bridge the gaps of love, diversity, human equity, and dignity. Even with a few degrees from American Baptist College and Vanderbilt University, Eric says his greatest education comes from the stories of those who persevered to make Nashville the great city it is. [More]

Ryan Phipps is the Lead Pastor of Forefront Church in Manhattan, NYC. Forefront is an interdenominational, multi-site congregation dedicated to cultivating a just and generous expression of the Christian faith in New York and around the world. [More]

Sara Green is currently pursuing her M.Ed in Community Development at Peabody College and M.Div at the Divinity School. She received her B.A. from Bennington College where she studied dance. Using theology, community development and social justice principles and practices, she places holistic wellness and self-care in LGBTQI and People of Color [More]

Meg Tobin, MA, LMHC is the owner of Breathing Space Studio in Erieville, NY. She offers retreats, workshops and psychotherapy to encourage conscious connection on all levels – physical, emotional and spiritual. Her philosophy is heart-centered and spirit-filled [More]

Brandan Robertson is a progressive Christian thought-leader and commentator working at the intersections of spirituality, sexuality, and social renewal. He has written for TIME, The Washington Post, Religion News Service, and Dallas Morning News and regularly for Patheos, Sojourners, and The Huffington Post. He is the author of “Nomad: A Spirituality For Traveling Light” and serves as the executive director of Nomad Partnerships, a non-profit seeking to uplift and empower faith leaders to be fierce advocates for human rights. [More]

Scott Hardin-Nieri is partner, dad, spiritual director, pastor, and sojourner. He is the Director of the Creation Care Alliance of Western North Carolina and Associate Minister of Green Chalice of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Prior to living in North Carolina, Scott and his family served in the vulnerable cloud forest of Monteverde, Costa Rica. There he learned to how to climb Fig Strangler trees, spot Two-toed Sloths, call like a Mot Mot, and listen to people and nature in a new way. [More]

Rev. Dr. Soong-Chan Rah is Milton B. Engebretson Professor of Church Growth and Evangelism at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago, IL. He is the author of The Next Evangelicalism (IVP Books, 2008), Many Colors (Moody, 2010), co-author of Forgive Us (Zondervan, 2014), Prophetic Lament (IVP Books, 2015), co-author of Return to Justice (Brazos, 2016), and co-author of Truth be Told (IVP Books, expected 2017). [More]

“Health is mind, body and spirit working in symphony, and Versandra Kennebrew is considered by many, an optimal health conductor. She has taught hundreds of massage therapists and other holistic health professionals the art of touch. She is the author of 5 self-help books and Resident Holistic Health Coach on Night Watch Expressions WRFG Atlanta. Through her empowerment tools, radio broadcast, retreats and presentations, Coach Versandra supports health seekers around the globe on their journey to optimal health, happiness and fulfillment. [More]

 Jim McGee is a Chaplain, Therapist, Minister and Musician in Louisville KY who weaves together music, nature, psychology and spirituality for the healing of individuals, community and the earth. He has worked as a Chaplain/Therapist in the field of mental health, with children, adolescents, and adults, and has served as a pastor in the Presbyterian Church USA. He draws on music and nature as wellsprings of emerging spirituality and provides music programs in nature preserves, state/national parks, and outdoor recreation areas. [More]

Merrill Farnsworth comes to WGF as lyricist, poet and playwright. Her performance piece, Jezebel’s Got the Blues, was featured at the Southern Festival of Books, in NYC at the Puzzle New Works Festival and The Wild Goose Festival. Her book of poems Kissing My Shadow, is nominated for a 2016 Pushcart Award.  [More]

Melissa Browning is the Assistant Professor of Contextual Ministry at McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University in Atlanta, Georgia. Melissa is passionate about ending the death penalty and reforming our criminal justice system. Most recently, she worked on the #KellyOnMyMind Collective, a public activism campaign seeking clemency for Kelly Gissendaner. Kelly was killed by the state of Georgia on September 30, 2015. [More]

Something sacred happens when people sing together. Nate Baker-Lutz and Josh Rockett launched Beer and Hymns Chicago after experiencing it at Wild Goose in 2013. With local musicians playing banjos, mandolin, guitar, accordion and anything else laying around they lead spirited sing-alongs where the only rules are faster and louder. They’re committed to minimal amplification, relying on those gathered to lead the way and guide the singing. [More]

Believing that life is meant to be lived to its fullest, Colby Martin inspires and empowers those who are looking to come more alive. Colby and his wife, Kate, planted and co-pastor “Sojourn Grace Collective,” a progressive faith community in San Diego. They also host a podcast called “The Chaotic Peace,” helping people find peace amidst the chaos of relationships, parenting, and faith. His first book, “UnClobber: Rethinking Our Misuse of the Bible on Homosexuality,” invites the LGBTQ community to their rightful place at the Table of God. [More]

D. J. Hudson is a graduate of Fisk University and Vanderbilt Divinity School. While at Fisk, she studied the strategies of the Nashville students who conducted sit-ins and eventually went on to the Freedom Rides and the creation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Since then, D. J. has committed herself to understanding, teaching, and learning strategic nonviolent resistance in context of 21st century social movements. [More]

Karen Slappey is the Curator of Community for Atlanta Bar Church. She is a former beer snob who is tragically now gluten free, tipper of sacred cows, and lover of red cowgirl boots. She is a mother and wife, thinks Jesus probably looked like Sayid from LOST, and campfire is her favorite smell. Her future aspirations include living in a yurt on a lake in Maine where she can raise chickens. She has an M-Div from Emory University and is pursuing ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. [More]

Seth Woody is an organizer with the Contemplative Action Circle project, organizing young people of faith into contemplative lifestyles and non-violent direct action. He is also a trainer and core team member of the Momentum Training Community, dedicated to incubating, training, and launching decentralized, popular movements [More]

Rev. Shannon Spencer is an ordained UCC pastor. She is the founder and Director of Asheville Poverty Initiative (API) and also serves as a chaplain at Swannanoa Correctional Facility for Women. Most recently API created a community cafe, 12 Baskets, that uses 100% rescued already prepared food from local agencies. This Cafe serves as a container for conversations [More]

Rev. Steve Halsted – NCIPL’s clergy coordinator, has devoted his career to Outdoor Ministries and Eco-Justice Ministries in the UCC and Council of Churches’ through preaching, teaching, leading retreats and advocating for clean energy, air and water and sustainable living in harmony [More]

Tamára Lunardo is thrilled to be a returning contributor to the Wild Goose Festival for this year’s “Story” theme – because storytelling is where her passion and expertise meet. She has worked for over 13 years in numerous editorial capacities, creating, curating, and improving writing to help people effectively share their story and connect with their audience [More]

Tripp Fuller is a husband to Alecia, Father to Elgin & Khora, a minister, avid Laker fan, competitive home brewer, & a theology nerd pursuing a PhD at Claremont Graduate University. He is also the self-proclaimed president [More]

Zac Morton is a curious, eternally optimistic hiker, gardener, and artist with a predisposition towards the mystical side of Christian tradition. He is ordained as a Teaching Elder in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) and is currently organizing pastor for The Mustard Seed Project – a new worshipping community in Suwanee, GA [More]

Sarah Griffith Lund is an award winning national speaker, writer, preacher, spiritual mentor and religious leader. She serves on the leadership teams of Christian Theological Seminary, the Bethany Ecumenical Fellows, and the United Church of Christ Mental Health Network. Blessed are the Crazy: Breaking the Silence About Mental Illness, Family and Church (Chalice, 2014) is her first book and she blogs at www.sarahgriffithlund.com. Follow her on Twitter @revlund [More]

Angie Thurston is a Ministry Innovation Fellow at Harvard Divinity School, supporting leaders who are deepening community amidst increasing religious disaffiliation. She is the co-author of How We Gather and Something More, two reports profiling new ways that Americans are congregating. Angie studied playwriting at Brown University and put on arts events in New York City for six years. She began chairing semiannual spiritual gatherings for young adults in 2010. [More]

Kim Dent’s compassion for the hurting and spiritually marginalized and her work as a bridge builder between conflicted christian parents and their LGBT kids is an ongoing journey of faith. She has facilitated sessions for parents at the annual Gay Christian Network conferences, participated in the Oriented to Love Dialogue through ESA and is listed as a parent resource for the Marin Foundation. where she provides a safe place for Christian parents of LGBT kids to navigate what it means to love well—like Jesus.  [More]

Ann Klingensmith’s life has revolved around her family, work and her students. By any gauge, she is an artist creating images using a figurative vocabulary, a narrative voice and a perspective of time. She hold a B.A. in Studio Art from Graceland College, an M.A. and an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa in Printmaking. She is currently Professor of Art at Iowa Wesleyan University (College). [More]