Jonathan Pastah J Brooks
Jonathan Brooks currently serves as Pastor at Lawndale Christian Community Church in the North Lawndale neighborhood. He previously served as pastor of Canaan Community Church for fifteen years. Pastah J, as he is affectionately called, is the author of the book Church Forsaken: Practicing Presence in Neglected Neighborhoods (Intervarsity Press). He holds a Master of Arts in Teaching from National Louis University, Master of Divinity from Northern Seminary and is currently working on a Doctor of Ministry with an emphasis in Christian Community Development. He is married to Micheál Newman-Brooks and has two beautiful children. You can learn more at pastahj.com
Jeff Liou
Jeff Ming Liou is the National Director of Theological Formation for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA. He has been in university and young adult ministry since 2001. Jeff received his Ph.D. in Theology and Culture from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA. He has written papers and contributed book chapters on race and justice, Asian American Christianity, theological ethics, and political theology. Ordained in the Christian Reformed Church of North America, Liou has served as a campus minister, local church pastor, and university chaplain.
Jared Patrick Boyd — OCL
Jared Patrick Boyd is a pastor, spiritual director, and founder of the Order of the Common Life, a missional monastic order for the 21st Century. He pastors The Abbey, a contemplative Vineyard church in the city of Columbus. Jared is author of Imaginative Prayer: A Yearlong Guide to Your Child’s Spiritual Formation (IVP 2017) and Finding Freedom in Constraint (IVP 2023). He and his wife have 4 girls and live in the west-side neighborhood of Franklinton in Columbus, OH.
Jaredpatrickboyd.com Twitter: @boydjared Instagram: @jaredpatrickboyd
Forge — Terry Ishee
Terry Ishee serves as the Executive Director for Forge America, a global mission training network that coaches and trains leaders to mobilize people for the mission of God. He also co-founded Sequoias Coaching & Consulting to help business leaders and professionals find a way forward by focusing on being more proficient and profitable while making a lasting impact in the Kingdom of God. In 2008, Terry launched the Neighborhood Church Collective,where he continues to train, coach, and catalyze new expressions of church. Terry has been married to Amy Ishee for 25 years. Together they live in Austin, TX, and have a beautiful daughter.
Eun Strawser
Dr. Rev. Eun K. Strawser is the co-vocational lead pastor of Ma Ke Alo o (which means "Presence" in Hawaiian), with missional communities multiplying in Honolulu, HI, a community physician, and an executive leader at the V3 Movement. She is also the author of Centering Discipleship: A Pathway for Multiplying Spectators into Mature Disciples (IVP 2023). Prior to transitioning to Hawaii, she served as adjunct professor of medicine at the Philadelphia College of Medicine and of African Studies at the University of Pennsylvania after finishing her Fulbright Scholarship at the University of Dar es Salaam. She and Steve have three, seriously, amazing children.
Elizabeth Gerhardt
Elizabeth Gerhardt, STM, MSW, Th.D. (Boston University School of Theology) is Academic Dean and Professor of Theology and Social Ethics at Northeastern Seminary in Rochester, NY. Beth’s broad academic focus is on the relationship of historical theology, social ethics and justice, particularly in the areas of global violence against women and children. Her research interests focus on the application of the theology of the cross to contemporary justice issues, and the role of the church in creating communities of reconciliation and peacemaking. Publications include: The Cross and Gendercide: A Theological Response to Global Violence against Women and Children (InterVarsity Press, 2014).
Ekaputra Tupamahu
Ekaputra Tupamahu is assistant professor of New Testament and director of masters programs at Portland Seminary. He received his Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University, earned a master's degree and an MDiv from Asia Pacific Theological Seminary, and master's degrees from the Claremont School of Theology and Vanderbilt University. Tupamahu has a broad range of academic interests, including the politics of language, race/ethnic theory, postcolonial studies, immigration studies, critical study of religion, and global Christianity (particularly Pentecostal/Charismatic movement). He is the author of Contesting Languages: Heteroglossia and the Politics of Language in the Early Church (Oxford University Press, 2022).
Drew G.I. Hart
Dr. Drew G. I. Hart is associate professor of theology at Messiah University and has 10 years of pastoral experience. He directs Messiah University's Thriving Together: Congregations for Racial Justice program and co-hosts Inverse Podcast with Jarrod McKenna. Hart is the author of Trouble I've Seen: Changing the Way the Church Views Racism and Who Will Be A Witness?: Igniting Activism for God's Justice, Love, and Deliverance. Hart was the recipient of bcmPEACE’s 2017 Peacemaker Award, the 2019 W.E.B. Du Bois Award, and was Elizabethtown College’s 2019 Peace Fellow. Drew and his family live in Harrisburg, PA. (Twitter & Instagram @DruHart).
Dele Okuwobi
Dele Okuwobi along with his wife, Oneya, is founding elder and senior pastor of 21st Century Church, a church plant in Cincinnati, OH. Dele Okuwobi was previously on staff at Peoples Church Cincinnati, OH & Mosaic Church of North Little Rock, Arkansas.
Dee Stokes
Dr. Dee serves as the Teaching Pastor at Christ Wesleyan Church, Greensboro, NC, and is the Director of Multicultural Ministry for the NC EastDistrict of The Wesleyan Church. She is President/CEO of an apostolic cross-cultural nonprofit
ministry: Dee Stokes Ministries, Inc., owns a consulting firm, and does leadership development in the areas of cultural intelligence, emotional intelligence, unconscious bias, transformational leadership, and burnout. Dr. Stokes is the Director of the Seeds Project for Luther Seminary's Faith + Lead innovation team. She is a board member with Reliant Mission and a member of the UNC Charlotte Alumni Board of Directors.
Daniel Yang
Daniel is the Director of the Church Multiplication Institute at the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center. He previously planted a church in Toronto where he helped recruit and train church planters through the Send Network and the Release Initiative. Daniel has served in various churches and has been involved in global and multi-faith engagement. He earned an M.Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Michigan, and is currently a Ph.D. Intercultural Studies student at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is the co-author of Inalienable: How Marginalized Kingdom Voices Can Help Save the American Church.
Geoff Holsclaw
Geoff Holsclaw (PhD) is an author of multiple books, affiliate professor of theology at Northern Seminary, and co-host of the Embodied Faith podcast, which offers a neuroscience-informed spiritual formation. With Cyd Holsclaw, Geoff is the co-author of Does God Really Like Me? Discovering the God Who Wants to Be With You. You can find him at www.geoffreyholsclaw.net.
Cyd Holsclaw
Cyd Holsclaw is an author, spiritual director, and pastor. She is also a trauma-informed, Jesus-centered, integrative coach (PCC) focused on embodied practices and building a secure attachment to God. Cyd co-hosts the Embodied Faith podcast, offering a neuroscience-informed spiritual formation. She is also the co-author of Does God Really Like Me? Discovering the God Who Wants to Be With You. You can work with her at www.cydholsclaw.com.
Cultivating Communities Team
Englewood Christian Church (Indianapolis) and Missio Alliance have partnered to launch Cultivating Communities, a place-based congregational formation initiative. They are committed to journeying with existing congregations who desire to cultivate a deeper life together in Christ and overflow into tangible love for the communities in which they are embedded.
Christiana Rice
Christiana Rice is an on the ground practitioner and visionary voice in the Parish Church movement, serving as co-director of the The Parish Collective. She is a trainer, writer and convener, helping connect people to be the church in the neighborhood. Christiana is co-author of To Alter Your World: Partnering with God to Rebirth Our Communities, with Michael Frost, and lives in San Diego with her husband Derek, their two daughters, and their neighborhood church community.
Carey Sims
Carey Sims is founder of CreatedSpace (www.createdspace.org), which curates an interactive, collaborative space for business and ministry leaders to process decisions, gain insight and discern next steps. Carey is a spiritual director and ICF certified coach with 25 years of experience. She holds a Masters of Business Administration degree from Regent University and an M.Div. from Duke University. Carey is particularly interested in the intersection between theology and economics and how the church can make social impact while proclaiming the gospel. As a spiritual director, she delights in helping people develop practices that deepen and enliven their friendship with God.
Ben Sternke
Ben Sternke has over two decades of Christian ministry experience and has been coaching, consulting, and training leaders since 2010. He has been a worship pastor, lead pastor, and church planter. He has also been a web designer, business owner, content developer, author, and marketing consultant. Ben holds a graduate degree in Hermeneutics from London School of Theology and a B.A. in Christian Ministry and Music from Taylor University. He is planting an Anglican church (The Table Indy) in Indianapolis, where he and his wife Deb live with their children and a little dog named Edith.
Adam Gustine
Adam Gustine is the author of Becoming a Just Church. He is an assistant director at the University of Notre Dame's Center for Social Concerns focused on justice education and research for the common good. He has worked in a wide variety of church, non-profit, denominational, and educational contexts.
Charles Self
Charles Self is a pastor and professor, author and advisor and the co-founder and integration leader of Discipleship Dynamics, a research-based tool for churches and individuals to assess the effectiveness of their discipleship programs. Charlie offers a vision for wholeness through biblically grounded and scientifically affirmed methods for celebrating progress. He brings 40+ years of experience as a pastor, professor, consultant, public speaker, and author. Charles is also Professor of Church History at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, as well as the Chief Intellectual Officer of the Pathmakers Foundation. He is the author of Life in 5-D: A New Vision of Discipleship (2022) and Flourishing Churches and Communities: A Pentecostal Primer on Faith, Work, and Economics for Spirit-Empowered Discipleship (2012).
Soong-Chan Rah
Rev. Dr. Soong-Chan Rah was appointed Professor of Evangelism at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA in 2021. Prior to this, Dr. Rah was Professor of Church Growth and Evangelism at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago, IL. He is the author of numerous books, including Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery (2019), co-authored with Mark Charles, Prophetic Lament: A Call for Justice in Troubled Times (2015), and The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity (2009). Rah is the founding Senior Pastor of the Cambridge Community Fellowship Church in Massachussets. Dr. Rah Soong-Chan received his ThD from Duke University, his DMin from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, his ThM from Harvard University, his his MDiv from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and his BA from Columbia University. He is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church.