Michael Alper, St. Louis, MO Rabbi Michael Alper is proud to share the rabbinic leadership of Congregation Temple Israel. Born in Los Angeles, California, Rabbi Alper lived in many parts of the country before settling in St. Louis. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in History from Boston University, and was ordained at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, in New York City. An enthusiastic teacher, Rabbi Alper taught public school in the South Bronx and served as the Director of the Miller High School Honors Program at Hebrew Union College in New York. Rabbi Alper served as the Director of Education of Central Reform Congregation for two years before joining the Temple Israel clergy. At Temple Israel, one of his most important roles is working individually with the B'nai Mitzvah students and their families to create meaningful Jewish experiences that will shape their lives. A gifted artist and musician, Rabbi Alper is particularly interested in working with youth and music, encouraging young people to access their Judaism in unique and fulfilling ways.

Rich Bardusch, Needham, MA The Reverend Dr. Rich Bardusch is rector of the Episcopal Church of St. Thomas in Taunton, Massachusetts. He is a graduate of Duke Divinity School and has a Doctor of Ministry in Congregational Development from Drew University. He is a bit of a Thomist and enjoys traveling. His spiritual discipline includes Centering Prayer and simple living. He is a gardener, sci-fi fan, and patio reader extraordinaire. His interests include interfaith dialogue, Christian liturgy, and plants. He loves dogs and being at the center of a vibrant religious community, which is seeking to be faithful followers of Jesus.

James Bouzard, Austin, TX I am James Bouzard, an ordained Lutheran pastor, licensed Episcopal priest, professor, chef, radio host, father of one and husband for 36 years to Gayle, a professor of sociology at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. Most of my work involves running a campus ministry site at Texas State, but I also teach at the school and at a nearby university's department of philosophy and theology. In addition to my work, I enjoy cooking, reading, boxing, and opera.

Rodrick Burton, St. Louis, MO Rev. Rodrick Burton is the pastor of the New Northside Missionary Baptist Church of St. Louis, Missouri. Burton is the vice president of the Ecumenical Leadership Counsel of St. Louis (ELC), and an executive board member of the St. Louis Initiative to Reduce Violence (SIRV). During the 2014 unrest in Ferguson, Missouri He worked extensively with the ELC, SIRV, Metropolitan Congregations United (MCU), and the St. Louis Metropolitan Clergy Coalition to bring peace, justice, and healing in the aftermath of Michael Brown’s death. New Northside was the target during a series of arson attacks on African American churches in the fall of 2015. Burton worked to see that restoration and healing came to the affected churches and community following the attacks. Burton is the author of The Moral State of Black America and received a Masters of Educational Ministry from Covenant Theological Seminary. He is married and a father of twins.

Steve Camp, Hartford, CT Pastor Camp serves as pastor of Faith Congregational Church in Hartford CT. Faith Church is the oldest black congregation in the city of Hartford and the second oldest UCC church in the United Church of Christ nationally. Faith Church has been a very active and social minded congregation. It is open to all people and a diverse worship community. Faith Church happens to be the church where Rev. Camp was nurture as a youth in the faith. He was ordained at Faith Church in 1983. Rev. Camp has served in the structures of the United Church of Christ as Associate Executive Minister for Local Church Ministries nationally and regionally as Southern Conference Ministry with responsibility for 300 churches in North Carolina and Virginia. Pastor Camp serves in the local community on the board of the Jewish Community Relations Council, Hartford Seminary, and just past member of Emma Care (homeless Shelter). He is also very active with several community groups and activities. Pastor Camp is married to Former Magistrate Patricia L.T. Camp and who now serves on the CT board of Pardons and Paroles. They have six adult children and six grandchildren, also a dog named Rosie.

Debra Cantor, Hartford, CT

David CohenMilwaukee, WI Rabbi David B. Cohen serves as rabbi and spiritual leader of Congregation Sinai in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Ordained at the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in New York (’88), he received awards for academic distinction, sermon quality, and service to small congregations. An honors graduate of Brandeis University (‘82), he also holds a degree in Education from Stanford University (AM ED’95). Locally, Rabbi Cohen has served as President of the Wisconsin Council of Rabbis and as a member of: the board of directors of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation and its Israel and Overseas Committee; the Froedtert Hospital Spiritual Care Advisory Board and the Jewish Family Service Advisory Committee on Family Violence. Rabbi Cohen engages in several interfaith dialogue groups and has been actively working with Voces de la Frontera, a group working on immigration issues. Nationally, Rabbi Cohen co-chaired the URJ/CCAR Commission on Life Long Jewish Learning and was a member of the CCAR Ad Hoc Committee on Governance, the CCAR Ad Hoc Committee on Human Sexuality, the Committee on Nominations, and the Advisory Committee for HUC-JIR’s New York School of Education. Rabbi Cohen was a fellow of CLAL’s National Young Rabbinic Leadership conference, a graduate of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality and is now a senior rabbinic fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in . Before becoming a rabbi, Rabbi Cohen lived and worked in Jerusalem for three years. Rabbi Cohen is married and the father of four children (two sets of twins), all of whom are currently in college.

Paula Drill, New City, NY Rabbi Paula Mack Drill is one of two rabbis of the Orangetown Jewish Center, Orangeburg, New York. Prior to becoming a rabbi, she worked for eleven years as a social worker at Daughters of Israel Geriatric Center and at the Golda Och Academy, both in New Jersey. She also served as Assistant Director at Ramah Day Camp in Nyack, NY for seven years. For the past ten years, Rabbi Drill has been a Melton teacher in Rockland County. Additionally, she is a Board Member of Rockland Jewish Federation and an Executive Council Member of Rockland Clergy for Social Justice, seeking fair education for public school students of East Ramapo Central School District. Rabbi Drill just completed a three year term as an Executive Council Member of the Rabbinical Assembly, where she worked intensively on an envisioning project to create a new model for "Our RA." Rabbi Drill is dedicated to mentoring student rabbis and Jewish educators, teaching her love of Torah to all ages, and using her social work skills to create an inclusive, welcoming community. Her passions are advocacy on behalf of people with mental illness and developmental disabilities, community support of the homeless, and education about domestic violence. Rabbi Drill and her husband Jonathan are the proud parents of four children, Noah, a teacher, Sarah, a fund raiser for K'nafayim "Wings" in Israel, Benjamin, a college student, and Joshua, a soldier in the Golani Brigade of the IDF.

Ethan Felson, New York, NY Ethan Felson is Executive Director of the Israel Action Network, a strategic initiative of the Jewish Federations of North America and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. The IAN works to support a two-state for two people solution and to counter assaults on Israel’s legitimacy. Prior to joining IAN in 2016, Ethan served as Senior Vice President of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, which he joined in 2001. At JCPA, he led national initiatives related to restoring civility in Jewish life, deepening interfaith relations with Mainline Protestants and Evangelical Christians, challenging anti-Israel BDS, and other issues. He led JCPA’s participation on more than 20 Supreme Court briefs. He has co-led numerous Israel missions for Christian leaders. He holds a law degree from University of Connecticut School of Law and a bachelors from Lehigh University. He is the author of chapters in several books including Uneasy Allies: Evangelical Jewish Relations and the American Jewish Yearbook (2006-2015), as well as articles in Sh’ma, JTA, and other journals and periodicals. He and his husband Daniel reside in New York City with their children Hannah and Seth.

Leonard Gordon, Newton, MA Rabbi Leonard Gordon serves, along with the Rev. Dr. Peter Pettit, as co-chair of Interfaith Partners for Peace. He has a BA degree in Jewish Studies from Columbia University, an MA in Religious Studies from Brown University, an MA and rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and an M Phil from Columbia University in Religion. He also did two years of graduate study at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He has taught comparative religion and Humanities at Columbia University, Kenyon College, and the Ohio State University. He has taught courses in rabbinic literature, history, philosophy and liturgy at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Hebrew College Rabbinical School, and the Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem.

He is currently completing a D Min degree in Interfaith Peace Studies at the Andover Newton Theological School. Rabbi Gordon’s work as a congregational rabbi includes service at the Germantown Jewish Centre in Philadelphia where he is now Rabbi Emeritus and, more recently, at Congregation Mishkan Tefila in Chestnut Hill, MA. He serves on the boards of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) and the International Jewish Committee for Interfaith Consultations (USCJ), and he has served on the board of the National Council of . He is the immediate past chair of the Newton (MA) Interfaith Clergy Association. He has chaired the committees on Social Justice for both the Rabbinical Assembly (Conservative) and the USCJ. At the JCPA, he chairs the Taskforce on Muslim-Jewish relations. Previously, he served as the chair of Interfaith Relations. In that capacity he has travelled to Israel and Palestine with delegations of Evangelical thought leaders, Episcopalian and Muslim leaders, and with Interfaith Partners for Peace.

He is married to Professor Lori Lefkovitz, Director of Jewish Studies and the Humanities Center and Ruderman Professor of Jewish Studies at Northeastern University (Boston). They have two adult daughters, Ronya and Samara, who both live in New York City.

Sam Gordon, Wilmette, IL Rabbi Samuel N. Gordon is the founding rabbi of Congregation Sukkat Shalom of Wilmette, Illinois, a unique and innovative congregation serving a diverse population in the Chicago area. Through Sukkat Shalom, he has sought to redefine the nature of the American in areas of family education, outreach to the intermarried, marriage equality, and adult Jewish spiritual growth. For more than thirty years, Rabbi Gordon has been a dynamic leader in the fields of interfaith relations, social justice, and human rights. Rabbi Gordon is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh. He was awarded the degree of MAHL and was ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1980. In 1985 he received an MBA degree from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. On June 5, 2005, he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa, by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He is also a Senior Rabbinic Fellow of the Hartman Institute of Jerusalem.

In 2013 Rabbi Gordon was appointed by President Obama to the US Holocaust Memorial Council. In addition, he is immediate past Vice President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and served as Financial Secretary of the CCAR from 1996 to 2001. He served for fifteen years as a trustee of the Reform Pension Board. He was a member of the Citizen’s Committee of the Cook County Juvenile Court and has served on the Midwest interview committee for the White House Fellows Commission and as a trustee of the Chicago Theological Seminary, United Church of Christ. He has been a trustee and member of the visiting committee of the Kiski School of Saltsburg, Pa and is a member of the President’s Advisory Council of the Hebrew Union College. Avodah, The Jewish Service Corps, honored him with its 2012 Partners in Justice Award. In 2015, The Jewish Forward listed him as one of America's most inspiring rabbis.

Greg Harris, Potomac, Maryland Rabbi Greg Harris is Head Rabbi at Congregation Beth El of Montgomery County. He has a passion for social justice and interfaith activities. Beyond his many responsibilities at the congregation, Rabbi Harris is a Past President of the Washington Board of Rabbis, the Chair of the Pastoral Care Committee at the Hebrew Home of Greater Washington, serves on the Community & Global Impact Committee of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington (JFGW) and has served on the Board of Interfaith Works, a non-profit organization working with at-risk families in Montgomery County. Rabbi Harris was ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2002 where he was the recipient of the Dr. Michael Higger Prize in Talmud. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from The American University in Washington, D.C. In 2012, he earned a certificate degree in Nonprofit Management from the American Jewish University in Los Angeles.

Rabbi Harris has been a Schusterman Rabbinic PEER Fellow and a Washington Partnership Fellow. He is the founding chairperson of the Tomorrow Fellowship Jewish Communal Leadership Program. He is the 2015 recipient of the Matthew H. Simon Rabbinic Leadership Award from JFGW. Before returning to the Washington area, he was on faculty at New York’s 92nd Street Y, was the staff Jewish Chaplain for the Momentum AIDS Project and worked as a chaplain at Beth Israel Hospital. In his free time, he is learning to play guitar and is a runner. He was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is married to Rebekah and is Benjamin, Maayan and Shoshana’s dad.

Anne Heath, Needham, MA Rabbi Heath, spiritual leader since 2003 of Congregation Agudath Achim and the Jewish Community House, a 100+-year old progressive, independent synagogue community in Taunton, Mass., is a member of the Greater Rhode Island and the Massachusetts boards of rabbis. Rabbi Heath received rabbinic ordination from The Academy for Jewish Religion (NY) and a cantorial certification from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute for Religion, School of Sacred Music (NY) under the auspices of the American Conference of Cantors (Reform) and the Cantors Assembly (Conservative). Rabbi Heath serves as rabbi, cantor, school principal and program director. Rabbi Heath enjoys teaching and practicing with others the many spiritual practices from six core Jewish spiritual paths: Acts of Transcendence, Study, Prayer, Meditation, Ritual, and Relationships/Good Deeds (titles taken from Rabbi Rifat Sonsino)

Barbara Hoffman, New City, NY Rev. Barbara J. Hoffman is an Ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church, Greater New Jersey Conference, and is presently serving the United Methodist Church of New City in New City, New York, where she is beginning her fourth year. Prior to New City, Barbara has pastored United Methodist Churches in Tabernacle, Bridgeton, Califon, Belvidere, and North Hunterdon; all in New Jersey. She is a graduate of The College of New Jersey and Princeton Theological Seminary. She is also a Certified Spiritual Director with Oasis Ministries, and a trained Life Coach. In her current appointment, she is a member of the Executive Committee of the Rockland Clergy for Social Justice (RC4SJ). She is also a member of the Clarkstown Interfaith Clergy, the Rockland Coalition to End the New Jim Crow, and the Reconciling Ministries of the UMC (lay and clergy support of LGBTQ’s). Prior to answering the call into ministry, Barbara was trained in Fine and Commercial Art, had a freelance business and raised a family. She is married to Daniel A. Hoffman, who works for Retec Corp. of Montreal, and they have two sons: Robert, who works in the Federal Division of Deloitte, in Washington D.C., where he lives with his wife Lauren, and their son, R.J.; and Timothy, who lives in Boston and works at Harvard University. They also have a lovely rescued dog named Sadie.

Craig Howard, Milwaukee, WI Craig is a Chicago native. He completed his undergraduate work at DePaul University, and earned the Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from McCormick Theological Seminary. Craig’s first career was in business, as owner and operator of a State Farm insurance agency for 20 years. After being called to ministry, Craig served McCormick as Director of Recruitment and Admissions. During that time he built an outstanding student body, with several graduates now serving congregations throughout the country. Craig later served McCormick in fundraising as Chief Development Officer. After relocating to Madison WI, Craig worked as a Major Gifts officer at Beloit College, and as Mission Advancement Director at Bethesda Lutheran Communities. Craig served bi-vocationally, doing fundraising or admissions work while in pastoral ministry.

Craig has served several racial ethnic churches including Latino, African American, Korean, and Euro American. As Executive Director in Milwaukee, Craig implemented the “What’s Next” strategic plan which includes staff reorganization, presbytery meeting restructuring, and Committee On Ministry revitalization tied with aggressive leadership training. These changes resulted in an increase of innovation, risk taking, energy, and openness to new ideas throughout the presbytery. Craig’s spouse the Rev. Marilyn Gamm, is Transitional Executive Presbyter of Riverside Presbytery in San Bernardino CA and former chair of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board. Craig has two adult daughters, Jacqueline and Judith. Roy Howard, Potomac, Maryland The Reverend Doctor Roy Howard is Pastor of Saint Mark Presbyterian Church in North Bethesda Maryland. He has served this congregation since 2001. He is also the Book Editor of the Presbyterian Outlook. He most recent book is Walking in Love – A Journal of the Camino de Santiago. Prior to Saint Mark he served congregations in Virginia, Kentucky and Georgia. He has been a long interest in Israel since his first trip in 1985. Subsequently he has co- lead six other groups to Israel including with Congregation Beth El. He has been active Presbyterian related service for thirty years including chairperson the Committee on Ministry for several terms. Roy has a Master’s Degree in Social Work and prior to the ministry he worked for Amnesty International and in Community Mental Health Services. He is married to Claudia Howard and they have two adult daughters, Rachel and Rebecca.

Michael Latz, Minneapolis, MN Michael Adam Latz is a dad, husband, and rabbi who likes causing a holy ruckus for justice with other loving spiritual rabble rousers, believes most of life’s problems can be solved with fine chocolate and gelato, and actively wonders if the world would be better if only children could vote. He’s the Senior Rabbi at Shir Tikvah, a Wexner Graduate Fellow Alum, and a member of the Shalom Hartman Institute Rabbinic Leadership Initiative.

Mark Levin, Topeka, KS Born and raised in Pikesville, Maryland, I was in the second graduating class of Pikesville High School, outside of Baltimore. I attended Boston University, where I majored in Religion and Philosophy, taking my junior year abroad at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. We lived first in Midrashah Sde Boker, then on the campus in Jerusalem. I took an apartment with 5 other juniors, all Orthodox, in . During that year I tutored a family of Iraqi children living in the neighborhood, whom I wish I could find and visit with again. The family name was Barazani, and they lived in a hovel on the second floor of a tenement. I also spent some time studying the Negev Desert. During my college years, the late 60s and early 70s, we demonstrated in a wide variety of protests. Among these were pro-Soviet Jewry, anti-Viet Nam War, and against the naming of the School of Nursing after a man named Maurice Gordon. That last demonstration was against a half million dollar gift to name the Nursing School after an entrepreneur who reputedly made his money as a slum lord. The gift was withdrawn, assumedly from public pressure. There was also the protection of 3 soldiers who went AWOL, and took refuge in the Marsh Chapelat B.U. Students attempted to protect the soldiers from arrest, but after a few days the demonstrations died down, and the FBI came and arrested the soldiers. During my senior year at B.U., I applied to HUC-JIR in Cincinnati, and, accepted to the rabbinic program, returned to Jerusalem in the summer of 1971.

I helped to lead a teen study tour of Israel, and then began my rabbinic studies at HUC on King David Street. We toured Israel extensively, and I made many lifelong friends before we returned to the 3 rabbinic schools in the U.S. During the summer of 1972, I again led a teen tour as madrich, for the UAHC Summer in Israel program. At HUC, I continued my work for Soviet Jewry. I took off my third year, and during the summers of 1973 and 1974 earned a Certificate in Jewish Communal Service in the newly founded HUC School of Social Work in L.A. That was my first counseling experience, volunteering at a JFS in the San Fernando Valley. We also demonstrated with the Union of Councils for Soviet Jewry at a performance of a Russian ballet company. During my final year at HUC in Cincinnati, we started a student newspaper, and I wrote the editorials. During the study year of 1973-74 I studied at a new seminary, the InterMet Interfaith Seminary in Washington, D.C., a school which lasted only 5 years. It was an interfaith/interracial program that met one day a week with Jewish and Protestant clergy students. Five days a week I worked as a rabbinic intern for a giant of social justice, Rabbi Eugene Lipman, at Washington's Temple Sinai, in Chevy Chase, Md.Returning to HUC in 1974, I finished my rabbinic degree and ordination, completing with my original class and receiving ordination in 1976. In 1976 I became the Assistant Rabbi at The Temple: Congregation B'nai Jehudah in Kansas City. I was primarily in charge of programming, participated in many social justice activities, and was appointed Associate Rabbi in 1979, and Rabbi of the Congregation in 1986. I married in 1978, and we had 3 children together in 1981, 1984, and 1991. My wife and I divorced in 2008. I left B'nai Jehudah in 1988, and started with the newly founded Congregation Beth Torah. Beginning with 20 families, we established a limited size congregation, which grew to approximately 650 families.

I earned my Doctor of Hebrew Letters from HUC-JIR in New York in 2001, and in the same year received an honorary D.D. from HUC in Cincinnati for 25 years of rabbinic service. This month I published a book with Jewish Lights Publishing that resulted from research begun with my doctoral dissertation. The book is entitled: Praying the Bible: Finding Personal Meaning in the Siddur, Ending Boredom, and Making Each Prayer Experience Unique. Beth Torah was known over the years for its social justice programs. I am most proud of the many programs we developed to help feed the poor of greater Kansas City. We built and opened our congregational home in 1996, and over that weekend paid for the food budget of every soup kitchen and pantry program in the 3 county area. In addition, we started an endowment at Harvesters, the Community Food Network, to support a program to provide fresh meat to pantries. At annual High Holy Day services we would provide tons of food to Harvesters, and there was an ongoing food collection all year long. We were very supportive of the reStart Shelter, and provided hundreds of volunteers, all the meals, and served the weekend lunches and dinners during the month of January for over 25 years. Every Sunday night our congregation provided dinners at the Save Home, for at least 25 years as well. These are just some of the social justice programs of the congregation. For several years Congregation Beth Torah participated in a congregational dialogue with a local mosque and Catholic Church. These lay people held their own dialogues and got to know one another from very different backgrounds.I retired from Congregation Beth Torah in 2014 in order to write Praying the Bible. I have been doing pastoral care in the community, volunteering at Village Shalom, the Jewish community's home for the aged, and teaching in various places.

I have also been running a twice monthly grief group for Jewish Family Service. Beginning in September I will be working about 10 hours per week for JFS, primarily at Village Shalom, and speaking and doing pastoral care at the Lawrence Jewish Community Center in Lawrence, Ks. In addition I am scheduling scholar-in-residence sessions around the country for the next couple of years. I married Kacy Childs-Winston in 2013, and we live in Prairie Village, Ks. Tommie Pierson, St. Louis, MO Rep. Tommie L. Pierson, Sr. represents part of St. Louis County (District 66) in the Missouri House of Representatives. He was elected to his first two-year term in November 2010. In addition to his legislative duties, Rep. Pierson has pastored the Greater St. Mark Family Church for 39 years. He also worked for General Motors as an assembly worker for 32 years. Rep. Pierson served on the Riverview Gardens School Board in North St. Louis County and is involved with the Citizens for Modern Transit. In addition, he participated in the 2008-2009 Focus St. Louis Leadership Program. Rep. Pierson received the Interfaith Award from Mohammed Mosque #28 in January 2003, Outstanding Community Development Award in 2005, the North County Builders Award in 2006, and the Advisory Committee for I-64 (MoDot) Project Award.

Rep. Pierson has also served as President of MCU (Metropolitan Congregations United), and Former Vice President of Communications of the Gamaliel Foundation’s President’s Table. In lieu of his last term as State Representative of 66th District, Rep. Pierson announced his candidacy for Lt. Governor of the state of Missouri. He received support from many fellow legislators, businesses, unions, religious communities, just to name a few. He worked hard, traveling throughout the state of Missouri, reaching out to its citizens to recognize and address their concerns and needs. Even though he did not win the Missouri Primary Election on August 2, 2016, Rep. Pierson is still victorious in the eyes of many who know him and have had the privilege to work closely with him throughout the years. Perhaps one of his proudest moments is that his son, Rev. Tommie L. Pierson, Jr., will succeed him, in his State Representative seat, effective January 2017.

Born January 29, 1946 in Ripley, Tennessee, Rep. Pierson currently resides in Bellefontaine Neighbors, Missouri with his wife of 44 years, JoAnn Pierson. They have three children: Linell Green (Rev. LeRoy Green); Rev. Tommie L. Pierson, Jr. (Zorata Pierson); and Lavenia Draper (Earl Draper). He is the proud grandfather of 8 (4 granddaughters and 4 grandsons). He is a 1965 graduate of Beaumont High School in the city of St. Louis.

Rep. Pierson is a fighter and he recognizes there’s so much more to be done throughout our community, our city, our state, our country, our world. He may not have the answers to it all, but he’s not going to give up trying!

Danny Martian, Livingston, NJ The Rev. Daniel Martian (Dan) began his pastorate in 1989. Dan has served four parishes during his 27 years of ministry. His current parish is in Livingston, NJ where he has been a pastor for 11 years. He currently serves as the president of the Livingston Clergy Association and is the producer and host of Clergy Corner, a local interfaith TV show, which airs on the local access channel. In addition to Dan’s parish and community responsibilities, he is a certified mediator with skills in conflict management.

In his spare time, Dan enjoys swimming, walking, playing guitar, going to Broadway shows, and dabbles in photography. He enjoys biking (the pedal kind), which he finds the bike paths down the shore a joy.

Sarah Person, Needham, MA Sarah Person is an ordained minister serving the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Middleborough, MA. She is a married mother of two, and resides in Middleborough. She was raised in an interfaith family – her father Jewish and her mother nondenominational Christian – and is in an interfaith marriage and raised her two daughters in the Jewish faith. Rev. Person attended seminary at Boston University and served in Weston, MA and West Hartford, CT before being called to Middleborough. In addition to her ministry, Rev. Person is the current President of the Middleborough Area Assistance Coalition (MAAC), a member of the Middleborough Housing Authority, an elected leader in Unitarian Universalist Association district affairs, a semi-retired member of GRACE (Growing Racial and Cultural Equity), a member of a region-wide advisory council on small congregations, and a founding member of Common Ground: Center for Spiritual Practice.

Peter A. Pettit Peter A. Pettit is director of the Institute for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Associate Professor of Religion Studies at Muhlenberg College in the Lehigh Valley, PA. He has been involved in Christian-Jewish dialogue for more than 35 years, giving leadership to the Council of Centers on Jewish-Christian Relations as its founding chair and contributing to research and dialogue programs of both the International Council of Christians and Jews and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Consultative Panel on Lutheran-Jewish Relations. He is a contributor to the Dictionary of Jewish-Christian Relations (Cambridge 2005), Seeing Judaism Anew (Rowman and Littlefield 2005) and Covenantal Conversations (Fortress 2008) and co-authored Talking Points: Topics in Jewish-Christian Relations for the ELCA. As a fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem since 1984, he is co-director of its annual theology conference and served as co-director of the New Paths: Christians Engaging Israel project from 2011-2015. Pettit holds the M.Div. from the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia and is an ordained Lutheran pastor. He spent a year as a visiting researcher at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, held the Finkelstein Fellowship at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles, and received the Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA, in the field of Bible and Early Judaism. His post-graduate work has included studies in medieval Christian-Jewish relations in an NEH seminar at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, and he recently was scholar-in-residence at Hebrew College in Newton Centre MA, developing a book project on Christians Engaging Israel and an online lectionary-based resource for Christian preachers.

Yehiel Poupko, Chicago, IL Rabbi Yehiel Poupko is Rabbinic Scholar at the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago where he is responsible for interfaith activities.

Zachary Schaffer, New York, NY

Zachary Schaffer is the community strategy associate at the Israel Action Network, a strategic initiative of the Jewish Federations of North America in partnership with the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. In this role he works with community stakeholders around North America to support two states for two peoples. He educates and organizes Jewish community professionals and volunteers to engage in interfaith and intergroup dialogue, relations, and organizing.

Justin Schroeder, Minneapolis, MN Justin Schroeder was raised Unitarian Universalist in Fort Collins, Colorado. He attended Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, OK, as well as Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago, and graduated from Meadville. Relationships are at the heart of Justin’s ministry—he believes that it is out of deep relationship that we best come to know ourselves, one another, the Spirit of Life, and what life is calling out of us. Justin is married, and he and his wife, Juliana, have two children, Tucker (7) and Jesse (1).

Stephanie Perdew VanSlyke, M.Div, Ph.D., Wilmette, IL Stephanie Perdew VanSlyke is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. A native of Lincoln, Nebraska, she received her B.A. from St. Olaf College, and her M.Div. and Ph.D. from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. She currently serves as the Senior Pastor of the First Congregational Church (UCC) of Wilmette, Illinois. Dr. VanSlyke serves as President of the Liturgical Conference, which publishes the journal Liturgy. With Marlea Gilbert, Christopher Grundy and Eric Myers, she is the author of The Work of the People: What we do in Worship and Why (The Alban Institute, 2007). Her scholarly research focuses on the history of early Christian liturgy and women’s ministerial roles in the early church. She has served as the Lilly Teaching Fellow in the Arts of Ministry in Worship at the University of Chicago Divinity School, as an adjunct faculty member at McCormick Theological Seminary, and currently serves as Affiliate Professor of Christian History at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston.

Dr. VanSlyke has been involved in interfaith work for most of her career. Her congregation shared sacred space with a Reform Jewish synagogue, Congregation Sukkat Shalom, for over a decade. She has led several interfaith trips to Israel and the West Bank, including a youth mission and solidarity trip to the Palestinian Christian village of Zababdeh in the summer of 2000. With Rabbi Ruth Langer of Boston College, she was the co-editor of a topical edition of the journal Liturgy focused on Interrelgious Prayer (Vol 26:3, 2011). Most recently, she was the Christian speaker on an interfaith panel addressing the topic of “Finding Inner Peace,” sponsored by the Winnetka Interfaith Council in May, 2016. In September, she will serve as the Christian speaker at the Muslim Community Center, Morton Grove, joining Jewish and Muslim colleagues offering various interpretations of the Biblical narratives about the patriarch Abraham. Later in fall 2016, she will travel with Rabbi Sam Gordon of Congregation Sukkat Shalom to Israel and Palestine as clergy partners on an Interfaith Partners for Peace trip.

Tobias Schlingensiepen, Topeka, KS Born in Berlin, Germany on Nov. 24, 1963, Tobias emigrated with his family to the U.S. in 1965. Raised in Topeka, Kansas, Tobias studied at Washburn University (Topeka, KS), the University of St. Andrews (Scotland), and graduated from the University of Kansas with a B.A. in Classical Languages (Greek and Latin). After studying Protestant theology and Hebrew at the Kirchliche Hochschule (Wuppertal, Germany) and graduated from the University of Bonn (Germany) with a Masters of Theology equivalent. Tobias was a teaching and research assistant at the University of Bonn from 1994-1999, teaching Systematic Theology and Ethics. In 2000, Tobias became the Pastor of Seabrook United Church of Christ ( Topeka, KS). Since 2005, he is the Senior minister of First Congregational UCC (Topeka, KS). Since 2000, he has also served as Chaplain of the Topeka Police Department. Since 2002, he has served on the UEK Forum of the United Church of Christ (which facilitates the partnership between UCC Conferences in the U.S. and the Landeskirchen of the United Churches in Germany), since 2012 as Chairperson. In 2010, together with Rabbi Mark H. Levin, Tobias successfully organized faith communities in opposition to the Kansas Governor's attempt to close down the Kansas Neurological Institute in 2010. In 2012 he was the Kansas Democratic Party's candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Kansas' 2nd Congressional District. From 2015 - 2016, Tobias served as Treasurer of the Kansas Democratic Party. Since 2014, he has served as the Vice President of the Topeka Center for Peace and Justice and will serve as President beginning this year. Tobias also serves on the Board of Directors of Communities Creating Opportunity (CCO) in Kansas City, Missouri, engaged in interfaith-based community organizing in Missouri and Kansas and dedicated to ensuring that human dignity be at the center of public life. Tobias is married to Abigail Wright Schlingensiepen.

Robby Sherwin, Austin, TX Austin’s “Rockin” Robbi Sherwin travels the world as a Rabbi/Cantor and Artist-in-Residence specializing in congregational songwriting, Jewish women composers and retreats. Engaging, energetic and inclusive, and an award-winning, multi-published composer of 100 Jewish songs, Robbi tours extensively with her popular folk-rock band, Sababa! (www.SababaMusic.com) with Steve Brodsky and Scott Leader. She has recorded 5 best-selling CDs of original Jewish folk/rock music. Her “spirited Jewish songcrafting” has been published, sung, recorded and performed from Tulsa to Tel Aviv.

Rabbi Robbi is the Executive Vice President of the Women Cantors’ Network, ascending to the presidency of this international organization in 2018. Rabbi Robbi is also Storahtelling Maven; and one of the few female artists featured on Jewish Rock Radio.

In high demand around the country as performer and composer, Robbi has been the spiritual leader of Congregation B'nai in Crested Butte, Colorado for the last 10 years. There she enjoys the Rocky Mountain “chai” of a shul at 9,000+ feet, with Ski Shabbats, whitewater rafting trips, Alpine hikes and an attitude of high-altitude gratitude. She is also on the clergy team of Congregation Kol Halev in Austin, and has also served congregations in San Antonio and El Paso, Texas and Evergreen and Denver, Colorado. Batya Steinlauf, Washington, DC Rabbi Batya Steinlauf, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington’s Director of Social Justice and Interfaith Initiatives, is a Conservative rabbi, ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1998. Batya works with local Jewish organizations to promote social justice projects and awareness in the community, and is actively engaged with the diverse and vibrant interfaith and multiethnic community in the greater Washington area. She serves as Vice President of the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington as well and is a co-chair of the Montgomery County Executive’s Faith Community Advisory Working Group and she is a member of the Mayor’s Interfaith Council in Washington, D.C. She has a BA in Political Science from Rutgers University, a degree in Master of Hebrew Letters from The University of Judaism, as well as a Master’s degree and Rabbinic Ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Batya has worked in Jewish Education at all levels and at a number of social service agencies.

Timothy Warner, Rockville, MD Rev. Timothy B. Warner was called to the gospel ministry while serving as a Deacon at Mt. Calvary Baptist Church of Rockville, MD in 1996. He was licensed to preach in 1998 and ordained to pastoral ministry after he completed his Master of Divinity degree at Wesley Theological Seminary in 2003. Reverend Warner was trained as a bacterial geneticist, and enjoyed a productive career in pharmaceutical research and development, where he held various scientific and executive leadership positions for over 18 years before committing to full- time ministry.

He served for seven years as the Associate Council Director for Community and Economic Development in the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church, engendering ministries of mission-evangelism in local churches throughout the region. Notable among them are: Saving Stations, the Jesus Jam Basketball Camp, and Shalom Zones. He also managed the Conference’s relationship with the Zimbabwe Episcopal Area. He is a contributing author of two books, The Africana Worship Book, an afro-centric worship book, and Disciplines: 2009, a book of daily devotions, and has recently been awarded Wesley Theological Seminary’s Urban Ministry Distinguished Alumnus Award.

He served as the Sr. Pastor of St. Mark’s UMC in Boyds, MD, which he led, with two other congregations, into the creation of a new congregation, Community of Faith United Methodist Church of Clarksburg, MD. Rev. Warner has also served on multiple non-profit and county boards, commissions and committees. He is currently on the Board of Trustees of the National Center for Children and Families and the Board of Directors of the Montgomery Housing Partnership. After serving in ministry on the staff of the Montgomery County Executive in his Office of Community Partnerships as the Community Liaison for the African American and Faith Communities, and then as the Chief Engagement and Partnership Officer for Montgomery County Public Schools, Rev. Warner is proud to serve as Senior Pastor of both the Emory Grove United Methodist Church in Gaithersburg, MD and the Mill Creek Parish United Methodist Church in Derwood, MD.

He believes in the power of prayer, and attributes whatever success that has been ascribed to his ministry to the great many conversations so many have had with God on his behalf. Rev. Warner has been married to his wife Paula, for 33 years, and the Lord has blessed them with two children, a daughter Jordan, 28 years old, and a son Benjamin, 26 years old, for whom they give God the glory. Among his favorite verses of the Bible is Proverbs 3:5-6, which says, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” His goal is simply to remain committed to the cause of Christ, and to be available to be used by God to further God’s Kingdom on earth.