Rev. Dr. Sammy Alfaro is a pastor-scholar whose research interests focus on doing theology from and for the Pentecostal Latina/o church and community. He is an ordained bishop with the Church of God (Cleveland, TN) and founding pastor of Iglesia Nuevo Día (New Day Church), a Latina congregation in Phoenix, AZ. Rev. Dr. Alfaro is Professor of Theology at Grand Canyon Theological Seminary. His publications include Divino Compañero: Toward a Hispanic Pentecostal Christology (Pickwick Publications, 2010) and a co-edited work with Néstor Medina, Pentecostals and Charismatics in Latin America and Latino Communities (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015). Rev. Dr. Alfaro holds a BA in Pre-Seminary Studies from Patten University; he earned an MA in Biblical and Theological Studies and a PhD in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary.

Dr. Patrick B. Reyes is the author of the bestselling book The Purpose Gap: Empowering Communities of Color to Find Meaning and Thrive (Westminster John Knox Press, 2021), and of the award-winning book Nobody Cries When We Die: God, Community, and Surviving to Adulthood (Chalice Press, 2018). He is the host of the Sound of the Genuine podcast. A Chicano educator, administrator, and institutional strategist, he is the Senior Director of Learning Design at the Forum for Theological Exploration. He is president-elect of the Religious Education Association and serves on several boards in education and the non-profit sector supporting the next generation of BIPOC leaders and educators. Dr. Reyes holds a Doctorate and Master of Arts from Claremont School of Theology, a Master of Divinity from Boston University School of Theology, and is proud to be a graduate of the California State education system, California State University at Sacramento (Sac State). You can learn more about Dr. Reyes at patrickbreyes.com.

Dr. Robin L. Owens is an Associate Professor of Religion at Mount Saint Mary’s University. She brings experience in both corporate and social work settings to the classroom to inform her transformational teaching. When she is not in the college classroom, Dr. Owns teaches, mentors, and coaches high-achieving leaders to help them to discover and express their leadership purpose. She is the host of the popular podcast “Leadership Purpose with Dr. Robin.” Dr. Owens is the author of two forthcoming books—Purpose-Based Decisions: An Inspirational Guide to More Meaning, Purpose, and Passion in Your Leadership, Business or Career (Balboa Press, 2022) and “My Faith in the Constitution is Whole:” Barbara Jordan Signifies on Scriptures (Georgetown University Press, 2022). Dr. Owens holds a PhD from Claremont Graduate University and an MDiv from Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

Dr. Kenneth N. Ngwa is Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible and Director of the Religion and Global Health Forum at Drew University. He holds a ThM (2000) and a PhD (2005) from Princeton Theological Seminary, and BA and MDiv (1995) degrees from the Yaoundé Faculty of Protestant Theology in Cameroon. Dr. Ngwa’s teaching and scholarship combine biblical exegesis, postcolonial and cultural approaches to the Hebrew Bible, with particular interest in identity construction, memory, reception theory, and narrative ethics. He teaches introductory and advanced courses on the Hebrew Bible, as well as on “Africana Studies and Religion.” Dr. Ngwa is an ordained minister with the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon; the Director of the Religion and Global Health Forum (RGHF) at Drew Theological School; a co-chair of the African Biblical Hermeneutics session of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL); and a board member of the African Renaissance Ambassador Corp, a non-profit organization providing medical, financial (micro loans), and educational support to rural communities, women, and young people in Cameroon. His several essays and articles include “Did Job Suffer for Nothing? The Ethics of Piety, Presumption and the Reception of Disaster in the Prologue of Job” (Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 2009) and “The Making of Gershom’s Story: A Cameroonian Postwar Hermeneutics Reading of Exodus 2” (Journal of Biblical Literature, 2015). He is the author of The Hermeneutics of the ‘Happy’ Ending in Job 42:7–17 (De Gruyter, 2005) and has co-edited: Navigating African Biblical Hermeneutics: Trends and Themes from Our Pots and Our Calabashes (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018); World Christianity, Urbanization and Identity (Fortress Press, 2021); Africana Studies and Religion: Critical Explorations (Fordham Press, 2021); and Preparing for Parts Unknown: Global Health, International Travel and Missions (Global Health Catalyst, 2021). Dr. Ngwa is currently working on a book-long project on Exodus, titled Let My People Live: Towards an Africana Reading of Exodus (Westminster John Knox Press).

Rev. Dr. Moses O. Biney is Associate Professor of Religion and Society and African Diaspora Studies at New York Theological Seminary, where was formerly Research Director for the Center for the Study and Practice of Urban Religion (CSPUR). He holds BA and DipEd degrees from Ghana’s University of Cape Coast; an MPhil from University of Ghana; and ThM and PhD degrees in Social Ethics from Princeton Theological Seminary. Rev. Dr. Biney is an ordained Presbyterian Minister of Word and Sacrament, with several years of pastoral experience, and currently serves as pastor of Bethel Presbyterian Reformed Church in Brooklyn, New York. His research and teaching interests include the religions of Africa and the African Diaspora, religion and transnationalism, religion and culture, urban ministry, and congregational studies. Rev. Dr. Biney is Moderator of the Conference of Ghanaian Presbyterian Churches in North America and a member of the editorial board of the World Christianity Journal. He has published several essays on the religious practices and institutions of African immigrants in North America, transnational religious networks, urban religion and West African spirituality, including: “Building and Expanding Communities: African Immigrant Congregations and the Challenge of Diversity" (2013); “Ghanaian Presbyterians in the United America: Why Some Join American Denominations and Others Don’t” (2015); “Transnational Religious Networks: From Africa to America and back to Africa” (2015); “African Christianity and Transnational Religious Networks: From Africa to America and back to Africa” (2016); and "Spirituality From the Margins: West African Spirituality and Aesthetics” (2019). Rev. Dr. Biney is the author of From Africa to America: Religion and Adaptation among Ghanaian Immigrants in New York (New York University Press, 2011), and his co-edited book World Christianity, Urbanization and Identity is forthcoming from Fortress Press.

Dr. Raimundo César Barreto, Jr. is an associate professor of World Christianity at Princeton Theological Seminary. He earned a PhD in Religion and Society from Princeton Theological Seminary and holds degrees from McAfee School of Theology/Mercer University and Seminário Teológico Batista do Norte do Brasil. He has taught at the Northeastern Baptist Seminary and at Faculdade Batista Brasileira in Brazil, and also served as Director of Freedom and Justice at the Baptist World Alliance (BWA). He remains involved in ecumenical and interfaith work, contributing in various capacities to the American Baptist Churches USA, the Baptist World Alliance, the National Council of Churches USA, and the World Council of Churches. Dr. Barreto is the general editor of the World Christianity and Public Religion book series (Fortress Press) and one of the conveners of the Princeton Theological Seminary's World Christianity Conference. He has co-edited five books and contributed dozens of peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. His monograph “Evangélicos e Pobreza no Brasil: Encontros e Respostas Éticas” (São Paulo: Editora Recriar/Editora Unida, 2019) will be published in English by Baylor University Press with the title “Protestantism and Poverty in Brazil: Face-to-Face Encounters and Ethical Responses” (Spring 2023). He is finalizing another monograph, “Base Ecumenism: A Latin American Decolonial Contribution to Ecumenical Praxis and Theology” (Fortress Press, Summer 2023). His impending work also includes the forthcoming book Christians in the City of São Paulo: The Shaping of World Christianity in a Brazilian Megacity (Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., 2024).

Angie Cruz is a novelist and editor. Her novel Dominicana is the inaugural book pick for GMA book club and chosen as the 2019/2020 Wordup Uptown Reads. It was shortlisted for The Women’s Prize, longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction, The Aspen Words Literary Prize, a RUSA Notable book, and the winner of the ALA/YALSA Alex Award in fiction. Cruz is the author of two other novels, Soledad and Let It Rain Coffee, and is the recipient of numerous fellowships and residencies, including the Lighthouse Fellowship, Siena Art Institute, and the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Fellowship. She has published shorter works in The Paris Review, VQR, Callaloo, Gulf Coast, and other journals. She is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the award-winning literary journal Aster(ix). Cruz is an Associate professor at University of Pittsburgh, where she teaches in the MFA program and splits her time between Pittsburgh. New York, and Turin.

Kianny N. Antigua is a fiction writer, poet and translator who hails from the Dominican Republic. She works as a Senior Lecturer in Spanish at Dartmouth College and as a freelance translator and adapter for Pepsqually VO & Sound Design, Inc. Antigua has published 22 children's literature books, four short stories, two books of poetry, an anthology, a book of micro-fiction, a novel and a magazine. She has won 16 literary awards, and her writings appear in various anthologies, textbooks, magazines, and other media. Some of her stories have also been translated into English, French, and Italian.

Stephen G. Adubato studied Spanish Literature and Religious Studies at Fordham University and went on to pursue graduate work in Moral Theology at Seton Hall. Since then, he has taught philosophy and theology at both the secondary and university levels. He is currently spending a year working as a Journalism Fellow for Compact Magazine through the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. He is a contributing writer for the National Catholic Reporter and has published with over forty other publications, including Newsweek, The New York Daily News, The Tablet, America: The Jesuit Review, Nylon, and The Hedgehog Review. He also hosts the Cracks in Postmodernity blog and podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @stephengadubato.

Rev. Dr. Ted A. Smith is the Almar H. Shatford Professor of Preaching and Ethics at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. He works at the intersections of practical and political theology. His first book, The New Measures: A Theological History of Democratic Practice (Cambridge University Press, 2007), tells a history of preaching that gives rise to eschatological visions of modern democracy. His second book, Weird John Brown: Divine Violence and the Limits of Ethics (Stanford University Press, 2014), works through memories of the raid on Harpers Ferry to show the limits of social ethics for thinking about violence. Rev. Dr. Smith has edited collections of essays on sexuality and ordination, contemporary issues in preaching, and economic inequality. He is currently editing a series of books on the meanings and purposes of theological education in a time of great change. Rev. Dr. Smith holds a BA from Duke University, an MA from Oxford University, and an MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary. At Emory, where he earned his PhD, he also teaches in the Graduate Division of Religion and is an affiliated faculty member with the Center for the Study of Law and Religion. Beyond Emory, Rev. Dr. Smith serves as a senior fellow with the University of Virginia’s project on Religion and Its Publics, the steering committee of the Political Theology Network, and a member of the editorial boards for Political Theology and Practical Matters. He recently completed two terms on the board of the Louisville Institute.

Lucila Crena is Assistant Professor in Christian Ethics and Public Theology at Wesley Theological Seminary; formerly, she served as Managing Director of the Theological Education between the Times project and Instructor in Theology, Ethics, and Culture at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. She has taught at innovative theological institutions like the Comunidad de Estudios Teológicos Interdisciplinarios (CETI, in San José, Costa Rica), Wesley Theological Seminary (Washington, D.C.), and Regent College (Vancouver, BC), where she was part of the founding faculty for Regent’s new MA in Theology, Leadership, and Society. Crena also served as the faculty liaison during the course redesign of CETI's MA program while the institution pursued accreditation in North America. She has been awarded fellowships from the Forum for Theological Exploration, the Louisville Institute, and Virginia Theological Seminary. Prior to pursuing theological education, Crena worked as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company, as well as for nonprofit organizations like ProInspire, the Sustained Dialogue Campus Network, and Year Up. She holds a BA from Emory University, is a graduate of Regent College (MATS), and is completing her doctoral studies at the University of Virginia.

Dr. Antonio (Tony) Alonso is currently Assistant Professor of Theology and Culture at Candler School of Theology at Emory University, where he also serves as the inaugural Director of Catholic Studies. Dr. Alonso works at the intersection of theology and culture, with a particular focus on worship and ritual practices. In 2019, he was awarded the Catherine Mowry LaCugna Award for new scholars for the best academic essay in the field of theology within the Roman Catholic tradition from the Catholic Theological Society of America for his essay "Listening for the Cry: Certeau Beyond Strategies and Tactics" (Modern Theology, 2017). Dr. Alonso's first book, Commodified Communion: Eucharist, Consumer Culture, and the Practice of Everyday Life (Fordham University Press, 2021), offers a theological account of contemporary consumerism and its relationship to the Eucharist. It was awarded the 2021 Hispanic Theological Initiative Book Prize, an award that recognizes the best book written by a junior Latinx scholar on theology or religion each year. His current research, funded by a Teacher-Scholar Vital Worship Grant from the Calvin Institute for Worship, focuses on the theological significance of the transformation of Catholic material culture in the wake of the Second Vatican Council's liturgical reforms. In addition to his scholarly work, Dr. Alonso is a Latin Grammy-nominated composer of sacred music. The author of over 200 published compositions and arrangements, he was commissioned to compose the responsorial psalm for the first Mass Pope Francis celebrated in the United States in 2015.

Dr. Michael Anthony DeAnda, a queer Tejano scholar-practitioner from El Paso, TX, is a professional lecturer in Game Design at DePaul University. He researches the intersections of games, queerness, and culture, considering the intimacies between LGBTQ and Latinaxo lived experiences and games. Using game design as research praxis, he develops games that draw comment on privileged structures, using intersectionality, queerness, and feminism as critical lenses. He earned a PhD in Technology and Humanities from Illinois Institute of Technology. Dr. DeAnda has published in Technical Communications Quarterly, The Journal of Popular Culture, The Video Game Art Reader, Queer Studies in Media, and Popular Culture and Widerscreens.

Taylor Alexis Baker is a writer from Harlem and an MFA student at City College- CUNY. She holds an Interdisciplinary SB in Digital Art/Creative Writing from The CUNY Graduate Center and an AAS in Animation from Kingsborough Community College. She wishes to pick apart Harlem with a mindful eye and through a Black woman’s ideology. An avid learner who considers herself part of the Christian faith, Baker is also an educator of all grades. Her hobbies include reading, digital art, and entrepreneurship.

Rev. Dr. Yvonne Martínez Thorne is founder and CEO of Cultivating Wholeness Counseling Associates. Located in Pennsylvania and Florida, her faith-based practice provides specialized services for ordained clergy and lay leaders.  She also provides secular and faith-based counseling and psychotherapy to people across faith, race, and culture. Rev. Dr. Martínez Thorne served as consultant for Area Ministry and Communications for the Philadelphia Baptist Association.  Her commitment to the church continues in her role as consultant to congregations, ecumenical judicatories, and Christian organizations seeking greater wholeness and wellness. She recently provided disaster relief to clergy and congregations traumatized by natural disasters in Puerto Rico and The Bahamas. She currently serves as faculty at Lexington Theological Seminary, where she offers courses on clergy wellness and on the importance of healthy boundaries in ministry.  Rev. Dr. Martínez Thorne holds an MDiv from Palmer Theological Seminary and an EdD in Counseling Psychology from Columbia University.  Rev. Martínez Thorne is ordained clergy of the American Baptist Churches USA. She is married to Rev. Dr. Leo S. Thorne, former associate general secretary for Mission Resource Development for the American Baptist Churches USA.   

Sharon Lee De La Cruz is a multi-disciplinary artist and activist from New York City. Her thought-provoking pieces address a range of issues related to tech, social justice, sexuality, and race. De La Cruz’s work ranges from comics, graffiti, and public-art murals to more recent explorations in interactive sculptures, animation, and coding. She holds a BFA from Cooper Union and an MPS from the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. De La Cruz is the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship, Processing Foundation Fellowship and a Tin House Summer Workshop participant. She lives in New York City.

Rev. Dr. Orlando Crespo holds a Doctor of Ministry degree in Congregational Leadership from the New York Theological Seminary and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Colgate University. He has served as the National Director of InterVarsity Latino Fellowship since 2000 and is the author of Being Latino in Christ: Finding Wholeness in Your Ethnic Identity (InterVarsity Press, 2003). An ordained minister with the Christian and Missionary Alliance since 2011, Dr. Crespo and his wife Maritza helped to plant New Life in the Bronx Church in 1998; he continues to serve there as the Associate Pastor and Children's Ministry Director. He is also active in several Latino Christian organizations including serving on the Board of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition and an Executive Leader of the Latino Leadership Circle in NYC.

Rev. Maritza Crespo holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Colgate University (1984) and became a licensed Massage Therapist in 2011. As a Church Planter, she has served as Worship Leader at New Life in the Bronx since 1998, and has been a member of the Urbana Missions Conference Worship Team in 2009 and many other worship teams over the years. Her passions are spending time with family, gardening, cooking from scratch, and staying in touch with friends she's had for decades.

Rev. Miluska (Milly) Aquije is many things. As an educator, a spiritual advisor, a mentor, and a Dreamer—among so much else—Rev. Aquije supports her community with a unique passion and vibrancy. Her current professional experience includes serving as the Discipleship Pastor with Reconcile Brooklyn and as the founder of Hoping Greatly, where she uplifts others through her story of resilience as an undocumented immigrant. She holds degrees from Nyack College and Hunter College, as well as being a licensed clergy with the Evangelical Covenant Church. Rev. Aquije has served church plants in youth ministry since 2005, has been active in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) campus ministry, and is co-founder as an IVCF alumni of The Mentor Movement. She worked in higher education administration at Hunter College, served as an enrollment manager, faculty, and youth seminary coordinator for City Seminary of New York (CSNY). As part of CSNY, she was a researcher with Dr. Maria Liu Wong & Dr. Geomon George on “Engaging the Present and Envisioning the Future: Leadership Development in an Urban Youth Seminary.” In her free time, she can be found catching up on anime, and coaching the next generation over a delicious NYC meal discovery. More about Rev. Aquije's journey can be found at hopinggreatly.com.

Hon. Dr. Sandra Leticia Salazar is a doctor who comes from humble beginnings and whose story is an example of what can be achieved through hard work and education. The daughter of a gardener and a domestic worker, Dr. Salazar was raised in a working-class family that instilled in her a commitment to faith, family, and community at an early age. she grew up attending the Apostolic Assembly church, a predominantly Latinx Pentecostal denomination in Culver City, CA. After graduating from the public school system, Dr. Salazar became the first in her family to attend college. She earned a BA in from Wellesley College, was a Research Fellow at the Mayo School of Health Sciences in Minnesota, and went on to attend Saint Louis University of Medicine, where she received a Doctorate in Medicine. Dr. Salazar completed her medical training in Los Angeles, where she currently works as a family physician, and is an active and dedicated member of her community. Her record of public service includes: serving on the medical advisory board of the California Community Foundation and volunteering with various community-based organizations, while also being a member of the local Kiwanis and the Norwalk Community Coalition. In 2011, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg appointed her to the State Bar Committee of Bar Examiners. Hon. Dr. Salazar was elected to represent Trustee Area 6 of the Cerritos Community College Board of Trustees and was sworn in on December 12, 2012; she was reelected in 2020.