Rev. Dr. Sid Hall, III, is an activist, ordained minister, and writer. From 1988 to 2021 he served as the lead minister of Trinity Church of Austin, a progressive congregation affiliated with both the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church. He currently serves on a yearly rotation with four other pastors as the Spring Kahu (Pastor) at Wānanalua Congregational Church (UCC) in Hāna, Island of Maui, Hawai’i. Sid is the author of Christian Anti-Semitism and Paul’s Theology and co-author with Jim Harrington of Three Mystics Walk Into A Tavern: A Once and Future Meeting Between Rumi, Meister Eckhart and Moses de León in Medieval Venice. He is a frequent speaker and workshop leader in the areas of nature-based Christianity, Mysticism, Holocaust Studies, and LGBTQ inclusion in the church.  He holds a bachelors degree in History and Religion at the University of Indianapolis, a masters in Theology from Perkins School of Theology, and a doctorate in Holocaust Studies from Southern Methodist University.  He has served on the board of the Political Asylum Project of Austin, the Reconciling Ministries Network in the UMC, and is the former board president of Creation Spirituality Communities.

Rev. Lynn Casteel Harper is a writer, minister, and chaplain.  An ordained Baptist minister, she currently resides in New York City where she is the Minister of Older Adults at The Riverside Church. She is the author of On Vanishing (Catapult, April 2020), a nonfiction book that explores the dimensions of spirituality, social justice, and dementia. Lynn received a Barbara Deming Fund grant for women writers for the project. Her work has appeared in Kenyon Review Online, Catapult, The Huffington Post, North American Review, CALYX, the Journal of Religion and Abuse, and elsewhere. She received the New Delta Review Nonfiction Prize in 2013 and the Orison Anthology’s 2017 Nonfiction Award. She was named runner up for the Torch Prize in 2016. Lynn completed her M.Div. at Wake Forest University and her chaplaincy residency at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ.  Lynn served as the nursing home chaplain at a continuing care retirement community on the New Jersey shore for seven years. She can be reached at lynncasteelharper.com.

Craig Henry has practiced law in Monroe, Louisiana, for over 40 years. He is a former president of the Alliance of Baptists and a founding member of Equity for Women in the Church. He is a founding and active member of Northminster Church in Monroe, a progressive Baptist Church, where he has led the church's partnership with its Cuban partner, Iglesia Bautista Enmanuel, for 20 years. On a pro bono basis, he incorporated the local Habitat for Humanity chapter and the Food Bank of Northeast Louisiana. He has served on the boards of the food bank and the local AIDS education and service organization, and has been a leader in Monroe’s arts community. He is a graduate of Louisiana Tech University and The Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University.

Rev. Bicri Naara Hernandez works as a chaplain and is an ACPE Certified Educator at BSWH All Saints Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas.  As an ordained Baptist pastor, her passion revolves around serving patients, families, and staff during times of crisis.  Her current role as Manager of CPE Programs in the Western Region of BSWH involves managing the educational program for pastors, seminarians, and lay leaders in Grapevine, Irving, Waxahachie, and Fort Worth hospitals.  Growing up on the border between Mexico and the US, she sees herself as a bridge between two cultures.  She is especially interested in being an advocate for the Hispanic/Latinx/Immigrant population in Texas.  She completed her MDiv at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth after completing a BA from Trinity University in San Antonio. She currently serves as a leader in her local church, Iglesia Baustista Victoria en Cristo. She enjoys spending time with her three sons, a 9-year-old and 6- year-old twins, learning a lot about dinosaurs, robots, and sports. 

Christopher Hutson, PhD, is Associate Professor of Bible and Associate Dean of the College of Biblical Studies at Abilene Christian University. He previously taught at St. Xavier University in Illinois and at Hood Theological Seminary in North Carolina. Among his research interests are the letters of Paul in their social contexts and issues pertaining to women in ministry, which he approaches through studies of biblical texts and American religious history. He is a co-founder of the website gal328.org, which pushes the issue of gender justice specifically within Churches of Christ.

Rev. Judith Liro, MDiv, is an Episcopal priest who co-founded and continues to co-lead The Servant Leadership School of Austin (Texas) and St. Hildegard’s, an intentional community. Since 1992 The Servant Leadership School has been offering classes and retreats that include feminist and womanist perspectives promoting gender equity in theology, Biblical studies, liturgy, and ethics. For almost twenty years St. Hildegard’s Community has sung justice: celebrating weekly Eucharists with inclusive liturgical language and practices that embody gender equality. Judith has served on the Board of Christian Feminism Today. 

Rev. Courtney Pace, PhD, is the Prathia Hall Scholar in Residence of Social Justice History for Equity for Women in the Church. She has a PhD in Religion from Baylor University (2014), a Masters of Divinity in Theology from George W. Truett Theological Seminary (2007), and an Honors Bachelor of Science in Computer Science Engineering, with minors in Mathematics and Psychology, from The University of Texas at Arlington (2004). She researches social justice movements in American religion, particularly race and gender. She is the author of Freedom Faith: The Womanist Vision of Prathia Hall and numerous peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, book reviews, and encyclopedia articles. She is an ordained Baptist minister and the proud mother of Stanley and Seren. She is also the creator of the Stole Sisters podcast, which features women preachers of all Christian traditions.

Rev. Abraham Smith, PhD, The Reverend Abraham Smith is Professor of New Testament at Perkins School of Theology/Southern Methodist University. His research interests include ancient and modern slavery; violence studies; and African American biblical hermeneutics. His most recent publications include Mark: An Introduction and Study Guide—Shaping the Life and Legacy of Jesus (Bloomsbury, 2017); Black/Africana Studies and Black/Africana Biblical Studies (Brill, 2020); and “Incarceration on Trial: The Imprisonment of Paul and Silas in Acts 16,” in Journal of Biblical Literature 140 (2021).

Rev. Alfie Wines, MDiv, PhD, is a pastor, biblical scholar, and theologian. Formerly Associate Pastor of Connections at First United Methodist Church, Arlington, TX, she currently serves as Senior Pastor of Union Memorial United Methodist Church, in the Sandy Community of Coolidge, Texas. In addition, she is Founder, President, and CEO of Living Water Drinking Deeply Ministries, a ministry committed to encouraging compassionate living through a deeper understanding of the biblical text. She draws from several approaches to biblical interpretation in her work, with focus on literary, womanist, and feminist perspectives. She draws upon her unquenchable passions for biblical interpretation, biblical and religious literacy, worship, music, prayer, and leadership to enlighten, edify, and empower others. She conducts a weekly #BibleStudyRemix on FB Live, Tuesday evenings, 7:00 pm CST. The study is also available 24/7 after the broadcast has completed. She writes commentaries and articles for the Working Preacher website. Blog article(s) appear on the Equity for Women in the Church website as well. Her book and online course, Take Back Your Life: How to Breakthrough When Life Breaks Your Heart as well as her book Seasons: The Stages of Life are forthcoming in 2017-2018.

Rev. Dr. Christy (Simmons) Woodbury-Moore, a licensed and ordained minister in the Baptist church, currently serves as the Assistant Professor of Spiritual Formation and the Director of Supervised Ministry at Memphis Theological Seminary. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Tuskegee University, and MBA from the University of Minnesota-Carlson School of Management.  Dr. Moore was the Class of 2012 Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology Valedictorian for Virginia Union University where she received a Master of Divinity degree. She also holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from Virginia Union University with a focus on the unique experiences of African American women. Dr. Moore is committed to the healing of the black community through empowering black women to live out loud. Entitled Give Me My Stuff: In Defense of Black Womanhood, Dr. Moore’s dissertation is a womanist exploration of the ways black women’s voices and experiences have been minimized in effort to empower them to see the value in their own stories. Dr. Moore shares her life with Rev. Dr. Michael Moore, Senior Pastor of Metropolitan Baptist Church in Memphis, TN and their son, Michael Moore II. Dr. Moore has a heart for African American women and the black community.