Sam Adams, Moderator

Dr. Samuel L. Adams is the Professor of Old Testament and Director of Community Engagement at Union Presbyterian Seminary. As an ordained minister in the PC(USA), he has served churches in New Haven, Connecticut; Chicago, Illinois; and in Richmond, Virginia. He is also the editor of the journal, Interpretation.

His interests include wisdom literature, wealth and poverty in the biblical world, apocalypticism, and the Bible and film. He has published books on wisdom, death and the afterlife, and the socioeconomic world of the Bible. He is active in a number of community initiatives in Richmond.

Chris Burton, Panelist

Chris Burton is the sole proprietor of an anti-racism consulting agency for churches and schools called Di Baddest Consulting, and the Vice President of Programs for the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities.

Born and educated in Brooklyn, Chris is a writer for self and others. He is a proud Davidson alum; received his Master of Divinity from Union Presbyterian Seminary; Master of Science in Education from St. John's University; and is back at Union as a Doctor of Ministry Candidate. He also serves as an ambassador for the Lupus Foundation of America; a Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) faculty member; and is a Social Justice Fellow for The Memorial Foundation.

Chris co-hosts a podcast about race, culture, and soul care called "CrossStreets." His preaching was featured on A Sermon For Every Sunday. His writing has been featured in several publications, such as The Presbyterian Outlook; Boomshots; The Hill; Unbound; The Sports Fan Journal; and the Humankind  journal.

Chris writes about Jamaican culture, music, sports, living with Lupus, and his journey with God. You can find Chris' work at www.BaddestChaplain.com.

Dr. Faith Harris, Panelist

Faith Harris is the director of Virginia Interfaith Power and Light (VAIPL). She  served as Assistant Professor of Theological Studies for The Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology, Virginia Union University (STVU), until January 2022. She taught various theology courses, including Creation Care, Grassroots Organizing, and the Faith Community. She resigned to take on the work “her soul must have” as Director of the non-profit Virginia Interfaith Power and Light (VAIPL). VAIPL envisions overcoming the climate crisis, eradicating environmental and social injustices, and living in a just, thriving, and equitable world by collaborating among people of faith and conscience to grow healthy communities by advancing climate and environmental justice. 

In addition to her academic career, Dr. Harris has been highly active in the Richmond community for more than 17 years. She has served as Co-Chair for Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy; Richmond Chapter Lead for Organizing for Action; Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities; Co-Chair for the Virginia Council on Environmental Justice; Board member for the Environmental Justice Collaborative; and the Advisory Board for the Katie Geneva Cannon Center for Womanist Leadership. She is a Virginia Conservation Network member, where she serves on several committees, including Land Use and Public Transit, and Grassroots Defense of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).

Most Recent Publications are: "Rooted Woman or Root Woman: One Black Woman’s Story at the Intersection of Earth, Faith, and Action by Faith Harris" in Walking through the Valley: Womanist Explorations in the Spirit of Katie Geneva Cannon; and "A Womanist and Interfaith Response to Climate Change by Faith Harris and Kendyl Crawford" in Religion Sustainability and Place: Moral Geographies of the Anthropocene.

Rev. Melanie C. Jones, Panelist

Melanie Jones is a womanist ethicist, millennial preacher, and intellectual activist. Melanie joined the Union Presbyterian Seminary faculty as Instructor of Ethics, Theology and Culture and Inaugural Director of the Katie Geneva Cannon Center for Womanist Leadership in fall 2019. Formerly, Melanie served as the 2018-19 Crump Visiting Professor and Black Religious Scholar-in-Residence at Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas; Lecturer at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas; American Baptist College in Nashville, Tennessee; Chicago Theological Seminary and The Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois.

Melanie’s research probes the scripting of the body in theology and philosophy that fosters religious, cultural, and moral meaning for the present with particular attention to Black women’s body politics. Melanie engages womanist theological ethics and sacred texts, millennials and faith, and Black aesthetics and popular culture. For her distinguished research, Melanie has received notable fellowships and scholarships, including The Forum for Theological Exploration; The Louisville Institute; Wabash Center; and Villanova University Center for Church Management.

Melanie is a thinking woman of faith embodying radical love and revolutionary justice in the academy, church, and global community. Melanie is co-curator of #MillennnialWomanism Digital Forum and Co-Founder of The Millennial Womanism Project (TMWP)—an enterprise committed to enhancing the well-being of Black millennial women of faith and justice and fostering trans-generational womanist dialogue. As a global leader serving professional societies and international boards, Melanie is the chair of the board of directors of the Daughters of the African Atlantic Fund.

A third-generation ordained Baptist preacher and sought-after lecturer, Melanie is an emerging millennial voice with noted academic and popular publications, as well as features on television, radio, and news outlets.

Dr. Safwat Marzouk, Panelist

Dr. Safwat Marzouk is an Associate Professor of Old Testament at Union Presbyterian Seminary. He is an Egyptian Presbyterian whose research interests include thinking theologically about monsters in the Bible, Ancient Near East, and popular culture. He is the author of numerous articles and book chapters, as well as three books: 1) Egypt as a Monster in the Book of Ezekiel; 2) Exodus, Joshua, Ezekiel in the Arabic Contemporary Commentary; and, 3) Intercultural Church: A Biblical Vision for an Age of Migration. He is currently working on a commentary for the New Interpretation Series of Westminster John Knox Press: Exodus: A Commentary.

He was ordained as a pastor in 2002 by the Delta Presbytery of the Synod of the Nile (the governing body of the Presbyterian Church in Egypt), and in May 2021 he joined the Wabash Valley Presbytery of PC(USA). As a Christian Egyptian and migrant to the U.S., he interprets the Bible in ways that are interreligiously and interculturally sensitive, seeking God’s shalom and justice for the vulnerable and marginalized.
 

Rev. Amy Starr Redwine, Panelist

Amy Starr Redwine is the Pastor and Head of Staff at First Presbyterian Church, Richmond, Virginia. She serves as the 13th pastor in the 207-year history of Richmond’s First Presbyterian Church.

Amy grew up in Roanoke, attending Second Presbyterian Church, and graduated from Middlebury College and Princeton Theological Seminary. She and her husband, Rev. Derek Starr Redwine, have lived and served PC(USA) churches in Denver, Colorado, and Akron and Cleveland, Ohio, before moving to Richmond in 2019.

Rev. Starr Redwine is passionate about meaningful, thought-provoking, inspiring worship; leading people to encounter God in their daily lives in ways that lead to personal transformation; exploring how God calls us to use our gifts for the transformation of the world; and discerning together how the church can best serve our community and world with passion and joy.