Chris Seiple is president emeritus of the Institute for Global Engagement. He previously worked as a religion and foreign policy adviser for the secretary of state. Seiple is the co-founder of the International Religious Freedom Roundtable, an informal gathering of human rights activists that meets in Washington, D.C.

Ilana Cone Kennedy is the director of education for the Holocaust Center for Humanity in Seattle, which facilitates Holocaust education through teacher training and community programs.

The Rev. Sue Phillips is an expert on religious innovation and works with the How We Gather project to understand how and where young people find community amid a decline in organized religion. She previously served as the Unitarian Universalist Association’s regional lead for New England.

The Rev. Gretchen Mertes is an associate pastor for Our Redeemer’s Lutheran Church in Seattle. She previously led Luther’s Table, a unique faith community based in a bar, and continues to host theology on tap events.

The Rev. Kendy Easley is the executive pastor and head of staff for Bethany Presbyterian Church in Seattle. She serves as an adviser for Ministry Incubators, which offers coaching to religious entrepreneurs.

Jill Lightner is a food writer and the former editor of Edible Seattle. Her most recent book, Scraps, Peels and Stems, offers tips for reducing food waste at home. Contact Lightner with the form on her website.

Jessica Zimmerle is the program and outreach director for Earth Ministry, an environmental advocacy organization in Seattle. She helps lead Earth Ministry’s Greening Congregations program.

Jeremy Smith is the senior pastor of First Church, the First United Methodist Church of Seattle. He blogs at Hacking Christianity where he has written about non-traditional worship services and churches, including bar churches and dinner churches.

Elizabeth Goldstein is associate professor of religious studies at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., and a Reform rabbi. She specializes in Hebrew Bible and Jewish studies and has written many articles on Judaism and LGBT issues, gender and purity in biblical Judaism and in modern society. She is the author of Impurity and Gender in the […]