The Rev. Jonathan Bonk is executive director of Overseas Ministries Study Center in New Haven, Conn., a renewal center for missionaries of all Christian denominations. He is the project director of the Dictionary of African Christian Biography and editor of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research.

Kristen Archer is acting manager of media relations at Bread for the World in Washington, D.C., a Christian advocacy organization that lobbies to increase funding for more and smarter aid to Africa.

Jean Graybeal is a professor at the Gallatin School of Independent Study at New York University. She wrote a chapter called “Cathy on Slenderness, Suffering, and Soul” for God in the Details: American Religion in Popular Culture (Routledge, 2001).

Mark Graham is an associate professor of religious studies at the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. He has written a paper on comedy and religious criticism.

Stephen C. Smith is professor of economics and international affairs at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and author of Ending Global Poverty: A Guide to What Works (Palgrave MacMillan, 2005). The book discusses the role of faith-based organizations.

Live 8: The Long Walk to Justice coordinated concerts worldwide on July 2, 2005, to draw attention to the need to increase aid to Africa and to urge G8 leaders to help. Contact Katy Cronin, media manager.

Buzz Dixon is the author of Serenity: Bad Girl in Town (Barbour, 2005), a comic book whose publisher believes it is the first Christian-themed manga, a form of Japanese comic book.

The One Campaign, launched in May 2005 with the help of Bono, is urging that 1 percent of America’s budget be spent reducing AIDS and extreme poverty in other countries. The campaign is supported by a variety of religious groups. Contact  Ari Goldberg.

Tom Lansford, academic dean at the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast in Long Beach, has written about religion in West Africa.