The Rev. Maidstone Mulenga serves as director of communications for the United Methodist Church’s Council of Bishops.

Andrea Tornielli is editorial director for the Vatican Dicastery for Communication. He is a former Italian journalist and author of numerous books on religion, with a special focus on Catholicism.

The Rev. Federico Lombardi is a Catholic priest and president of the Ratzinger Foundation. He served as director of the Holy See press office from 2006 to 2016.

Juan Carlos Cruz is an advocate for survivors of clergy sexual abuse. By sharing his own experience of abuse, he spurred the Vatican to take action in Chile and later received an apology from Pope Francis. Cruz now lives in Philadelphia and works in communications.

Heather Greene is a writer and editor who covers religion, art and the occult. She is the author of Lights, Camera, Witchcraft: A Critical History of Witches in American Film and Television. Contact her through her website.

Alissa Wilkinson is a writer, professor and film critic. She covers film and culture for Vox and teaches at The King’s College in New York City. Contact her through her website. 

Michelle Vicary is the executive vice president for programming and network publicity for Crown Media, the Hallmark Channel’s parent company. Contact her through the network’s public relations team.

Josh Larsen is the editor of Think Christian, a website that looks at religion and popular culture from the Reformed tradition. Think Christian is based in Palos Heights, Ill.

Matthew Harris is a scholar of African-American religion, popular culture and religion, and black studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He wrote a paper on “self-deification” in hip-hop for 2016’s “Show and Prove” hip-hop studies conference.