Rachel VerWys is executive director of Safe Haven Ministries, a Christian-based ministry for victims of domestic abuse in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The ministry has an informational outreach program for congregations called “Raise Hope.” Contact individual team members through the website.

James Newton Poling is a professor of pastoral care, counseling and theology at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill. He has written about domestic violence as a pastoral care issue.

Christie Cozad Neuger is a professor of pastoral theology and pastoral counseling at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.

Patricia Castillo is executive director of PEACE Initiative, a San Antonio coalition of organizations committed to ending domestic violence. The group has held workshops for local faith leaders about responding to domestic violence.

Sheryl Cates is executive director of the Texas Council on Family Violence, an organization that works to educate the community about domestic violence. It has formed partnerships with different faith groups across Texas and publishes a brochure for clergy about responding to domestic violence. It is based in Austin, Texas.

Lakshmy Parameswaran is the founder and past president of DAYA, a Houston organization that raises awareness about domestic violence in the South Asian community.

Sara Lisherness co-edited Striking Terror No More: The Church Responds to Domestic Violence (Bridge Resources, 1997). She is the coordinator of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program in Louisville, Ky.

Beverly Horsburgh is a law professor at St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens, Fla. One of her specialties is Jewish law and Jewish battered women

The Rev. Melody Johnson is director of outreach, team care, caring and sharing at Greater Piney Grove Baptist Church in Atlanta. She spoke at a February 2007 This Far by Faith seminar of the Black Church and Domestic Violence Institute.