Luke Smetters is a candle carver who has led workshops at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, Ill., where he is also a student. Contact him at Bethany Lutheran Church in Ishpeming, Mich., where he is the vicar.

Hemant Mehta is board president of the Foundation Beyond Belief and a former board chair of the Secular Student Alliance. He’s also spokesperson for the Chicago Coalition of Reason. Mehta, a frequent public speaker, blogs at the Friendly Atheist and is the author of I Sold My Soul on eBay (2007).

Kenneth L. Vaux is a professor of theological ethics at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary of Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. He has written about theology and medicine and is the co-author of Dying Well (Abingdon Press, 1996).

Dr. Daniel Sulmasy is a professor of medicine and ethics at the University of Chicago. Sulmasy is a Franciscan friar and a physician. He also holds a doctorate in philosophy and has expertise in end-of-life decision-making. His writings include “Are Feeding Tubes Morally Obligatory?” in the January 2006 St. Anthony Messenger, examining Catholic teachings about extraordinary medical […]

Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference works to “strengthen the capacity and network of the African American faith community and its leaders to address the needs of those it serves.”

Charles Stone is a longtime pastor and the founder of StoneWell Ministries in Aurora, Ill. His award-winning book 5 Ministry Killers and How to Defeat Them (2010) examines the major causes of frustration and burnout for pastors and church leaders.

Capers C. Funnye Jr. is chief rabbi at Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in Chicago and is a member of the Chicago Board of Rabbis.

James Kenneth Echols was president of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago until May 18, 2011. He edited I Have a Dream: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Future of Multicultural America (Augsburg, 2004), and he is an expert on the subjects of African-Americans in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Stephen G. Ray is the Neal F. and Ila A. Fisher Professor of Theology at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, where he directs the seminary’s Urban Theological Institute. He is also an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ