Sister Valerie Heinonen is a Catholic nun who works as director of shareholder advocacy at Mercy Investment Services. She aims to use strategic investing to force change in the gun industry.

Erik Dane is an associate professor of organizational behavior at Washington University in St. Louis. He specializes in the study of organizational behavior and has researched the effectiveness of workplace mindfulness programs.

S. Joshua Swamidass is an associate professor of pathology and immunology at Washington University in St. Louis. He served as science adviser to Concordia Seminary from 2015 to 2017.

Joel P. Okamoto is an associate professor of systematic theology at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. He studies contemporary theology, Lutheranism and issues at the intersection of science and faith.

Dean Blevins is a professor of practical theology and Christian discipleship at Nazarene Theological Seminary. His research interests include neuroscience and technology.

Barry Young is the vice president of operations for Strategos International, which provides safety training for businesses, schools, hospitals and churches. He previously served as director of security at two churches in Kansas City.

Leonard Zeskind is president of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights. He is the author of Blood and Politics: The History of the White Nationalist Movement from the Margins to the Mainstream, in which he explores white nationalism’s relationship to religion. He lives in Kansas City, Mo.

The Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbia, Mo., is new to the sanctuary movement. Its pastor, the Rev. Molly Housh Gordon, called the decision to join “a process of discernment.”

Abram Van Engen is an associate professor of english and a faculty affiliate of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis, where his interests include early American literature and culture, Puritanism, sentimentalism, and religion.