Jeff Staley is a core lecturer in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Seattle University. He co-edited Jesus, Son of D• V• D: A Handbook of Jesus Films (Westminster John Knox, forthcoming in 2007), an analysis of 18 Jesus films available on DVD.

Polly Trout is the author of Eastern Seeds, Western Soil: Three Gurus in America. She lives in Seattle.

Melissa M. Wilcox is an associate professor of religion at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash., and director of the Gender Studies Program. Her writing and research focus on the interplay of Christianity, homosexuality and identity. She is the author of Coming Out in Christianity: Religion, Identity & Community.

James K. Wellman Jr. is a professor of American religion, culture and politics and chair of the comparative religion program at the University of Washington in Seattle. He has written on homosexuality in American churches and the question of gay ordination.

Mike Howerton is the lead pastor at Overlake Christian Church in Redmond, Wash., which has been involved locally and internationally in the fight against trafficking.

Kevin Austin is a Free Methodist missionary who has been involved for years in programs aimed at abolishing slavery and helping its victims create new lives. He says there is growing support among faith communities to combat all forms of human trafficking and that interest in Freedom Sundays and Freedom Shabbats continues to grow. Austin is […]

Linda Smith is a former U.S. congresswoman and the founder and director of Shared Hope International, which works to rescue and restore women and children in crisis. It is based in Vancouver, Wash. Smith is co-author of The National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking and the DEMAND Report. Contact through Taryn Offenbacher.

Uriel Iniguez is the executive director of the Washington State Commission on Hispanic Affairs which looks to improve public policy development and the delivery of government services to the Hispanic community.  

G. Alan Marlatt was a professor of psychology and director of the Addictive Behaviors Research Center at the University of Washington in Seattle. His major focus was in both research and clinical work is addictive behaviors; he conducted research on Buddhist meditation as a treatment for substance abuse in and out of prisons and wrote […]