Professor, Eastern Illinois University
Dr. Ryan Burge is an associate professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University. He is the author or co-author of four books including The Nones, 20 Myths about Religion and Politics in America, and The Great Dechurching. He has written for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and POLITICO. He has also appeared on 60 Minutes, where Anderson Cooper called him, “one of the leading data analysts of religion and politics in the United States.” He was a pastor of an American Baptist Church for over seventeen years.
Dr. Ryan Burge
Professor
Eastern Illinois University
Charleston, Illinois
Rector, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
The Rev. Dr. Fadi Diab is a priest, theologian, writer, and speaker, whose commitment to community, justice, and solidarity ground his faith and ministry.
Born and raised in Zababdeh, a predominantly Christian town in the northern [Occupied] West Bank, Fr. Diab has spent his ordained ministry serving parishes in Jordan and Palestine. He is currently the rector of St. Andrew’s Church in Ramallah and St. Peter’s Church in Birzeit. In addition to his parish responsibilities, Fr. Diab provides leadership and pastoral support to the Episcopal School, the Episcopal Vocation and Training Centre, the Episcopal Medical Centre, the Evangelical Home for Children, and many other institutions and projects that serve his communities in Ramallah and Birzeit.
Within the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, Fr. Diab serves as the diocesan secretary, chief justice of the diocesan ecclesiastical court, and chair of the Peace, Justice, and Integrity of Creation committee. Fr. Diab is also vice chair of the Al Ahli Arab Hospital (Gaza) board and the chaplain of the hospital’s Chapel of St. Philip the Evangelist.
Beyond the diocese, Fr. Diab is a sought-after speaker regarding the theological understanding of the Palestine-Israel conflict. He is a co-author of “A moment of truth: A word of faith, hope, and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering,” also referred to as the Kairos Palestine Document (2009). Fr. Diab serves on the board of Kairos Palestine, the movement which emerged from the creation of the document; and is also a member of the Palestine-Israeli Theologians Forum, the Palestine Advisory Council of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship, and chair of the UK Friends of the Holy Land local (Palestine) committee.
Fr. Diab holds a bachelor’s degree from the Near East School of Theology in Beirut, Lebanon, a Master of Sacred Theology from Chicago Theological Seminary in Chicago, Illinois, a Master of Theological Studies from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, and a Doctorate in Leadership and Ministry Development from Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia.
The Rev. Dr. Fadi Diab
Rector
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
Ramallah, Palestine
Deputy Executive Officer of General Convention, The Episcopal Church
Molly currently serves as the Deputy Executive Officer of General Convention for The Episcopal Church. She holds a PhD in Theology from the University of Exeter (UK), a Masters of Divinity from Yale Divinity School and Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Tufts University. She grew up in Maine and was ordained as a priest in 2005. She has served on the Bishops’ Staff in Connecticut, as a parish priest, and a hospital chaplain, as well as an adjunct professor focusing on ethics and pastoral care. Her doctoral research focused on suffering and grief. Her work, With Joyful Acceptance, Maybe was published in 2013 by Wipf and Stock. Molly previously served as co-chair of Young Clergy Women International (an ecumenical organization of clergy women under 40), and as a board member for the Society of Scholar Priests. She is currently co-chair of the Faith Communities Today research consortium, a board member for the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, and the Yale Alumni Nonprofit Alliance. She has two children and loves cooking, reading, travel, and spending time in the splendor of God’s creation.
The Rev. Molly James
Interim Executive Officer of General Convention
The Episcopal Church
New York, New York
Founder & President, The Village Square
Liz Joyner is the founder and president of The Village Square (https://villagesquare.us/), a nonprofit dedicated to building civic trust between people who don’t look or think alike in American hometowns. The Village Square was named by former U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe as one of eight organizations nationally to support if you’re concerned about building political common ground and called “a model for the land” by former NEH Chair Jim Leach. Receiving the Statewide Impact Award from Leadership Florida and nominated for the Inaugural Civilution Award from the Bridge Alliance, The Village Square came early to the notion that it’s in hometowns where we live our lives where our accelerating division is most effectively addressed — and is now intentionally creating a model for other communities to decrease division at scale.
Liz has a master’s degree in clinical social work, specializing in family systems theory — later stumbling upon its applicability to bigger “families” after her experience working in politics convinced her that the way we work out our disagreements in today’s public square is fundamentally flawed. She was named by USA Today as an “extraordinary American who is making our nation a better place,” nominated by Leadership Tallahassee as Leader of the Year, and named by the Tallahassee Democrat as one of “25 Women You Need to Know.” David Blankenhorn of Braver Angels called her “likely the best organizer working in this area today.”
Ms. Liz Joyner
Founder & President
The Village Square
Tallahassee, Florida
President, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
Bob Kendrick was named President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) in March 2011.Founded in 1990, the NLBM is the world’s only museum dedicated to preserving and celebrating the rich history of African-American baseball and its profound impact on the social advancement of America.
Kendrick’s appointment as President marked a celebrated return to the NLBM after a 13-month departure. He became the museum’s first Director of Marketing in 1998 and was named Vice President of Marketing in 2009 before accepting the post as Executive Director of the National Sports Center for the Disabled-Kansas City in 2010. Kendrick is responsible for the museum’s day-to-day operations and the development and implementation of strategies to advance the mission of the 501 c3, not-for-profit organization. Since rejoining the NLBM in 2011, he has helped orchestrate a nearly $20 million turnaround that has helped the NLBM regain its vitality and financial stability.
Kendrick began his association with the NLBM as a volunteer during his 10-year newspaper career with The Kansas City Star. As senior copywriter for The Star’s Promotions Department, he won, or was part of a creative team that won, numerous local and regional advertising and marketing awards. He developed the advertising concept and campaign that helped attract more 10,000 people (in less than 30 days) to see the debut of the Museum’s first traveling exhibit in the summer of 1993. The success of that promotion led to an appointment to the museum’s Board of Directors in the fall of ‘93.
In his nearly five years on the Museum’s board, Kendrick served as Secretary/Treasurer and chaired the Membership and Event Planning committees. He was co-chairman of the Museum’s grand-opening gala celebration that attracted nearly 2,000 people to Bartle Hall in November of 1997. The event raised more than $500,000 in support of the NLBM.
Kendrick has been responsible for the creation of several signature museum educational programs and events including the Hall of Game which annually honors former Major League Baseball greats who played the game in the spirit and signature style of the Negro Leagues.
And while he doesn’t fashion himself to be a historian, Kendrick has become one of the leading authorities on the topic of Negro Leagues Baseball history and its connection to issues relating to sports, race and diversity. He has been a contributing writer for “Ebony Magazine” and the national Urban League’s “Opportunity Magazine.”
In 2006, the Greater Kansas City Black Chamber of Commerce awarded him the Mary Lona Diversity Award and he was named “Citizen of the Year” by the Omicron Xi Chapter of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. In 2009, The Kansas City Globe named Kendrick to the paper’s list of “100 Most Influential African-Americans in Greater Kansas City.” In January 2014, Kendrick was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. The Kansas City Call newspaper named him the “Person of the Year” in 2020. In 2021, the Beta Lambda chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity named him “Business Person of the Year,” and he was bestowed honorary doctorate degrees from Judson University and William Jewell College, respectively in 2021.
A native of Crawfordville, Ga., Kendrick received a basketball scholarship to attend Park College (Parkville, Mo.) in 1980 and earned a B.A. degree in Communications Arts in 1985.
Mr. Bob Kendrick
President
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
Kansas City, Missouri
Canon to the Ordinary, Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut
The Rev. Canon Ranjit K. Mathews is a truth-teller, a pastor, a world-shaped disciple of Jesus, and a dedicated co-laborer in the building of God’s Beloved Community. He brings all of this to his ministry as the Canon to the Ordinary in the Episcopal Church in Connecticut (ECCT), a position he has held since October 1, 2023. Immediately prior to this position, he served as the Canon for Mission Advocacy, Racial Justice, and Reconciliation for nearly two years.
Before joining the ECCT staff, Ranjit served as rector of St. James Episcopal Church in New London, CT, where, in 2019, he was named a Community Partner by the New London chapter of the NAACP. He has also served parishes in the Dioceses of Massachusetts and Los Angeles.
Ranjit brings both a churchwide and Anglican Communion-wide background to his ministry. He spent almost four years on the staff of the Presiding Bishop as The Episcopal Church’s Partnership Officer for Africa, serving as a diplomat and relationship builder between The Episcopal Church and the Anglican provinces and dioceses in Africa south of the Sahara. In this role, he supported community development and mutual mission priorities, built relationships with churches and faith-based civil society organizations, and helped support local Episcopal Church engagement in global mission. Ranjit has also served as a member of The Episcopal Church’s Young Adult Service Corps (YASC) and as an Episcopal Volunteer in Mission in the Anglican Provinces of Southern Africa and Tanzania.
As a former clergy deputy from ECCT, Ranjit served as secretary of the Social Justice and International Policy Legislative Committee for the House of Deputies at the 80th General Convention and he chaired the interim Task Force of Dialogue with South Sudanese Anglicans and The Episcopal Church. Currently, he is member of the Episcopal Evangelism Society and Episcopal Relief & Development boards. Ranjit is also the clergy representative on The Episcopal Church’s delegation to the Anglican Consultative Council.
Ranjit lives with his spouse, Johanna, their two boys, Dhruv and Kabir, and their dog, Samara. He grew up in the Boston area and considers New England home. He loves national and local politics, pop culture, hip-hop, Boston sports, and being out in nature.
The Rev. Canon Ranjit K. Mathews
Canon to the Ordinary
Episcopal Church in Connecticut
Meriden, Connecticut
Dean and President, Berkeley Divinity School and McFaddin Professor of Anglican Studies and Pastoral Theology
Andrew McGowan was appointed Dean of the Berkeley Divinity School in 2014. An Anglican priest and historian, his scholarly work focuses on the life of early Christian communities, and on aspects of contemporary Anglicanism. He is author or editor of six books; his project of re-describing early eucharistic practice in relation to ancient food and meals is found in Ascetic Eucharists: Food and Drink in Early Christian Ritual Meals (Oxford, 1999) and in subsequent articles and chapters produced in conversation with members of the Meals in the Greco-Roman World group of the Society of Biblical Literature. In Ancient Christian Worship (Baker Academic, 2014; Italian translation Il Culto Cristiano dei Primi Secoli [Dehoniane, 2019]) he considers discursive and ritual practice in the ancient Church, including use of music and speech as well as sacramental ritual, acknowledging the diversity of early Christian belief and practice. He is currently working on how early Christian and other ancient Mediterranean groups used, changed, and created notions of sacrifice, and on the history and theology of bread.
Before coming to Yale, Professor McGowan was Warden of Trinity College at the University of Melbourne. He was also a member of the General Synod of the Australian Anglican Church and of its Doctrine Commission, contributing to published conversations on environmental theology, restorative justice, and the theology of worship, and was editor of the Journal of Anglican Studies for ten years. His sermons have been published in Ancient and Modern (Wipf and Stock, 2015) and in Seven Last Words: Cross and Creation (Cascade, 2021). His weekly lectionary commentary Andrew’s Version is at https://abmcg.substack.com (link is external).
The Very Rev. Dr. Andrew McGowan
Dean and President of Berkeley Divinity School and McFaddin Professor of Anglican Studies and Pastoral Theology
New Haven, Connecticut
Senior Vice President of Research and Data, Church Pension Group
Matthew Price serves as Senior Vice President for Research and Data at the Church Pension Group (CPG). In addition to serving as the Recorder of Ordinations, he is responsible for collecting insights that help inform CPG’s decisions around major policy initiatives in retirement benefits and also has involvement in technical system launches and integrations. He joined CPG in June 2001 as its director of analytical research.
Prior to joining CPG, he was Associate Director, Duke Pastoral Leadership Project, at the J. Ormond Center of the Duke University Divinity School. Previously, he was a Research Associate with the Religion in Urban America Program at the University of Illinois, at Chicago. His background also includes teaching positions at Duke, North Carolina State, and the University of Illinois at Chicago.
He received a BA in sociology from the London School of Economics, an MA in history from the University of Sussex, and a PhD in sociology from Princeton.
Dr. Matthew Price
Senior Vice President of Research and Data
Church Pension Group
New York, New York
Presiding Bishop, The Episcopal Church
The Rt. Rev. Sean Rowe, bishop of the Episcopal Dioceses of Northwestern Pennsylvania and Western New York, was elected and confirmed the 28th presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church on June 26 for a nine-year term beginning Nov. 1, 2024.
Rowe, 49, was ordained bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania in 2007 and became bishop provisional of Western New York in 2019. From 2014 to 2018, he served as bishop provisional of the Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem.
Born in Sharon, Pennsylvania, Rowe earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Grove City College, a master of divinity from Virginia Theological Seminary, and a doctorate in organizational learning and leadership from Gannon University.
Rowe was the youngest Episcopal priest in the U.S. when he was ordained in 2000 at age 24, and he was the youngest member of the House of Bishops when he was ordained and consecrated at age 32.
Known for his research and work on organizational learning and adaptive performance in the church, Rowe serves as parliamentarian for the House of Bishops and the Episcopal Church Executive Council; chair of the Episcopal Church Building Fund; and as a member of the Standing Commission on Structure, Governance, and Constitution and Canons. He also serves on the Greater Buffalo Racial Equity Roundtable. In 2018, he became the first bishop to serve on the House of Deputies Committee on the State of the Church.
Rowe is married to Carly Rowe, a Christian educator; they have a daughter named Lauren.
The Rt. Rev. Sean Rowe
Presiding Bishop
The Episcopal Church
