Dr. Thema Bryant is the past president of the American Psychological Association, the leading scientific and professional organization representing psychology with more than 120,000 members (apa.org).

Affectionately known as “Rev. Raquel,” the Reverend Raquel S. Lettsome, Ph.D. is committed to excellence and loves to help people move forward in their lives and ministries. Building on her core values of scholarship, integrity, and authenticity, Dr. Lettsome informs and inspires congregants and classes through her preaching, teaching, writing, and online course and webinar experiences. To this end, she founded Raquel S. Lettsome, LLC. to use these gifts in the service of churches and educational institutions to help them advance their missions.

Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson is president & CEO of the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) and CDF Action Council. CDF envisions a nation where marginalized children flourish, leaders prioritize their well-being, and communities wield the power to ensure they thrive. Wilson is board chair for the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) and the Forum for Theological Exploration (FTE).

The Reverend Eboni Marshall Turman, Ph.D. is the associate professor of theology, African American religion, and African American studies at Yale University Divinity School in New Haven, CT. A first-career concert dancer and ordained National Baptist preacher, her research interests span the varieties of twentieth and twenty-first century US theological liberalisms, most especially Black and womanist theological, social ethical, and theo-aesthetic traditions.

Reverend Dr. Danielle L. Brown finds great joy and satisfaction in learning, living, and preaching the Gospel. Rev. Dr. Brown was Licensed to preach on July 17, 2003, by Cathedral International (The Historic Second Baptist Church) in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, and ordained by the American Baptist Churches on June 3, 2012.

An increasingly sought-after preacher and workshop leader with the ability to communicate across multiple generations, Dr. Brown has had the opportunity to share the Gospel throughout this country and in South Africa.

Rev. Teresa L. Fry Brown, PhD is the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Bandy Professor of Preaching at Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Additionally, she is the fourteenth Historiographer, the editor of the A.ME. Review Executive Director of Research and Scholarship and President of the General Officers’ Council of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Dr. Fry Brown served as Director of Black Church Studies at Candler 2007-2015. Dr.

Marianne Williamson is an internationally acclaimed lecturer, activist and author of four #1 New York times bestselling books. She has been one of America’s most well known public voices for more than three decades. Seven of her twelve published books have been New York Times best sellers and Marianne has been a popular guest on television programs such as Oprah, Good Morning America, and Bill Maher. A quote from the mega best seller A Return to Love, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley is the exciting, gifted and anointed Senior Pastor of the historic Alfred Street Baptist Church (ASBC) in Alexandria, VA. A courageous, dynamic, and visionary leader, he is only the eighth pastor in the church’s 220-year history of worshipping Christ while serving humankind. Under Dr. Wesley’s extraordinary leadership, the Alfred Street Baptist Church has grown from 2,500 members to 10,000 members, and 80 active ministries with an emphasis on children’s ministries and missions. Since 2020, Alfred Street Baptist Church, under the guidance and direction of Dr.

Dr. Cornel West, affectionately known to many as Brother West, is the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Chair at Union Theological Seminary. Dr. West teaches on the works of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as well as courses in Philosophy of Religion, African American Critical Thought, and a wide range of subjects -- including but by no means limited to, the classics, philosophy, politics, cultural theory, literature, and music. He has a passion to communicate to a vast variety of publics in order to keep alive the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Reverend Dr. Renita J. Weems is a writer, a minister, a biblical scholar, public intellectual, and ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal church. Rev. Dr. Renita Weems earned a Ph.D. degree at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1989 making her the first African American woman to earn a doctorate in Old Testament Studies. She received her Master of Divinity from Princeton Seminary, and her undergraduate degree from Wellesley College. In addition to being a former professor at Vanderbilt Divinity School (1987-2004), Rev. Dr.