We’re celebrating one year of brave conversations about formation, justice and peace!

In this special Anniversary episode of Peace Talks, Director of Content and Community Katie Haseltine interviews hosts Vanessa Sadler and Bishop Todd Hunter!

Vanessa is a trauma-informed, certified spiritual director and Todd is an author, speaker and teacher who founded the Center and The Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others [C4SO].

They discuss their favorite Peace Talks guests, why formation is always central to justice, what catalyzes their own pursuit of justice and more. Bonus: Find out what makes Vanessa and Todd’s friendship so sweet!

End Slavery Tennessee’s (ESTN) mission is to promote healing of survivors and strategically combat human trafficking in Tennessee. ESTN began as a grassroots nonprofit but was quickly elevated to a state expert on local human trafficking and survivor aftercare.

ESTN provides specialized case management and comprehensive aftercare for human trafficking survivors and tactically addresses the problem through advocacy, prevention and training of front-line professionals.

Opening in 2022, ESTN is creating a Survivor Restoration Campus that will offer a 2-year Residential Program that begins and ends with safe and stable housing; an oasis where survivors will build community for healing, housing and hope. Research and experience indicate that survivors require two years of stabilization, resources and care to truly address their trafficking-related trauma.

Curtis Zackery (CZ) joins PEACE TALKS to discuss what it means to truly rest, how Jesus embodied rest, and how the need for rest is deeply embedded in our human DNA.

In this interview, he reveals how our misaligned view of rest has its roots in an identity that is out of rhythm with God, and how practicing Sabbath guides us toward a purposeful and sustainable life with Jesus.

CZ is a pastor and author of Soul Rest: Reclaim Your Life. Return to Sabbath. CZ also helms an organization called Find Rest that seeks to help spiritually depleted Christian leaders find rest.

Rev. Dr. Soong-Chan Rah is Robert Munger Professor of Evangelism at Fuller Theological Seminary and the author of The Next Evangelicalism (IVP Books, 2009); Many Colors (Moody, 2010); Prophetic Lament (IVP Books, 2015); co-author of Forgive Us (Zondervan, 2014); Return to Justice (Brazos, 2016); and Unsettling Truths (IVP Books, 2019).

Soong-Chan received his B.A. from Columbia University; his M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary; his Th.M. from Harvard University; his D.Min. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and his Th.D. from Duke University.

Rah is formerly the founding Senior Pastor of Cambridge Community Fellowship Church (CCFC), a multi-ethnic church living out the values of racial reconciliation and social justice in the urban context. He has previously served on the boards of World Vision, Sojourners and the Christian Community Development Association.

He has extensive experience in cross-cultural preaching as well as on numerous college campuses. Soong-Chan has been a main stage speaker at the Urbana Student Missions Conference, the Congress on Urban Ministry, the Urban Youth Workers Institute Conference, the CCDA National Conference, the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary National Preaching Conference, the Fuller Missiology Conference, the Justice Conference, and Verge, Catalyst, and Calvin Worship Conferences.

Kat Armas is a Cuban American writer and podcaster from Miami, FL. She holds a dual MDiv and MAT from Fuller Theological Seminary where she was awarded the Frederick Buechner Award for Excellence in Writing, and is currently pursuing a ThM at Vanderbilt Divinity School. Her first book, Abuelita Faith: What Women on the Margins Teach Us About Wisdom, Persistence and Strength, sits at the intersection of women, decolonialism, the Bible, and Cuban identity. She also explores these topics and more on her podcast, The Protagonistas, which centers the voices of Black, Indigenous, and other women of color in theological spaces. Kat is currently living in Nashville with her spouse and new baby while working on her second book, Sacred Belonging: A 40-day Devotional on the Liberating Heart of Scripture.

Russell Moore is Public Theologian at Christianity Today and Director of Christianity Today’s Public Theology Project.

Russell was President of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention from 2013 to 2021. Prior to that role, Moore served as provost and dean of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he also taught theology and ethics.

Dr. Moore is the author of several books, including The Courage to Stand: Facing Your Fear Without Losing Your SoulOnward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel and The Storm-Tossed Family: How the Cross Reshapes the Home. A native Mississippian, he and his wife Maria are the parents of five sons.

Anthony Hendricks is the co-founder and director of The Public in Franklin, TN. Hendricks’ drive, passion, love for humanity, and analytical mind has helped him serve high-paced, innovative, strategically positioned ministries over the past 25 years. Following his career in the corporate space, he entered full-time ministry as the Assistant Pastor at a local Church in Franklin, TN where he helped build a thriving multi-ethnic body. He has helped other multi-ethnic ministries grow and thrive in other cities. The world of racial reconciliation became his calling, and he’s been engaging Christ-followers and non-Christ followers in honest conversation and action around the issue of biblical unity. Anthony holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biblical Studies from Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, IL, where he graduated with honors, and a Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership (summa cum laude), from Williamson College.

Gabrielle Beam is the Pastor of Mary of Bethany Anglican Mission and works with many pastors and ministry leaders on the forefront of revival breaking out in Connecticut and the Northeast. In addition, she is the founder of Bridgeport Arise – a work focused on building unity in the body of Christ, Rise to Read – a work focused on eliminating early childhood illiteracy, and most recently RESPONSE, a global prayer movement that was launched as a local movement on May 14, 2020. Pastor Gabrielle is an ordained Pastor in both the Anglican Communion and the non-denominational Church. She brings over twenty years of effective intercessory and prophetic prayer, compassionate ministry, church leadership, and mentoring, and has ministered to thousands, including lay leaders and pastors, regionally and internationally, and is a member of the Board of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of Greater Bridgeport & Vicinity as its Chaplin. Gabrielle holds a Master of Divinity and a Master of Sacred Theology from Yale Divinity School, and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from California Polytechnic State University.  Beyond growing up in the church, being a former student-leader in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and working as a missionary in India, Gabrielle’s background includes corporate management, contract negotiation, membership in the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG/AFTRA), and training at the National Academy of Dramatic Arts in Washington, D.C.

Justin Giboney is an attorney, political strategist and ordained minister in Atlanta, GA. He is also the Co-Founder and President of the AND Campaign, which is a coalition of urban Christians who are determined to address the sociopolitical arena with the compassion and conviction of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Mr. Giboney has managed successful campaigns for elected officials in the state and referendums relating to the city’s transportation and water infrastructure.

In 2012 and 2016, Georgia’s 5th congressional district elected him as a delegate for the Democratic National Convention. A former Vanderbilt University football player and law student, Justin served on the Urban League of Greater Atlanta Board of Directors. He’s the co-author of Compassion (&) Conviction – The AND Campaign’s Guide to Faithful Civic Engagement and has written op-eds for publications such as Christianity Today and The Hill.

Sheila Wise Rowe is a truth-teller who writes passionately about matters of faith and emotional healing. She advocates for the dignity, rights, and healing of abuse survivors, those carrying racial trauma, and racial conciliation. Sheila holds a Master’s degree in Counseling and has lived in the USA, Paris, France and Johannesburg, South Africa.

For over twenty-five years Sheila has been a counselor, educator, writer, spiritual director, and speaker. She is a member of the Community Ethics Committee of Harvard Medical School, a policy-review resource for its teaching hospitals.