Event Schedule
Welcoming Remarks – Jeff Renner
Introduction to Jim Wallis – Jeff Renner
Framing the Question – Father William Treacy
Keynote – Jim Wallis
Panel Discussion – Jeff Renner:
Aneelah Afzali, Esq., Pastor Kelle Brown, Pastor Terry Kyllo,
Estela Ortega, Jim Wallis, Rabbi Daniel Weiner
Audience Questions with Responses
by Jim Wallis and Panelists – Jeff Renner
Closing Remarks – Jeff Renner
Participants
Jim Wallis is president and founder of Sojourners in Washington, DC. a non-profit faith-based organization, network, and movement whose mission statement calls for “putting faith into action for social justice.” He is editor-in-chief of Sojourners magazine and web site, a bestselling author, public theologian, national preacher, social activist, and international commentator on ethics and public life. His latest book, America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America, released in January 2016. Wallis has written ten previous books, including The (Un)Common Good and the New York Times bestsellers God’s Politics and The Great Awakening. He is a frequent speaker in the United States and abroad, has written for major newspapers, does regular columns for Huffington Post and TIME.com, and appears frequently on national TV, radio and entertainment shows. Wallis also teaches at Georgetown University and has taught at Harvard University. He served on President Obama’s first White House Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships and as the chair of the Global Agenda Council on Values of the World Economic Forum.
Aneelah Afzali, Esq. is an attorney and the Executive Director of MAPS-AMEN (American Muslim Empowerment Network). She serves as a Governing Board Member of the Faith Action Network and as Director of Legal Clinic at the Muslim Community Resource Center. Her work with faith and non-faith communities has helped to build bridges of alliance and to combat Islamophobia with facts over fiction, faith over fear, and love over hate.
Reverend Kelle Brown is Lead Pastor of Plymouth Church, United Church of Christ, a church she sees as a progressive voice of inclusion to all people. Focused on social justice, she believes in “engaging in hands-on ministry to the least and the last and the most vulnerable.” She served previously in Seattle as Pastor for Mary’s Place, and in Richmond, Virginia at both Woodville Presbyterian Church and in a ministry serving the homeless. She is completing her Doctorate of Ministry.
Pastor Terry Kyllo is Director of Neighbors in Faith, an interfaith effort to recognize Muslims as neighbors and partners in building a more peaceful world, authorized by the Episcopal and Lutheran churches in western Washington. He is the author of Being Human and Apprenticeship and the recipient of several awards, including the Faith Action Network Interfaith Leadership Award in 2016 and the Interfaith Leadership Award from the Muslim Association of Puget Sound in 2017. He serves as President of the Treacy Levine Center Board of Directors.
Estela Ortega is the Executive Director of El Centro de la Raza, a Seattle-based civil rights, human services, educational, cultural, and economic development organization. Her distinguished career of political advocacy, service, and community organizing has been recognized by many awards, including the “Champion of Justice Award” from Congressman Adam Smith. She is responsible for the development of Plaza Roberto Maestas, a $45 million community-inspired transit oriented affordable housing project.
Senior Rabbi Daniel Weiner believes passionately in building Judaism for the 21st century and in healing the world through social justice. His leadership at Temple de Hirsch has brought growth and innovation in worship, “rabcasts” on video, and a rock band he leads in Rock Shabbat services. Weiner wrote Good God: Faith for the Rest of Us about “the dangerous polarization between fanatical faith and soulless secularism.” He and his team won the FAIN award for their campaign for gun responsibility.
Father William Treacy is the Co-Founder and President for Life of the Treacy Levine Center, an author, and a beloved and pioneering voice in interfaith understanding. Born in Ireland, he served in many parishes in Western Washington, including St. Patrick and our Lady of the Lake in Seattle, St. Michael in Olympia, and St. Cecilia in Stanwood.
Jeff Renner is a nine-time Emmy award winning Meteorologist and Science Journalist, speaker, and author who focuses now on “the intersection of science, the environment and faith.” He serves on the Board of Directors of the Treacy Levine Center.