Keynote Speaker:
John Dominic Crossan

World-renowned scholar and theologian, John Dominic Crossan, will be our featured keynote speaker for all 3 days of the Congress. His lectures will offer an in-depth exploration into the historical Jesus and the practical implications of Jesus’ movement building for today.

PECI Popular Education

Isabel Vinent Grimany, Ph.D., Lashae Copeland, M.A., and Reca Fernandez, Ph.D.

"Liberatory education is fundamentally a situation where the teacher and the students both have to be learners, both have to be cognitive subjects, in spite of being different," (Paulo Freire, A Pedagogy for Liberation). [PECI’s] methodology is engaging and visual and makes sure that participants bring out their knowledge, becoming active subjects. They are one of the few consultants using a popular education methodology, from a Latin American perspective.

Black Mountain Theology

Timothy Conder, Ph.D.

Tim has worked for over three decades in ministry, community organizing, and academics leading in congregations, organizing communities, graduate schools, and social movements. He is the founding pastor of Emmaus Way in Durham, NC. and a theological ethnographer researching theo-political social movements, the identity development of publicly engaged faith leaders, and community organizing.

Rev. Dr. Waltrina N. Middleton

Rev. Dr. Waltrina N. Middleton has made a global impact as a passionate preacher and keynote speaker. She has shared her vision and message of faith, love and justice in diverse settings worldwide. As a poet, activist, vocalist, social critic, community organizer and healer, Rev. Dr. Waltrina N. Middleton remains committed to actualizing the vision of a Beloved community, embracing the principles of Ubuntu: "I am because we are. We are because God is."

CSPL’s Theology

CSPL’s theology is grounded in the historical Jesus. We ground our community organizing and theological formation in the scholarship of Jesus in first-century Palestine.