Chad Boseker
Chad Boseker is a youth minister at First Christian Church in Jeffersonville, Indiana, serving in that position for the past ten years. He loves being active but also enjoys a good movie night at home. He is involved in the High School Camp every summer at Bedford Camp, which is a highlight. He is involved in the community, especially with organizations that work with young people on issues like standing against racial injustice and working for LGBTQIA+ inclusion. Chad is currently a student at Lexington Theological Seminary and is hoping to go on to a Doctor of Ministry program once he completes his Master of Divinity.
Sarah Gershon
In 2018, Sarah Lynne recognized a call to pastoral ministry and began studying at Christian Theological Seminary. She is on a slow, part-time track towards dual Master of Divinity and Master of Theology degrees. She is going to school part-time because she also lives as a catholic worker with her husband Brett and two sons, Alasdair and Iver. The catholic worker is an intentional community (unaffiliated with the Roman Catholic church) where members offer beds in their homes for people who would otherwise be without housing. Sarah Lynne also works at First Christian Church in Bloomington, Indiana as the Student Associate Pastor overseeing faith formation and outreach. She believes that service and advocacy are most sustainable and life-giving when accompanied by affectionate relationships and feels called to lead Christians deeper into the familial, inter-dependent community. She also loves theological study, biblical exegesis, and translating both into relevant sermons. Most of her free time is devoted to baking and Sacred Harp singing.
Erika Harris
Erika Harris is a native of Cleveland Ohio and has attended Johnson C. Smith University, Cleveland State University, Indiana Wesleyan University and is, at present, a second-year seminarian attending Lexington Theological Seminary. She also serves as an Associate Minister at Bethany Christian Church in Cleveland Ohio. She holds a Bachelor’s in history with a concentration in African American studies and Criminal Justice certification. She has also earned a Master in Business Management and is certified as a professional Business & Family Mediator. She is currently matriculating in pursuit of her Master of Divinity while daily assisting her colleagues as a technical expert and conducting employee case reviews for the U. S. Government. A nontraditional student, she is most appreciative for the potential and value seen in her as well as the encouragement and investments made in her.
William Jackson
William DeShay C. Jackson is a third-year Master of Divinity student at Brite Divinity School, a fourth-generation Disciple of Christ, and is seeking ordination with the Mid-America Region of the Christian Church (DoC). They earned a bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Culver-Stockton College with an emphasis in piano and voice. Outside of Culver-Stockton, DeShay has performed as a solo and collaborative musician with a host of instrumental and vocal ensembles in Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, and Texas, providing music at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, Louisiana, Illinois Music Educators Conference, and multiple schools, churches, and homes. DeShay currently serves as Minister of Music for First Christian Church in Granbury, Texas, Vice-President for Brite Black Seminarians, serves on the Brite Chapel Planning Team and participates with the National Benevolent Association through XPLOR and the Disciples LGBTQ+ Alliance. DeShay loves sloths, jazz, and aspires to be a “Womanist Co-Conspirator.”
Erma Sinclair
Erma A. Sinclair is a certified grant writer and seminarian, currently working in Fremont, California. Erma is an alum of UC-Berkeley and currently works with non-profits and in the field of education. Her work engages issues of race, community development, and spiritual formation. As a current student working toward a Master of Divinity at Brite Divinity School, Erma’s area of study focuses on trauma-informed ministries that are healing centered. Her educational and professional passions are to ensure equitable access to quality resources and safe places of worship. Through her work, she believes that ministries that are trauma-informed will become a key piece in the healing of racial trauma within their communities. Erma is an expert writer, skilled researcher, and a pursuer of justice and equity for all marginalized people.
Allison Bright
Rev. Allison Bright (she/her) is a lifelong member-turned-clergy of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She received her Bachelor of Arts from Truman State University before pursuing a Master of Divinity at Brite Divinity School. In her final year at Brite, she continues to be a Walker Ministerial Preaching Scholar and begins serving as Vice-Moderator of the Brite Student Association. Allison is honored to serve the denomination on the Bilateral Dialogue Team with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
Rev. Bright is commissioned in the Greater Kansas City Region as an ordination candidate with the support of the Community Christian Church (DoC). She faithfully served for two years as an Assistant Minister at University Christian Church (DoC) of Fort Worth before beginning her current call as an Assistant Minister at South Hills Christian Church (DoC). Allison finds fulfillment in working with communities navigating change to promote wholeness and healing. Whether it is achieved in pulpits, through educational experiences, or over cups of tea, Allison maintains that, together, we can fulfill the inclusive and unified vision our Creator desires for their world. While all of this is perfectly proper for an introduction, what Allison really wants you to know about her is that outside of church and school, she enjoys tea (preferably peppermint), musical theater (Come From Away), and a well-made Manhattan.
Olivia Gray
Olivia Catherine Gray moved from the Washington, D.C. area to Dallas to work as project manager for Legacy of Hope on the first Shark Tank project to bring economic development to the South Dallas community. She also worked for over thirty years as a respiratory therapist. She is a Ministry Partner at The Gathering, A Womanist Church in Dallas, Texas where she enjoys sharing her gifts of singing and leading a Bible study on Rev. Dr. Irie Session’s book, “Badass Women of The Bible.” Olivia has a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice and is a Master of Divinity student at Brite Divinity School. She is a contributing author in “The Gathering, A Womanist Church.” She enjoys quilting, painting, listening to music, and traveling in Europe.
Edward Ivey
Edward “Teddy” Ivey is in his third year of studies at McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University in Atlanta, Georgia, and is working towards a Master of Divinity with a certificate in Pastoral Care. In addition to his studies, Ivey is the Director of Congregational Care at Sandy Springs Christian Church in Sandy Springs, Georgia. He is completing his Clinical Pastoral Education at Emory Johns Creek Hospital during the summer of 2021 and hopes to continue work in pastoral care after graduation this coming year. He lives in Alpharetta, Georgia with his wife, Lauren, and his one-year-old daughter, Emily.
Wesley King
Wesley King is an Alabama native living in Nashville, Tennessee for the last eight years. He currently works as the Program Coordinator for New Church Ministry for the denomination. He is a Master of Divinity Student at Lexington Theological Seminary. In addition to work and school, Wesley is also the Artistic Director of Nashville in Harmony, the LGBTQ and Ally chorus in Nashville. Currently, he is working on a project that involves writing new music for worship that is centered around justice and inclusion and plans to use this as the basis of his Capstone Project in his MDiv studies. He resides in East Nashville with his husband, Tyler, and their retired racing greyhound, Fuel.
Neddy Yong
Nereyda “Neddy” Yong, MBA, is a proud Latina and first-generation seminarian at San Francisco Theological Seminary who is also a spiritual director and ordination candidate within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She was raised in a Pentecostal Christian congregation pastored by her grandparents and her spiritual journey has fueled her passion to strengthen and support efforts of liberation for minoritized peoples (especially Latina) in the church and society at large. You will often find her doing what she loves: meeting new people, enjoying nature, trying new food, dancing, laughing with her family (she has a partner and three beautiful children), and adventuring to new places, experiencing first-hand the beautiful diversity present in the world.