"Peace rooted in justice" Celebrating 40 years of commitment and growth.
We gather in 2024 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of BPFNA-Baptists for Peace. For four decades, we have witnessed how our roots have grown and strengthened, establishing a solid trunk that sustains our commitment to building peace rooted in justice anywhere in the world or on our Continent. In the story of the parable of the Sower in Mark 4:1-9, we find a source of inspiration to continue our work for peace with renewed vigor and dedication.
"Peace Rooted in Justice," inspired by the parable of the sower in Mark 4:1-9, invites us to a deep reflection on the essential connection between peace, justice and care for our environment, fundamental pillars in our effort to achieve reconciliation and harmony. Through this parable, Jesus teaches us how the act of sowing resembles sharing the message of the kingdom of God, where the sower symbolizes those committed to spreading the Good News and working to establish peace and justice in our society, our world. The seeds, which have different fates depending on where they fall, represent the variety of human responses and the diverse social circumstances we face.
During this week, we will take a journey through our history, examining the challenges that we as BPFNA have overcome and that have marked our path to the present. However, our gaze will not stop at the past; we will also analyze the current context, equipping us with essential tools that strengthen our roots and solidify our trunk, allowing us to move firmly into the future.
Board of Directors Class of 2024
We will welcome the following people to our board of directors at the membership meeting:
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With an impressive tenure spanning over a decade in her industry, Ciara Lilly currently holds the position of Senior Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion at Diversified Maintenance. Within this pivotal role, Ciara masterminds and executes the organization's nationwide strategy for diversity, equity, inclusion, and supplier diversity.
Under Ciara's leadership, Diversified Maintenance has spent over $50 million with small and diverse businesses, established a Corporate Diversity and Inclusion training program, and created over $20 million in new business growth.
Ciara's qualifications are impressive, having earned an Executive MBA from the Jack Welch Management Institute and a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She has also completed certificate programs at renowned institutions such as Dartmouth University, Cornell University, the University of South Florida, and the University of Richmond, providing her with expertise in diversity and inclusion, MBE executive management, and women's entrepreneurship.
Ciara has received several awards throughout her career for her leadership and commitment to community building. She was recognized as one of the Top 15 Chief Diversity Officers by Diversity Global Magazine, one of the Top 50 Women Leaders in North Carolina by Women We Admire, named one of Business Equality Pride Magazine's 40 Leaders Under 40, acknowledged as one of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Black Chamber of Commerce's 30 under 30, and awarded the Recognition of Excellence and Emerging Entrepreneur Award by the Charlotte LGBT Chamber of Commerce.
Ciara is pursuing her Master of Divinity at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School. She serves as a Ministerial Candidate under the leadership of Rev. Dr. Clifford Matthews, Senior Pastor of St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church in Charlotte, NC. She is also an active member of CNBC's Workforce Executive Council, Chief, the Birmingham Business Alliance's Inclusive Procurement Council, and Charlotte Business INClusion's Advisory Council.
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Rev. William Moses Summerville, born and reared in Champaign/Urbana, Illinois, as the youngest of three to his parents Deacon Willie T. and Valerian Alexander Summerville, who migrated from the segregated south of Arkansas.
His faith journey began being the first baby dedicated at the Canaan Missionary Baptist Church of Urbana, IL, where he was saved, baptized, and confirmed his call to preach. He was later ordained through this faith community after completing his first year of seminary at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL.
His professional ministry began working with military personnel as an Air Force Reserve Chaplain and Youth Minister at a Presbyterian Church after seminary; where he later progressed to spiritual care in medical settings, academia, and churches.
Currently, he is the Founding Pastor of Kingdom Come Community Church and serves as a Hospital/Hospice Chaplain throughout the counties of Los Angeles and Orange, California for about 20 years.
He is no stranger to BPFNA/Bautista Por La Paz, where he has planted his Baptist stakes within the American Baptist Churches Rochester/Genesee Region. Prayerfully, initiating his term as a new BPFNA Board Member, he will have completed his doctoral work introducing a new concept, cultural metriopathy, where empathy can be measured to assess the potential for an equitable and egalitarian society.
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The Rev. Abigaíl Medina Betancourt is the National Coordinator for Intercultural Engagement at American Baptist Home Mission Societies. In this position, she encourages sensitivity to cultural awareness, supports ministries in multicultural and intercultural contexts and works to strengthen American Baptist leaders’ capacity to implement effective ministries.In the past she has served as Puerto Rico Volunteer Coordinator for American Baptist Home Mission Societies’ “Rebuilding, Restoring, Renewing Puerto Rico” initiative from 2018 to 2020. And from 2021-2022 she was called to serve as the full-time Intercultural Ministries strategist.
She has served in short-term mission in Thailand, Haiti, and the Republic of Georgia in addition to speaking at theological ecumenical encounters in Tanzania and Brazil. Her passion for mission defines every aspect of her ministry. In 2018, she earned a Master of Divinity degree at Seminario Evangélico de Puerto Rico and in 2020 a certificate as Project Management Professional (PMP®). She is an ordained minister in Iglesias Bautistas de Puerto Rico since 2022.
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A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Ashlee studied religion and sociology at Wake Forest University and received an M.Div. from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1991. For four years, she served as the Southern Baptist chaplain at Harvard University and then spent a year working with Sabeel Liberation Theology Center and the Middle East Council of Churches in Jerusalem. In 1998 Ashlee completed an S.T.M. degree in religion and society from the Andover Newton Theological School. Having received standing in the American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts, she served as an interim pastor in Allston, MA and as an associate pastor at Seattle First Baptist Church.
In September 2003, Ashlee was blessed to be called to pastor the The First Baptist Church in Jamaica Plain. Over her years as pastor in JP she has overseen the renewal and rebuilding of the congregation and the church building and has encouraged the church to embrace social justice ministries as integral to the gospel message of Jesus. She is married to Lance Laird and mom to Naim, Aidan and Mycah.
Evening Preachers
Meet our Summer Camp preaching leaders.
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Nancy Hastings Sehested is a retired pastor and prison chaplain. Ordained in 1981, she pastored churches in Atlanta, Memphis and Asheville. She served as a state prison chaplain in North Carolina in high-security prisons for men for over a decade. She is a graduate of City University of New York and Union Theological Seminary in New York City. She is married to Ken. They have two daughters, four grandchildren and one friendly mutt.
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Rev. LeDayne McLeese Polaski has been the Executive Director of MeckMIN (Mecklenburg County's Metropolitan Interfaith Network) since October 2019. She previously served on the staff of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America ~ Bautistas por la Paz for 21 years, ending as Executive Director, and she began her career as the Minister of Youth at Myers Park Baptist Church.
LeDayne and her husband Tom are active members of Park Road Baptist Church. Their daughter Kate is a recent graduate of Meredith College and is teaching high school in Wake County, NC. LeDayne loves “being outside and moving” so she loves walking, hiking, swimming, kayaking and more. She’s an avid reader, a crossword enthusiast, a podcast addict and an obsessive fan of Jeopardy.
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Missy, originally from Sylva, NC, graduated from Mars Hill College and later attended Candler School of Theology at Emory University. In 1998 she was an intern with BPFNA. Her career has been diverse, spanning roles in HIV/AIDS education, refugee resettlement, community engagement in higher education, affordable housing, and more. Ordained by Circle of Mercy in 2014, she now serves as co-pastor there. Beyond her pastoral duties, she's actively involved in Reclaim Mission, advocating for affordable healthcare in Western North Carolina. Married to David, a firefighter, they have a daughter, Abby, and a pandemic puppy named Blaze. She was part of an all clergy improv group called the Irreverands.
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Javier Ulloa Castellanos is a pastor with an uninterrupted ministerial career in various churches in Mexico, including the founding and continued leadership of Shalom Baptist Church in Mexico City. For 30 years he served as General Director and professor of the Baptist Seminary of Mexico. He has collaborated as a teacher in multiple theological institutions and in universities as a professor of philosophy. His commitment to peace and human rights has led him to participate in various national and international movements and organizations committed to peace building and conflict transformation. He has a solid academic and pastoral background.
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Rev. Cliff Matthews is pastor of St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church in Charlotte, NC. He is also a therapist in private practice and in the Mecklenburg County jail. A U.S. Air Force veteran, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, FL, and the Master of Divinity degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. Cliff did additional studies at the McColl School of Business, Charlotte, NC; the Gardner Webb Divinity School, Boiling Springs, NC; and the Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, MA.
Plenary Sessions
The purpose of these plenary sessions is to offer participants an intimate and enriching view of the experiences, challenges and successes of BPFNA (Bautistas por la Paz) members over the years of their commitment to the organization. These personal narratives will serve as a source of inspiration, guidance and encouragement to all participants, highlighting the relevance of an ongoing commitment to building peace and justice. However, we will not limit ourselves to recalling the past; we will also explore the current context we are living, and equip ourselves with the tools to continue transforming our surroundings into spaces of peace with justice for everybody.
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The Reverend Allison J. Tanner, Ph.D., is a pastor, educator and organizer working for justice and healing in her community. She works for the American Friends Service Committee as the National Organizer of the Apartheid-Free Communities initiative, as the Pastor of Public Witness at BPFNA partner congregation Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church in Oakland, California, and she serves as the Alliance of Baptist’s Palestine Advocacy Representative.
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Ken Sehested is the founding director of the BPFNA, opening its first office in September 1984. He later was the founding co-pastor of Circle of Mercy Congregation in Asheville, NC. He is the author of several books, most recently "In the Land of the Willing: Litanies, Prayers, Poems, and Benedictions." He continues writing at prayerandpolitiks.org.
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Rev. Ray Schellinger is a Global Servant with International Ministries of the American Baptist Churches, serving now as the Global Consultant for Refugees, Immigrants and Displaced people. In that role he coordinates with partner organizations and IM colleagues around the world to provide shelter, trauma care, legal support and other resources for some of our world's most marginalized people. After many years outside the US, he and Adalia are now adapting to life in Norristown, PA. Their proudest contributions to this world are their two adult children, Michelle and Melissa, who are both, in their own unique ways, investing their whole hearts into bringing healing and restoration to their fellow human beings and to the planet we all share.
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LeeAnn McKenna is a Canadian Baptist minister, living with her husband, Jeffrey, on the Indigenous territory of the Anishnabek, Wendat and Attawandaron peoples of Turtle Island. LeeAnn’s calling to peacemaking has taken her over 35 years to conflict zones around the world where she has had the privilege of working with organisations and communities across gender, class, race, tribe and religion in their search for peace. She has two daughters, Emily and Gillian, and two grandchildren, Owen and Morgan.
Children Leadership
Michelle is a long time attendee of the Peace Camp, they started as a youth participant in High School, and they have continued attending as a leader for the children's conference for many years. As a child therapist, Michelle finds it vital to support youth in exploring their own identities and individual voices. Michelle is especially passionate about the role children have in peace building, and the ways they can work together to make a difference. Michelle's hope is that the children during the conference will be able to build relationships with one another, learn from each other's experiences, and feel empowered once they return to their own communities. More than anything, Michelle's hope is that the kids will have loads of fun with each other through music, play, exploring, and learning.
Youth Leadership
Amy Armstrong has spent 17 years in the Triangle, much of that time supporting families of young children. After years of serving in a variety of lay leadership roles at Watts Street Baptist Church in Durham, she joined the staff of Binkley Baptist Church in Chapel Hill in 2022. Among her life experiences she has repaired wheelchairs and other durable medical equipment, taken college students to Disneyland as part of a job and lived in Peru. Within her work in faith communities. She is known for her love of scripture and pursuit of justice.
Amy comes to us with a wide variety of skills and qualifications in addition to having a Master of Divinity degree (from Beeson Divinity School) and being fluent in Spanish. She also has skills in making balloon animals, building picnic tables for squirrels, replacing toilets and garbage disposals and baking apple pie! She is a self-proclaimed goofball who loves jigsaw puzzles, Animal Crossing, all manner of games and those weird little logic puzzles that everyone compares to the LSAT. She has been married to Joy Turner for 14 years and they have a 12 year-old daughter, Alysa.
Our Artwork
IThe artwork developed for the BPFNA-Bautistas por la Paz Summer Conference 2024 is inspired by its identity represented in a living heart, rooted in justice, based on the parable of the sower narrated in Mark 4:1-9, intrinsically connecting peace, justice and care for creation, central aspects in the work of peacemaking and reconciliation. The heart is composed of seeds in movement, branches, leaves and flowers of diverse colors that have expanded around the world and beyond borders, where the seeds of love, compassion and solidarity sown 40 years ago find a favorable environment to flourish and bear fruits of reconciliation and transformation.
Made by Gustavo Casadiego, from Barranquilla, Colombia.
VOLUNTEERS SUMMER CONFERENCE 2024
Join the volunteer team at the BPFNA-Baptists for Peace 2024 Summer Conference! We are looking for people to attend and care for infants during the evening worship services and also people to volunteer as interpreters or translators during the small group workshops. Make a difference and be part of this experience of peace and community! Contact us for more details.
WORKSHOPS
We're looking for workshop proposals. Join us in equipping peacemakers to seek peace rooted in justice. Share your expertise and stories of how you're making peace in your community.
Day pass
$30.00 USD (Program, Lunch & Dinner for the day)
Week pass
$120.00 USD (Program, Lunch & Dinner - from Monday evening to Friday night)
Night Program (Evening worship)
$10.00 USD
(We are offering Free registration for local people from this counties, but if you are able to pay your registration fee to support others to come, you are welcome to do it)
Day Pass / Week pass for local people (Madison & Buncombe County)
We also invite you to become a 40th Anniversary Conference sponsoring partner. Conference sponsors will help make sure our conference is a success. Associated recognition spreads the word about the work you are doing, connecting you with peacemakers around the world. If you are interested in sponsoring this year's Peace Camp, Peace Rooted in Justice, please email Erica Saunders at erica@bpfna.org
* Costs to the left of the slash represent prices for organizations & individuals in the United States and Canada. Costs to the right represent prices for those in Latin America.
SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
Location
Mars Hill University
100 Athletic St
Mars Hill, NC 28754
Mars Hill University is located in one of the most beautiful regions of the Eastern United States, the mountains of Western North Carolina. The town of Mars Hill, which derives its name from the university, has a population of about 2,200. It is approximately 20 minutes north of Asheville, NC and approximately 45 minutes southwest of Johnson City, TN.