Land Acknowledgements and Beyond

Vance Blackfox, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, serves the churchwide organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) as the Director, Indigenous Ministries and Tribal Relations.  An alumnus of Texas Lutheran University (TLU) and the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC), Vance has previously served the ELCA in multiple capacities, from being elected and serving as National President of the Lutheran Youth Organization during his TLU days, to later working as a diversity and cultural education professional for the Women of the ELCA, Augsburg Fortress Publishers, California Lutheran University, ELCA Youth Gathering, and LSTC’s Youth in Mission. In addition to serving numerous ELCA and ecumenical teams and committees throughout the years, he is at present the Indigenous Theologian and Coordinating Team Member for the ELCA’s Theological Round Table, as well as creator and producer of the Vine Deloria Jr. Theological Symposium hosted at LSTC. Vance is also the founder and director of Other+Wise, a multi-site cultural education and cultural immersion program for youth and student groups from across the country. He previously served as the Director of Communications at the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, as the Director of Communications for Native Americans in Philanthropy, and has held executive director positions at the Haskell Foundation, which supports Haskell Indian Nations University, and the Oaks Indian Mission. Vance teaches about many things Indigenous as founder and primary of Blackfox Institute, he has served as the Guest Curator of the Indian Museum at the University of Texas at San Antonio Institute of Texan Cultures, and presently serves as the Indigenous Theologian for the Faith-Based Initiative for the City of San Antonio, where he currently resides.

Dr. Jerusha Matsen Neal is Assistant Professor of Homiletics at Duke Divinity School. Her scholarly work examines the action of the Spirit on the performative borders of body and culture. Her research interests focus on postcolonial preaching, climate stewardship, preaching and gender, and a theology of the Spirit in sermon performance.

Her most recent book, The Overshadowed Preacher: Mary, the Spirit, and the Labor of Proclamation (Wm. B. Eerdmans), asks the sticky question of what is meant when preaching is described as “anointed.” It challenges preachers to leave behind false shadows and be overshadowed by the Spirit of God. It received a 2020 Christianity Today Jesus Creed Book Award for the Preaching Life.

Neal is an ordained American Baptist minister with broad ecumenical experience, most recently serving as a Global Ministries missionary to the Fiji Islands through the United Methodist Church. During her years in Fiji, she served as Dean of Studies at Davuilevu Theological College, the oldest theological seminary in that nation. 

She has written numerous articles and book chapters reflecting on preaching in the Fijian context and the importance of a global homiletic conversation (selected examples include: The Bible in Folklore Worldwide (2021); The Future Shape of Christian Proclamation (2020); and Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology (2021)). A former actress and playwright, she has authored a collection of dramatic monologues, Blessed: Monologues for Mary (2012).

Neal has spent her ministry preaching in cross-cultural spaces and bridging denominational communities. God’s work in these in-between locations has convinced her that preaching matters now more than ever.  Serving as keynote preacher for such events as the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly, the Young Preacher’s Festival, and the Homegrown North Carolina Women’s Preaching Festival, Neal is committed to encouraging the voices of young preachers ­— and particularly the voices of women — in the risky proclamation of gospel hope. In 2020, she was awarded the Exemplary Teacher of the Year award from the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist Church.

Rev. James Bhagwan is married to Maelin (Fiji/Kiribati/Samoa) and has two children. He is an ordained minister of the Methodist Church in Fiji and is licensed to preach and celebrate the sacraments in the Anglican Diocese of Polynesia. A descendant of indentured labourers from India, James has roots in the vanua of Noco (Notho) in the province of Rewa and maternal links to the Vanua of Macuata (Mathuata). He holds a Bachelor of Divinity in Ecumenical Studies (Hons.) from the Pacific Theological College in Suva, Fiji and a Master of Theology in Christian Social Ethics from the Methodist Theological University in Seoul, South Korea. He was elected General Secretary of the Pacific Council of Churches at its 11th General Assembly in Auckland in 2018. He is a passionate advocate for ecological stewardship and climate justice, with particular focus on care for the ocean and self-determination issues, and is also an active gender justice advocate. He is a keen Stand-Up-Paddler and long-time volunteer chaplain and crew member and trustee of the Fijian traditional voyaging society, the Uto Ni Yalo Trust, and mentors several ocean health collectives.

Madeline Bugeau-Heartt serves at The BTS Center as a Program Associate. She is a graduate of the Harvard Divinity School and NYU Tisch School of the Arts. A longtime experimental theater and film-maker, Madeline is passionate about creating spaces for people to tap into their kindest, most imaginative selves, especially as we navigate this radical transition that our beloved, climate-changed world demands. She draws from this artistry, her “catholic-adjacent” mysticism, as well as her past-lives as farmer and caregiver to practice into better ways of being with others. When not working, Madeline can be found taking lengthy walks, spending time with her cherished family and friends, and lifting weights; she is forever cooking up new ways to build neighborhood in her home of Belfast, Maine and beyond.

Avery Davis Lamb is Executive Director of Creation Justice Ministries. Avery is Executive Director of Creation Justice Ministries. Avery has a background in both ecological research and faith-based environmental organizing, studying ecology in various ecosystems and organizing faith communities across the country in support of action on environmental justice. Previously he has worked for Sojourners and Interfaith Power & Light and he currently serves on the board for The Center for Spirituality in Nature. 

Avery has a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Sustainability from Pepperdine University, Master of Environmental Management in Ecosystem Science & Conservation with a certificate in Community-Based Environmental Management from the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University, and a Master of Theological Studies, with a certificate in Faith, Food & Environmental Justice from Duke Divinity School. His research focuses on the role of religious communities in building climate resilience and adaptation, with emphasis on the virtues and practices of climate hospitality.

With roots dating back to 1814, The BTS Center is a private operating foundation in Portland, Maine, building on the legacy of the former Bangor Theological Seminary. Today The BTS Center seeks to catalyze spiritual imagination, with enduring wisdom, for transformative faith leadership. Guided by the vision of human hearts renewed, justice established, and creation restored, The BTS Center offers theologically grounded programs of continuing education and spiritual / vocational formation, including workshops and retreats, learning cohorts, courses, public conversations, and projects of applied research, all with an intention to cultivate and nurture spiritual leadership for a climate-changed world.