Politics in the Pulpit

Avery Davis Lamb is Co-Executive Director of Creation Justice Ministries. Creation Justice Ministries’ mission is to educate, equip and mobilize communions and denominations, congregations, and individuals to protect, restore, and rightly share God’s creation.

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. He serves on the board for The Center for Spirituality in Nature and is a Fellow with the Re:Generate Program at Wake Forest Divinity School and the Foundations of Christian Leadership Program at Duke Divinity School.

Avery has a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Sustainability from Pepperdine University, a 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 virtue of “climate hospitality.”

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 York, Maine and beyond.

Rev. Dr. Timothy Levi Adkins-Jones is the Pastor of the historic Bethany Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey. A son of the church, Rev. Adkins-Jones was led to faith in Christ at an early age by his grandfather, the Rev. Leroy Jones, at Pilgrim Journey Baptist Church in his hometown of Richmond, Virginia. Before being called to Bethany, Rev. Adkins-Jones faithfully led congregations in Massachusetts and Connecticut, building a young legacy of community activism and Christian service. He gladly serves as part of the leadership team for the New Jersey Together and as a trustee for both the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice and Salvation and Social Justice. 

Embodying the best of the Black preacher-scholar tradition, Rev. Adkins-Jones has a PhD in Practical Theology with a Homiletics concentration from Boston University School of Theology. He also holds a BA in Psychology from Amherst College, and an MDiv from the BUSTH. A sought-out lecturer and speaker across the nation, Rev. Dr. Adkins-Jones is an Assistant Professor of Homiletics at Union Theological Seminary after previously teaching courses in homiletics and polity at Yale Divinity School. Rev. Dr. Adkins-Jones is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. He is also the proud husband of Rev. Dr. Amey Victoria Adkins-Jones and the father of four loving and amusing souls, Sofia, Ezekiel, Isabella, and Judah Nwà who keep him young and busy.

Rev. Dr. Neddy Astudillo, a Venezuelan eco-theologian and Presbyterian pastor based in the US, is the coordinator of the Spanish Climate Justice & Faith online Certification program at the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary. Since 2018 and early 2023, Neddy also worked coordinating GreenFaith’s Latinx and Latin America Organizing and Training work. After earning her Master in Divinity at McCormick Theological Seminary in 1998, Neddy co-founded the Angelic Organics Learning Center, a farm-based organizing and educational nonprofit in Northern Illinois, where people connect with food, farming and caring for the Earth; and from 2005 to 2018 was the pastor of a Latino (ELCA-PCUSA) Latino ministry in Beloit, Wisconsin (USA). In 2013 Neddy earned her Doctor of Ministry in “Greening the Church” from Drew University. Since then, Neddy has taught Eco-Theology courses at seminaries in Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Bolivia, and the US; has been a spokesperson on environmental and climate justice in countless faith-based gatherings in the US and Latin America; and has been published in diverse media. In 2020, Neddy received the Presbyterians for Earth Care annual award for her commitment to Environmental Justice. 

Mike Kennedy leads Interfaith Power and Light’s 2024 Faith Votes Campaign after managing their 2022 campaign and coordinating our 2020 campaign’s volunteers. Before providing services to several business clients in recent years, Mike served as director of Florida operations for MLB’s Pittsburgh Pirates, executive director of the Bradenton (FL) Downtown Development Authority, and director of discipleship at Harvest United Methodist Church. Mike also coordinated the launch of the Solar and Energy Loan Fund’s “Southern+ Climate Equity Accelerator” in 2023. In its first year, the accelerator helped 16 emerging green lenders across the South access technical assistance, loan capital, grant opportunities, and more. A native of Pittsburgh, he lives in Florida where he enjoys spending time with his family, supporting his favorite soccer and baseball teams, and pondering the meaning of life.  

The Rev. Dr. Carolyn J. Sharp, professor of homiletics at Yale Divinity School, writes about biblical narrative art, feminist perspectives on power, and ecotheology as resources for preaching and congregational faith formation. Sharp is the author of eight books, including a Micah commentary currently in press. In that volume, she uses Micah’s prophetic call for justice  to frame reflections on humans’ exploitation of biomes and disregard for creaturely suffering, urging us toward renewal of lifeways that honor the living community of Earth. An Episcopal priest, Sharp serves as Preacher in Residence at St. Thomas’s Episcopal Church in New Haven, Connecticut.

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.

Creation Justice Ministries’ mission is to educate, equip and mobilize communions and denominations, congregations, and individuals to protect, restore, and rightly share God's creation. Creation Justice Ministries’ membership includes Baptist, Historically Black, Orthodox, Peace, and mainline Protestant traditions. With a particular concern for people who are most vulnerable and marginalized, Creation Justice Ministries provides collaborative opportunities to build ecumenical community, guides people of faith and faith communities towards eco-justice transformations, and raises a collective witness in the public arena echoing Christ's call for just relationships among all of creation.

The mission of Lexington Theological Seminary is to prepare faithful leaders for the church of Jesus Christ and, thus, to strengthen the church’s participation in God’s mission for the world. Lexington Theological Seminary seeks to be a servant of the church preparing men and women for ministry in congregations through:

• innovative instruction
• flexible curriculum
• congregational experience
• compassionate engagement with the needs of society

The Seminary offers an online program that is competency-based, congregation-centered and developmental in its commitment to prepare people for leadership in congregational ministry. As an integral part of the church, the seminary serves the church as a theological resource and as a center of continuing education for clergy and lay leaders.