Obery Hendricks is one of today’s most provocative and innovative commentators on the intersection of religion, politics and social policy in America.  A former Wall Street investment executive and past president of Payne Theological Seminary, the oldest African American theological seminary in the United States, Hendricks is currently professor of biblical interpretation at New York Theological Seminary. A widely sought lecturer and media spokesperson, Hendricks is a featured writer for the political blogs Godspolitics.com and Faithfuldemocrats.com. “Essential reading for Americans” is what The Washington Post called Hendricks’ most recent book, The Politics of Jesus: Rediscovering the True Revolutionary Nature of Jesus’ Teachings and How They Have Been Corrupted. Social critic Michael Eric Dyson describes it as “an instant classic” that “immediately thrusts Hendricks into the front ranks of American religious thinkers.”

Andrew Root is assistant professor of youth and family ministry at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. He has worked in congregations, para-church ministries and social service programs. Root is the author of Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry: From a Strategy of Influence to a Theology of Incarnation. In Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry, Root explores the origins of a dominant ministry model for evangelicals, showing how American culture has influenced our understanding of the incarnation. Drawing from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, whose work with German youth in troubled times shaped his own understanding of how Jesus intersects our relationships, Root recasts relational ministry as an opportunity not to influence the influencers but to stand with and for those in need.