Meet Our Inspiring 2026 Speaker Lineup
Rev. Dr. Jim Antal
Special Advisor on Climate Justice to the General Minister + President, United Church of Christ
Rev. Dr. Jim Antal, author of CLIMATE CHURCH, CLIMATE WORLD, serves as Special Advisor on Climate Justice to the General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ. From 2006-2018, Antal led the 350 UCC churches in Massachusetts as their Conference Minister and President. He has preached on climate change since 1988 in over 400 settings and has engaged in non-violent civil disobedience on numerous occasions.
Rev. Dr. Rosetta Robinson Battle
Founder, The Heartsing Table
Rev. Dr. Rosetta Robinson Battle is Executive Director of the Council of Churches of Greater Washington. A Brooklyn native and bi-vocational minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), she has served as a teacher, trustee, and community advocate whose leadership has helped thousands of Maryland residents move from crisis to stability. She is active in ecumenical and interfaith work and organizes community dialogue on poverty, civic engagement, and climate and creation care.
Vic Collins
MDiv Student, Princeton Theological Seminary
Vic Collins (they/them) is a queer, Black trans nonbinary writer, educator, and scholar hailing from Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Currently, an MDiv Candidate at Princeton Theological Seminary, they hold a Master of Theology and Ecology from Princeton Theological Seminary and an MFA in Nonfiction Creative Writing from The New School.
Rev. Carol Devine
Director of Blessed Tomorrow, ecoAmerica
Rev. Carol Devine is Director of Blessed Tomorrow, uniting faith communities in creation care. An ordained Disciples of Christ pastor, she founded Green Chalice and has served in ministry and theological education. She holds degrees from Lexington Theological Seminary, University of Kentucky and from Transylvania University. She enjoys hiking, kayaking, cycling, gardening, and reading.
Brooke Elness
Youth Activist, EcoFaith Network NE-MN Synod ELCA
Brooke Elness is a senior in high school and will be attending University of Wisconsin- Steven’s Point in the fall, majoring in Wildlife Ecology and Management and minoring in Law and Policy. She serves as the Youth Liaison on the NE-MN ELCA Ecofatith Leadership Board. She is passionate about political activism focused around the protection of the BWCA and native pollinators, and has led and spoken at a variety of youth, faith, and environmental conferences and gatherings.
Sister Sue Ernster, FSPA
FSPA President, Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration
Sister Sue Ernster serves as president of FSPA and previously ministered as vice president (2018–2022) and treasurer (2013–2022). She holds a B.S. in accounting and an M.A. in pastoral ministry, with experience in campus ministry, parish administration, and faith formation. Sister Sue represents FSPA on several local, national, and international boards, including the Economy of Francesco, and is committed to advancing impact investing that supports justice, stewardship, and care for all creation.
Addie Flesch
ELCA Climate Leader, St. Olaf College
Addie Flesch is a senior at St. Olaf College, majoring in Religion and Psychology with a minor in Environmental Studies. She is a student researcher focusing on ELCA creation care from a young adult perspective, a member of the St. Olaf Student Congregation Council, and an Interfaith Fellow through the Lutheran Center. She has also served four summers on staff at Rainbow Trail Lutheran Camp in Hillside, Colorado.
Ben Fulgencio-Turner
Senior Director Climate for Health, ecoAmerica
Ben Fulgencio-Turner leads the Climate for Health program, a national initiative advancing climate leadership and solutions that protect personal and community health. He began his career as a community organizer in New Orleans, supporting neighborhood leaders rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina. For over 14 years, he has worked within safety-net health systems, forging cross-sector partnerships to address the root causes of health inequities. He holds a BA from Tulane University and an MPP from Georgetown University.
Raphaela Gold
Student, Princeton University
Raphaela (Raphi) Gold is a senior at Princeton University majoring in English, with minors in environmental studies and journalism. She manages a student-run sustainable garden and co-founded a campus hub of the Sunrise Movement to advance climate justice. Before college, she served on the founding leadership board of the Jewish Youth Climate Movement and spent a gap year learning organic agriculture. She enjoys running, cloud-watching, geothermal energy, and writing long letters to friends.
Jim Harper
Former Chair, Creation Care + Climate Justice Committee, United Church of Gainesville
Jim W. Harper, a Florida native, co-founded the Creation Care & Climate Justice Committee at the United Church of Gainesville, hosting summits and coordinating local efforts. He works in communications for the University of Florida College of Medicine and has led strategic communications for NOAA and the states of Hawai‘i and Florida. A former journalist with *The Biscayne Times*, he is also a decorated swimmer who completed a solo swim around Key West.
Rev. Mary Ann Harrison
Pastor, Christ the Shepherd Lutheran Church
Pr. Harrison serves as pastor of Christ the Shepherd Lutheran Church in Altadena, California, and is a graduate of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary’s Climate Faith & Justice program. A board member of Lutherans Restoring Creation and climate justice advocate, she supports communities impacted by the Eaton Fire. Working with faith leaders and policymakers, she advances equitable recovery efforts and supports legislation to hold major polluters accountable for climate-fueled disasters.
Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson Author, What If We Get It Right?
Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist, policy expert, and writer advancing climate solutions. She is co-founder of Urban Ocean Lab and Roux Distinguished Scholar at Bowdoin College, and author of the New York Times bestseller What If We Get It Right?. She also co-edited All We Can Save, co-created How to Save a Planet, and helped shape ocean-centered climate policy through the Blue New Deal. She serves on the boards of Patagonia and GreenWave.
Julie Lehman
Engagement Manager, Creation Care Alliance of WNC
Julie serves as Engagement Manager for MountainTrue’s Creation Care Alliance, equipping congregations to advance environmental sustainability and justice across Western North Carolina. She builds interfaith partnerships, strengthens Covenant Partner Congregations, and develops local leaders for community-led climate solutions. Julie holds degrees from Davidson College and Columbia Theological Seminary and has held leadership roles with Presbyterians for Earth Care, Warren Wilson College, and Montreat Conference Center. She lives in Asheville and enjoys pottery and time with her three rescue dogs.
Kathy Martin
Creation Care Co-chair, Camp Chapel United Methodist Church
Kathy grew up in a small waterfront community where her family practiced sustainable food gathering and environmental stewardship for generations. Throughout her adult life, she has volunteered across environmental, housing, homelessness, and racial justice efforts, meeting communities where they are and building connections across movements. Inspired by the Academy of Spiritual Formation, Kathy also writes poetry. Drawing on six decades of experience, she now focuses on mentoring and sharing her knowledge in response to a deep spiritual calling.
Ruby Martinez
Program Coordinator, Eden Village Camp
Ruby grew up in New York City and discovered her passion for the interconnectedness of life at age nine at Eden Village Camp. She explores the relationship between spirituality and the natural world through youth mentorship, nature-based practices, and climate leadership. Ruby has worked with the Jewish Youth Climate Movement and participated in the Adamah Farm Fellowship. She now works at Eden Village Camp, helping cultivate joyful, earth-based Jewish community and environmental stewardship.
Brett Matulis
Communities Program Director, ecoAmerica
Brett is the Communities Program Director and leads ecoAmerica’s work to engage and activate America’s communities in climate action, advocacy and collective action. His work is concerned with helping cities, counties, states, and community-based national organizations address the country’s most pressing environmental challenges. His work is guided by the priorities of people whose voices are too often neglected or ignored within environmental decision-making.
Bishop Michael Mitchell Presiding Prelate, Sixth Episcopal District AME Church
The Right Reverend Michael Leon Mitchell is the 134th elected and consecrated Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and Presiding Prelate of the Sixth Episcopal District. A lifelong AME member, he pastored Saint Stephen A.M.E. Church in Jacksonville, Florida, for 24 years before his election to the episcopacy. He holds degrees from Wilberforce University, Turner Theological Seminary, and United Theological Seminary and is committed to servant leadership and faithful community building.
Rev. Phoebe Presson
Executive Assistant Bishop Teresa E. Snorton, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
Rev. Phoebe Presson is an international missionary serving across Africa, India, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and the Caribbean. She is Executive Assistant to Bishop Teresa E. Snorton of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, providing strategic leadership for the denomination’s global mission. A consultant and curriculum writer, she contributes to the Lilly Endowment–funded Reimagining Children’s Ministry Initiative and advocates for disaster recovery and equity in underserved communities.
Rev. Ryan Pryor
Lead Pastor, Mission Hills Christian Church
Ryan Pryor (he/him) has served as lead pastor at Mission Hills for ten years. He is a graduate of Baylor University and Fuller Theological Seminary, an interfaith spiritual director, certified grief companion, and meditation teacher. An ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), he has served in ministry for two decades across Texas, Virginia, Hawaii, and California, and is currently a Doctor of Ministry candidate.
Rabbi Jennie Rosenn
Founder + CEO, Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action
Rabbi Jennie Rosenn is the Founder and CEO of Dayenu, mobilizing the American Jewish community to confront the climate crisis through spiritual audacity and bold political action. A longtime leader in the Jewish social justice movement, she previously served at HIAS and the Nathan Cummings Foundation. Ordained by Hebrew Union College–JIR, she has twice been named one of the *Forward*’s 50 most influential Jews in America.
Paavo Rundman
ELCA Climate Leader, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Paavo Rundman is a senior at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. His academic and spiritual interests in Lutheran traditions were shaped by the social advocacy of his childhood congregation and church camps. He works as a musician, video technician, and writer, studying film, art, history, religion, and ancient languages. Since a sophomore-year research role in environmental theology, he has explored the intersections of theology, ethics, and the environment.
Ellen Siegel
Climate Speaker Specialist, The CLEO Institute
Ellen Siegel retired from over three decades and finance in order to pursue her passion for Climate education. As well as having been a National Park Service volunteer range leading visitors into Active Alligator holes for fun. She is also committed to creating Climate Conversations wherever she goes when enough citizens understand understand the climate crisis, political, and economic change will follow. She is currently employed by the CLEO Institute as a Climate speaker specialist. She also created the Green team at Temple Shir Shalom in Gainesville, Florida.
Rev. Dr. Da’Henri Thurmond
Senior Pastor, St. Paul CME Church
Rev. Dr. Da’Henri Thurmond, Sr. has served as pastor of St. Paul CME Church in Savannah, Georgia, for 17 years. A founding member of the Savannah Alliance of Pastors, he serves on multiple community boards, including Carver State Bank and St. Joseph/Candler Hospital System. A fellow of the Black Theology and Leadership Institute at Princeton Theological Seminary, he has received numerous honors, including the NAACP Presidential Trailblazer Award and the Courageous Faith Award.
Stephen Tickner
Pastor, North Chevy Chase Christian Church
Rev. Stephen Tickner (he/him) is pastor of North Chevy Chase Christian Church on the Maryland–Washington, D.C. border. Ordained in 2015, he previously served nearly nine years as Senior Minister of Central Christian Church in Danbury, Connecticut, and has held regional and national leadership roles in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). A graduate of Union Theological Seminary (MDiv), Stephen has also worked as a community organizer, chaplain, educator, and faith-based nonprofit leader.
Mary Triandafilou
Green Team Co-chair, Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church
Retired public librarian, active Green Team member of our church and enthusiastic grandmother of 5.
Dr. Rebecca Wiese
Physician + Retired ELCA Deacon, Quad Cities Interfaith Creation Care
Born in Davenport, Iowa, they completed the Honors Program in Medicine at Northwestern University and earned an MD in 1979. Board-certified in Family Medicine, they served over 20 years in community health centers and 11 years as a hospitalist at Genesis Medical Center. A graduate of Wartburg Theological Seminary, they were called to Grace Lutheran Church and continue ministry partnerships with Iglesia Luterana Guatemalteca.
Rev. Dr. Randy Woodley
Founder + Co-Sustainer, Eloheh Indigenous Center for Earth Justice/Eagle’s Wings
Rev. Dr. Randy Woodley is an award-winning author, speaker, and educator, and a tribally recognized Keetoowah descendant (UKB). The author of 14 books, he weaves Indigenous wisdom, ecological sustainability, and spirituality. A Distinguished Professor Emeritus and active farmer, his work has been featured in The New York Times, Time Magazine, and The Huffington Post. With his wife, Edith, he co-sustains Eloheh Indigenous Center for Earth Justice and leads Sho-Kee Cultural Consultants.
Musical Offerings From
Pax Ressler
Performer/Musician, Pax Ressler
Pax Ressler (they/she) is a non-binary transfemme composer and artist using music to inspire social change. They foster collective creativity through political cabaret, communal singing, and advocacy. Their compositions have been performed worldwide, including at The Guggenheim and Woolly Mammoth Theatre. Find them at paxressler.com.
The Many
Music, The Plural Guild
The Many is a creative collective crafting inclusive music and gatherings that help us experience God beyond toxic religion. Their songs, spoken word, and rituals encourage self-acceptance, remind us we are loved, and inspire care for each other and the world.
National Faith + Climate Forum 2026 