Jubilee Topics and Speakers

The CCO’s annual Jubilee Conference offers speakers on a wide variety of topics and interests. Here are some of the topics and speakers for Jubilee 2011, February 18-20 in Pittsburgh:

Engaging and Creating Culture

Soong-Chan Rah is the author of The Next Evangelicalism, on the changing face of American Christianity and on the cultural captivity of the American evangelical church.
Gabe Lyons is the co-founder of Catalyst and founder of “Q,” a learning community that mobilizes Christians to advance the common good. Co-author of the must-read book, UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity and Why It Matters, Lyons is a respected voice for a new generation of Christians, being featured by CNN, The New York Times, Newsweek, and USA Today.
David H. Kim is the Director of the Gotham Initiative at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, and he runs an intensive leadership development fellowship for young professionals who seek to live out their faith meaningfully through their work in the City. Before directing Gotham, David started a campus ministry at Princeton University called Manna Christian Fellowship and served as the executive director for over 15 years.  David was convinced that the heart and the head shouldn’t be separated, especially on the campus, and Manna has developed into a ministry that develops and engages a gospel worldview focusing on how the gospel renews both private and public worlds.
Rob and Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma are co-founders of the non-profit organization *culture is not optional. They formed *cino in 2001 when they realized that others shared their post-college sense of isolation and desire to keep learning in community how to live faithfully in the everyday stuff of life. *cino’s work has extended to a bi-weekly online magazine called catapult, the biennial Practicing Resurrection conference, a quarterly print publication called road journal and a growing series of topical books that includes Eat Well: A Food Road Map and Do Justice: A Justice Road Map. In 2009, *cino purchased an historic 27,000 square foot school in Three Rivers, Michigan, to renovate as a center for intergenerational education, service and imagination.
Anne Jackson is an author, speaker and activist who lives in the Nashville area. Her book, Mad Church Disease: Overcoming the Burnout Epidemic (Zondervan), was released in February 2009. Her newest book, Permission to Speak Freely: Essays and Art on Fear, Confession and Grace came out this year to rave reviews. Her most requested topics include: The Power of Confession, God’s Heart for the Poor, Using Social Media for Social Justice, Avoiding Burnout by Becoming Spiritually Connected, and Healing from the Shame of Pornography Addiction.
Jason Locy is Principal of FiveStone, a brand and design firm. As a sought-after Creative Director, he helps organizations move from standard marketing hype to long-term sustainable strategies. Jason’s marketing campaigns have garnered national attention, and numerous national and international design publications have featured his work. While working with one foot in mainstream culture and the other in the church world, Jason observed firsthand how society has influenced the church. This led to his first book (written with Tim Willard), Veneer: Living Deeply on a Surface Society, a cultural theology that examines how the Language of Culture affects humanity and what our Christian response should be.
Tim Willard is a freelance writer, musician, and theology student. He writes articles, collaborates with best-selling authors and has served as the small-group study editor for organizations such as Catalyst, Q and Chick-fil-A Leadercast. The book he co-wrote with Jason Locy, Veneer: Living Deeply in a Surface Society explores how God’s idea of humanity is quite different from the world’s. It is also far more rewarding. This life begins when we dare to strip away our veneers and enter a life of freedom, honesty and rare beauty.
B.J. Woodworth is the lead pastor of The Open Door, a five-year-old PCUSA missional church community in Pittsburgh’s East End. He serves the community by being a visionary guide, worship choreographer, mission equipper, community catalyst, and prophetic poet. B.J. is also the abbot of World Christian Discipleship (WCD) at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, a year-long, missionally-contemplative communal experience in spiritual and vocational formation for young adults.
Denise Frame Harlan completed an MFA in Creative Writing through Seattle Pacific University acclaimed low-residency program, while parenting and working as a blog moderator for More magazine. She now teaches The Great Conversation, a course on reading, writing and thinking for incoming students at Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts. Denise wrote as essay for The Spirit of Food: 34 Writers on Feasting and Fasting Toward God, edited by Leslie Leyland Fields, featuring writing and recipes by Wendell Berry, Andre Dubus, Lauren Winner and Luci Shaw. Denise writes regularly for Catapult and Comment magazines, for The Englewood Book Review, and for crafting magazines such as Interweave Spin-Off and Living Crafts.
Eric Dolce currently serves as campus minister for the CCO (Coalition for Christian Outreach) at Prince George’s Community College in Largo, Maryland. He is also a staff member at The New Macedonia Baptist Church, where he leads the Youth and Young Adult Ministry. Eric’s passion for connecting faith in Christ to all areas of life led to his 2007 book, Jesus and Jigga: Where Hip-Hop Meets Scripture.

Biblical Christianity for the 21^st Century

James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, North Carolina; President of Serious Times, a ministry which explores the intersection of faith and culture and hosts churchandculture.org; ranked adjunctive professor of theology and culture on the Charlotte campus of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, which he also served as their fourth president; and author of over a dozen books which have been translated into ten languages, including Gold Medallion nominees Serious Times and A Search for the Spiritual, Christianity Today book-of-the-year award winner Embracing the Mysterious God. His most recent publications include A Mind for God and Christ Among the Dragons.
Anthony Bradley is associate professor of theology at The King’s College in New York City and a research fellow at the Acton Institute. He studies and writes on issues of race in America, hip hop, youth culture, issues among African Americans, the American family, welfare, education, and modern international forms of social injustice, slavery, and oppression. His dissertation explores the intersection of black liberation theology and economics.
Kyle Bennett teaches philosophy and theology at Azusa Pacific University, in Azusa, California and Providence Christian College in Pasadena, California. Prior to teaching, Kyle was a youth and associate pastor at a church plant in Orlando, Florida. Kyle has written for Religious Studies Review, Comment Magazine, and Evangelical Interfaith Dialogue, and presented at conferences such as the American Academy of Religion and the College Board Annual AP Conference. Kyle is a member of the Southern California Faith and Order Commission and in 2007 was an Emerging Leader Representative at the Christian Churches Together Conference.

History

John Fea is Associate Professor of American History and Chair of the History Department at Messiah College. He is the author of Was America Founded as a Christian Nation: A Historical Introduction and writes extensively at The Way of Improvement Leads Home.
Eric Metaxas is the New York Times bestselling author of two critically acclaimed biographies: Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy—A Righteous Gentile vs. the Third Reich and Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery. Metaxas is not only a serious biographer, he has also written for VeggieTales!

Architecture

Mel McGowan is president and founder of Visioneering Studios, an awarded global church architecture, urban planning, and interior design firm with national offices in Southern California, Denver, Chicago and Charlotte

The Arts, Music, Film, and Dance

Leigh Ann Dull has worked with Campus Crusade for Christ for almost 25 years on college campuses across the United States and overseas in Hungary, Spain and Mongolia. Since January 2005, she has served as the director of transFORM Arts Ministry NYC, and also works part-time with the International Arts Movement, facilitating church and para-church partnerships.For the past six years, she has directed a summer 5.5-week program for art/creative students in New York City, where they focus on the integration of art and faith. Leigh Ann seeks to help artists/creatives engage their art and their faith and pursue both with excellence.
Alissa Wilkinson worked as a business analyst on Wall Street, edited a technical magazine at New York University, founded The Curator, and developed programs and resources at International Arts Movement before accepting a full-time faculty position teaching writing at The King’s College in New York City. She has been associate editor of Comment since 2008, and her articles and film criticism have appeared in a variety of publications including Christianity Today, Paste, The Globe & Mail, WORLD, Relevant, and Prism.
Emily SoRelle Adams is a freelance dancer and teacher based in New York City. , Emily has been blessed with the opportunity to work with several companies, including the Metropolitan Opera, New Chamber Ballet, Rebecca Kelly Ballet, CT Ballet and Eglevsky Ballet. She is a member of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, where she was one of the founding leaders of the Dancers Vocational Group, a ministry of the Center for Faith & Work.
Kenyon Adams is a singer, songwriter and actor with a passion to see artists living out their kingdom callings, in community. He was named a White House Presidential Scholar in the Arts under Bill Clinton, and received a BFA in Theater from Southern Methodist University, Meadows School of the Arts, where he received the Greer Garson Foundation Award for Acting. He currently serves on the Alumni Board for the National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts.
Zach Williams is a singer/songwriter, listen to some of his songs from his album “Story Time” at MySpace. http://www.myspace.com/zacharywilliams
Colonizing the Cosmos is an indie-folk band that has gained the accolades of listeners, press and radio, all consistently noting the “other-worldly” nature of their dense tunes, catchy melodies, and clever, honest writing.
Charlie Peacock is a Grammy Award-winning, multi-format songwriter, publisher, record producer, and filmmaker. His credits include Brooke Waggoner, Ten Out of Tenn, Switchfoot, Sixpence None The Richer, among hundreds. Film and TV music credits span from Fame in the 1980s to current shows like Vampire Diaries and Pretty Little Liars. A long-time advocate for social justice, Peacock continues to work directly with International Justice Mission and The ONE Campaign, a fruitful relationship that began in 2002 when he hosted co-founder Bono and, later, ONE President David Lane, putting them in front of Nashville’s artist community.
Jeffrey Overstreet has written weekly film columns and reviews for Christianity Today, helped establish ArtsandFaith.com, and contributed articles to Paste, Books and Culture, The Curator, Relevant, and Image. Currently, he contributes two film reviews to ImageJournal.org each month. He is the author of a “travelogue of dangerous moviegoing” called Through a Screen Darkly, as well as four fantasy novels: Auralia’s Colors, Cyndere’s Midnight, Raven’s Ladder, and The Ale Boy’s Feast.
Andi Ashworth is a writer (author of Real Love for Real Life: The Art and Work of Caring), gardener, cook, lover of good books, and has recently finished her Master of Arts in Theological Studies. She, along with her musical husband, Charlie Peacock (Ashworth), are the Co-Founders/Executive Directors of Art House America, with branches in Nashville and Dallas, Texas. The Art House America mission is to contribute to the making of artists and artful people who become highly imaginative and creative culture-makers, who continue to mature spiritually, love well, and make the kingdom of God visible.
Ken Heffner is Director of Student Activities and Director of the Festival of Faith and Music at Calvin College, a Christian college in Grand Rapids Michigan. Calvin has a weekly concert series which has included Lupe Fiasco, Joanna Newsom, Sufjan Stevens, The Decemberists, Iron and Wine, Mavis Staples and Switchfoot, to name a few.

Sports

Daniel Sepulveda is the Super Bowl-bound punter for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He shares the joys and frustrations of pursuing sports as an profession.

Public Policy, Justice, and Politics

Lisa Sharon Harper is the author of Evangelical Does Not Equal Republican…Or Democrat, co-founder and Executive Director of NY Faith & Justice, President of National Faith & Justice Network, and a Board Member for New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good.
Michael J. Gerson is a nationally syndicated columnist who appears twice weekly in the Washington Post. He is the author of Heroic Conservatism and co-author of City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era. Mr. Gerson serves as Senior Advisor at ONE, a bipartisan organization dedicated to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable diseases, and he is the Hastert Fellow at the J. Dennis Hastert Center for Economics, Government, and Public Policy at Wheaton College in Illinois.
Gideon Strauss, a native of South Africa, now serves as Chief Executive Officer for the Center for Public Justice. He worked as an interpreter for the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (under Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu). He was an advisor to the South African constitutional assembly on the language clauses in the founding provisions and bill of rights included in the 1996 Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. Strauss also served as a Senior Fellow at the think tank Cardus (previously known as the Work Research Foundation), and as editor of the electronic and print journal Comment, which seeks to communicate a Christian worldview and cultural strategy to the next generation of cultural leaders. He is currently working on a book tentatively titled Wonder, Heartbreak and Hope, on reading the Psalms in devotional preparation for social action.
Robert Joustra is the editor of Cardus, Policy in Public, a regular writer with Comment and a lecturer in international politics at Redeemer University College. He is editor, with Jonathan Chaplin, of God and Global Order: The Power of Religion in American Foreign Policy.

Brian Harskamp is the Director of Development at Cardus, a North American public policy think tank making technical arguments for religion in the public square. Brian has a BA in business from Redeemer University College and an MBA in Strategic Marketing from McMaster University. In addition to his work at Cardus, Brian serves on the Redeemer University Board of Governors, is the President of the Canadian Club of Hamilton, and speaks across Canada on various topics including generosity, charitable branding, and career preparation

Mathematics

Anthony Tongen teaches college mathematics and emphasizes including college students in research, both inside and outside the classroom. In addition to writing a book called Keeping it R.E.A.L., about undergraduate research in the classroom, he was recently a contributing author to Mathematics through the Eyes of Faith.

Literature

Jeffrey Overstreet is the author of as four fantasy novels: Auralia’s Colors, Cyndere’s Midnight, Raven’s Ladder, and The Ale Boy’s Feast. He is also a film critic, writing articles to Christianity Today, Paste, Books and Culture, The Curator, Relevant, Image, and ImageJournal.org. He is also the author of the book, Through a Screen Darkly, which he describes as a “travelogue of dangerous moviegoing.”
Jonathan Weyer is the author of the recently-released novel, The Faithful, which the Midwest Review of Books calls “a stunning debut novel.” The novel follows the story of a minister’s crisis of faith as told through a ghost story. Jonathan also has just completed a nonfiction book about his time working with atheists at The Ohio State University. Together with the atheists, Jonathan won a Multicultural Award from the university for their joint discussion groups on campus.

Science

Curt Thompson, M.D., is a psychiatrist in private practice in Falls Church, Virginia and founder of Being Known, which develops teaching programs, seminars and resource materials to help people explore the connection between interpersonal neurobiology and Christian spirituality which lead to genuine change and transformation. Dr. Thompson is the author of Anatomy of the Soul (Tyndale, June 2010), which demonstrates how insights from interpersonal neurobiology resonate with biblical truths about God and creation—validating the deep human need for meaningful relationships as a key to a life of hope and fulfillment.

Education

Justin Cook serves as Head of the Languages Department at Hamilton District Christian High School in Hamilton, Ontario. Justin loves learning, moments of epiphany breathed into the mundane. In his classes, he hopes to cultivate a communal “narrative intelligence and imagination” as a way to organize life for meaning. Previous student editors from his writing class say it this way: “In reading and writing, we discover our own voices, the voices of others, and of Love itself.”
Greg Veltman and his wife, Andrea, live in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Together they are mentors at Nizhoni House, one of five Project Neighborhood programs run through Calvin College. Nizhoni is an off-campus, intentional living-learning community which practices the presence of place to love and serve neighbors and neighborhoods for the renewal of the city. Greg is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh, with a focus on the philosophy and sociology of education. He has taught Social Foundations of Education at the University of Pittsburgh and Grand Valley State University, as well as sociology and the humanities at Geneva College. Greg loves conversations at the intersection of higher education and culture, as well as engaging and discerning popular film and music.

Racial Justice

Rodger Woodworth is the founding pastor to hundreds at an inter-racial church called New Hope in the North Side of Pittsburgh. Rodger is also President of New Hope’s community development corporation and the Director of Cross-Cultural Ministries for the CCO (Coalition for Christian Outreach). He writes a blog called cross-cultural convergence, is an adjunct seminary professor at RPTS with a Doctorate of Ministry in Complex Urban Settings and serves on the Board of Directors for the Center for Urban Ministerial Education.
Eric Mason is the co-founder and lead pastor of Epiphany Fellowship in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has spoken at Life Way 2009, Moody Bible College, Campus Crusades Conference, and The Desiring God Conference for Pastors with John Piper Ministries.
Samuel Chez is in his 13th year on CCO (Coalition for Christian Outreach) staff and currently serves as the Vice President for Strategic Partnerships. A native of New York City, born to a Cuban mother and Dominican father.
Curt Wright, as campus ministry staff with CCO at Penn State Altoona for three years was a part of a ministry that grew tremendously in numbers and in diversity. While working for the CCO, Curt finished his Master of Arts in Higher Education degree from Geneva College, and his capstone work focused on racial diversity in campus ministry fellowship groups.

Creation Care / Environmental Stewardship

Jonathan Merritt is a faith and culture writer who has published over 200 articles in respected outlets such as USA Today, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, BeliefNet, Christianity Today, The Huffington Post, and CNN.com. He is author of Green Like God: Unlocking the Divine Plan for Our Planet (2010), which Publisher’s Weekly called “a must-read for churchgoers,” and the editor for QIdeas.org. As a respected Christian voice, he has been interviewed by ABC World News, NPR, PBS’ Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, Fox News, The New York Times and The Washington Post.

College Life for the Christian

Walt Mueller is the founder and President of the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding, a non-profit organization serving schools, churches, and community organizations across the US, Canada, and worldwide in their efforts to strengthen families by helping those who know and love kids to understand today’s rapidly changing youth culture. A prolific author, he has written The Space Between: A Parent’s Guide to Teenage Development; Youth Culture 101; Opie Doesn’t Live Here Anymore: Where Faith, Family, and Culture Collide; Engaging The Soul of Youth Culture: Bridging Teen Worldviews To Christian Truth, I Want To Talk To My Teen About Movies, Music & More and the critically acclaimed Gold Medallion Award winner, Understanding Today’s Youth Culture.
Derek Melleby is the director of the College Transition Initiative, a ministry of the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding and the CCO (Coalition for Christian Outreach). He is author of Make College Count: A Faithful Guide to Life and Learning (Baker Books) and coauthor of The Outrageous Idea of Academic Faithfulness (Brazos Press).
Stephen Lutz is a campus minister with CCO (Coalition for Christian Outreach) at Penn State in University Park, Pennsylvania, and Director of Life Groups with Calvary Church. He has recently completed a book on missional ministry to (and for) emerging adults, which Alan Hirsch calls “an intensely practical, and theologically substantial orientation on what it means to do campus ministry in 21st Century America.” Steve has helped start campus ministries, a church, and is the founder of Commontary.com, a ministry which provides access to free biblical resources.
Erica Young Reitz serves as the director of campus ministry at a Calvary Church, reaching out to students at Penn State University in partnership with the CCO. Whether in the context of the local church or on campus, Erica helps students connect faith with real life. She, along with a team of church members, leads Faith for Thought, an annual conference where people come together to explore connections between Christian faith and everyday life.

Global Justice

Bob Goff is a highly influential attorney whose deep passion for justice led him to create Restore International, a nonprofit organization that endeavors to address atrocities and injustices throughout the world. He has an intense passion and vision for finding audacious ways to restore justice to children and the poorest of the poor. New York Times Best-Selling Author Donald Miller says this about Bob Goff: “[I’ve] met the greatest real-life storyteller I will, perhaps, ever know, a person who has forever adjusted my moral compass and destroyed all the bridges leading back to common life. That person is Bob.”
Kent Annan is co-director of Haiti Partners, a nonprofit focused on education in Haiti, where Kent has worked since 2003. His latest book, After Shock explores the implications of faith in the midst of suffering in wake of the historic earthquake in the fragile country of Haiti. Taking courage from the psalmists of old and the company of grieving neighbors, Kent has found that there is solidarity in suffering.
JR Kerr is both the Teaching Pastor at Park Community Church in Chicago and the co-founder of Aitreni Group, a hands-on consultancy which serves change agents. Park is a growing church in the Cabrini neighborhood of Chicago’s near North Side, reaching young professionals with the Gospel and living it out among those in need. The Aitreni Group serves as a liaison, connecting resources with influencers to impact humanitarian work and extend justice in the United States and around the world. Aitreni comes alongside innovative kingdom leaders as well as leaders of movements of change to serve them and catalyze their efforts to influence for the common good.
Jessica Patterson has been working with the Foreign Service since 2003, where she has served in Tel Aviv, Israel; Santiago, Chile; and in Washington as the Algeria Desk Officer at the State Department. In Tel Aviv, Jessica spent a year adjudicating visa applications and a year as the Ambassador’s staff aide, where she got to watch the events surrounding Israel’s disengagement from Gaza in 2005 from the inside. In Chile, she covered the transnational crime portfolio, working on issues ranging from trafficking in persons, drugs, and money laundering, to terrorist finance and intellectual property rights. She served in Washington as the Algeria Desk Officer, covering the range of issues that are important in the U.S.-Algeria bilateral relationship: counterterrorism, energy, nonproliferation, educational exchanges, among others. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton once stopped Jessica to compliment her on her suit. Jessica is now studying Pashtu, preparing for her next assignment in southeastern Afghanistan.

Business

William Messenger is the Executive Editor of the Theology of Work Project, Inc., an international organization which is researching, writing, and circulating materials about how the Christian faith can contribute to ordinary workplaces. Its materials are available at wiki.theologyofwork.org. From 1999 to 2008, Will was Director of the Mockler Center for Faith and Ethics in the Workplace at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and an adjunct faculty member there. While there, he led the seminary’s doctoral and master’s degree programs in workplace leadership business ethics.
Jason Locy is Principal of FiveStone, a brand and design firm. As a sought-after Creative Director, he helps organizations move from standard marketing hype to long-term sustainable strategies. Jason’s marketing campaigns have garnered national attention, and numerous national and international design publications have featured his work. While working with one foot in mainstream culture and the other in the church world, Jason observed firsthand how society has influenced the church. This led to his first book (written with Tim Willard), Veneer: Living Deeply on a Surface Society, a cultural theology that examines how the Language of Culture affects humanity and what our Christian response should be.
Charles Lee is the CEO of Ideation, a consultancy that specializes in helping organizations and businesses take ideas to implementation via innovative strategy, branding, design, marketing, web, social media, and creative event development. He is also a founding member ofJustOne, a nonprofit organization committed to addressing issues of poverty, orphans, and slavery. In addition, Charles is the creator of grassroots efforts including the Idea Camp, Ideation Conference, and the Freeze Project. Charles regularly speaks around the country on topics such as creativity, innovation, leadership, new media, and compassionate justice.
Patrick Colletti is President of Net Health Systems, Inc. At the peak of the dot.com days, he joined a startup whose Red-Bull-swigging, flip-flop culture quickly faltered, leading to lay-offs, substantial debt, and near collapse. From this, Patrick was appointed President, and he and a partner led a turn-around which included negotiating debt, re-focusing the product, and of course, wearing many hats simultaneously. The company that emerged (Net Health Systems, Inc.) is focused on healing the seven million people in the US with chronic, life-threatening, non-healing wounds often associated with Diabetes. Today, the company’s web-based Electronic Health Record (EHR), WoundExpert®, facilitates over three million patient treatments and supports reimbursement for $1 billion in services annually.
Mark L. Russell is the co-founder of Russell Media. He has a Ph.D. in Intercultural Studies from Asbury Theological Seminary, a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a Bachelor of Science in International Business from Auburn University. Mark is a frequent public speaker and has spoken at numerous conferences, including InterVarsity’s Following Christ, Urbana Missions Conference, and the Origins Project. He has worked as a consultant for a diverse set of organizations from large multinationals to microfinance institutions and has published over 100 academic and popular level publications. Mark is a member of the Theology Working Group of the Lausanne Movement and a member of its Government, Business and Academy Think Tank. He is the author of The Missional Entrepreneur: Principles and Practices for Business as Mission, the coauthor of Routes and Radishes and Other Things to Talk About at the Evangelical Crossroads and editor and publisher of Our Souls at Work: How Great Leaders Live Their Faith in the Global Marketplace, a book with contributions from several Fortune 500 CEOs, as well as a variety of emerging social entrepreneurs.
Paul Estridge, Jr. has been in the home building business in the Indianapolis area his entire life, having come from a family of homebuilders. In 1967, Paul’s father founded Paul E. Estridge Corporation, a home builder known for their high quality custom homes. In 1983, Paul Jr. started his own home building company, The Estridge Group, with the mission “to build quality homes in neighborhoods designed for families.” In March 2009, Paul and The Estridge Companies led ABC-TV’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition project for a deserving family in Indianapolis. While a single father and his three sons were the recipients of the new home, the entire Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood was transformed by the project due to Estridge’s insistence that the project be larger than just one home.
Ryan O’Dowd is Senior Visiting Lecturer of Aerospace Studies at Cornell University, where he also leads students in the Air Force Reserve Officer training program. The flip side of his life is theology, having previously taught biblical studies and social justice at Briercrest College and Redeemer University College in Canada. After graduation from the U.S. Air Force Academy where he earned a BS in biology (with 30 hours of engineering courses), he spent seven years as an Air Force officer working in areas of fitness research, logistics, space operations, software testing, and laser systems development. He then entered seminary, earning an MA from Reformed Theological Seminary and a PhD from the University of Liverpool in England. Ryan’s main academic interests and publishing are in biblical wisdom and law. His books include The Wisdom of Torah: Epistemology in Deuteronomy and the Wisdom Literature (Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 2009) and, with Craig Bartholomew, Old Testament Wisdom Literature: A Theological Introduction (InterVarsity Press) expected out in the spring of 2011. Biblical wisdom, of course, relates to the whole of human life, so it is a natural place for Ryan’s eclectic life to find a home.