Conversations
Meet our partners and preview the conversation happening on Relight.
Bill Enright
Generosity reflects the character of God.
Bill is the Founding Karen Lake Buttrey Director Emeritus of Lake Institute on Faith & Giving and former Senior Pastor of Second Presbyterian Church, Indianapolis. He has authored several books, the latest being Kitchen Table Giving: Reimagining How Congregations Connect with Their Donors.
Are you connected to the places you give?
Mani serves as the chief of staff for First Fruit, Inc., a family foundation supporting Christian organizations in the developing world. Born to Hmong and Laotian refugees, Mani was the first woman of color to lead First Fruit, Inc.
Manivanh Khy
Justo L. González
A steward makes an absent God visible.
Justo is an internationally renowned professor of historical theology. Born in Cuba, Justo is the author of Faith and Wealth: A History of Early Christian Ideas on the Origin, Significance, and Use of Money.
What if we emptied ourselves?
Bill served as the pastor of Loudon Avenue Christian Church in Roanoke, Virginia, for nearly forty years. Bill grew up in a home where money was scarce where he learned the value of generosity, hard work, and faithful stewardship.
William Lee
Kerry Alys Robinson
Generosity is humankind’s birthright.
Kerry serves as President and CEO of Catholic Charities USA where she leads its work to expand globally and connect with Catholic leaders across the country and abroad. Kerry also iis a lifelong member of the Raskob Foundation for Catholic Activities and FADICA (Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities). She is the author of Imagining Abundance: Fundraising, Philanthropy, and a Spiritual Call to Service
Giving is a spiritual discipline of learning that it is God who provides.
Gaston serves as the CEO of Zoe Global North, which empower orphaned children and youth led families to overcome life threatening poverty, move beyond charity, and experience meaningful lives. Zoe Empowers currently facilitates the empowerment of more than 5,800 orphans and vulnerable children in seven countries and across two continents.
Gaston Warner
Kilama Dennis
Whatever we have we only have because we have been given.
Kilama Dennis, an ordained pastor in the Baptist Union of Uganda, is currently the Deputy Vice Chancellor at Africa Renewal University and is pursuing a second doctoral degree at Indiana University. He is married to Yvonne and has three children.
One of the aspects where people often get frozen in their development is in the way they think about resources.
In 2022, Steve retired as CEO of the MJ Murdock Charitable Trust, a multi-billion dollar philanthropy serving the Pacific Northwest. In addition to serving as a grantmaker, Steve has also provided leadership to institutions of higher education and is an ordained clergyperson.
Steve Moore
Esther Chung-Kim
Giving reorients our priorities.
Esther serves as Professor of Religious Studies and Chair of the Religious Studies Department at Claremont McKenna College. She specializes in the history of world Christianity, and her research has examined the history of poverty. She is the author of Economics of Faith: Reforming Poverty in Early Modern Europe.
In the wilderness, God made provisions, and those provisions were made in a way that the community benefited so that there was not want.
Iva serves as the General Secretary of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference (SDPC), an interdenominational organization within the African American faith tradition focused on justice and equity issues. As a teacher and community development organizer, she has supported social justice ministries, fostered interdenominational and interfaith dialogue, and led cross cultural experiences throughout the world.
Iva E. Carruthers
Philip Jamieson
Most people in the West are hesitant to talk about money because it is so powerful. It functions as a God in our lives.
Phil serves as the President of the United Methodist Foundation for the Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference. Phil–a trained theologian–and his wife Janet–an accountant–co-wrote the book Ministry and Money: A Practical Guide for Pastors.
Our god gives constantly … so, how do we ever grow into God’s image if we don’t ever learn how to give
Mary Lederleitner serves as Founder and Executive Director of Missional Intelligence, LLC. With more than two decades of experience working in global missions, she is the author of Cross-Cultural Partnerships: Navigating the Complexities of Money and Mission.
Mary Lederleitner
Wes Brown
The thoughtful Christian understands all of life as a gift and each day as an opportunity.
Wes Brown serves as a Senior Associate and Director of Faith Communities with moss+ross consulting. For more than three decades, Wes oversaw the fundraising efforts of Duke Divinity School and was responsible for major capital campaigns and planned giving initiatives.
