Leroy Barber

Executive Director of Word Made Flesh

Leroy Barber has dedicated more than 20 years to eradicating poverty, confronting homelessness, restoring local neighborhoods, healing racism, and living what Dr. King called “the beloved community.”

Leroy is currently the Global Executive Director of Word Made Flesh, an international organization that works among the most vulnerable of the world’s poor. Leroy is on the boards of Mission Year , the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA), The Simply Way, and The Environmental Evangelica Network (EEN).  He is the author of New Neighbor: An Invitation to Join Beloved Community, and Everyday Missions: How Ordinary People Can Change the World and was also chosen as a contributor to Tending to Eden, and the groundbreaking book UnChristian: What a New Generation Thinks About Christianity and Why It Matters.  His third book, Red, Brown, Yellow, Black and White: Who’s More Precious In God’s Sight? has recently been released.  

Shawn Casselberry

Executive DIrector at Mission Year

Shawn Casselberry is a passionate advocate for God’s justice, author of God is in the City: Encounters of Grace and Transformation, and Executive Director for Mission Year, a leading national Christian ministry devoted to coming alongside what God is doing in the city by partnering with churches, ministries, leaders, activists, and neighbors who are transforming their communities. Shawn has a passion for mobilizing the church around issues of racial and economic justice, particularly issues of mass incarceration, immigration, and youth violence. Trained in Kingian non-violence and community organizing, Shawn actively works for peace and reconciliation. As an ordained minister, Shawn speaks all across the country at colleges, churches, and conferences calling people to love God and love people. Shawn has a Masters degree in World Missions and Evangelism from Asbury Theological Seminary and is currently working on a Doctor of Ministry degree in Building Beloved Community from McCormick Theological Seminary. Shawn has been married to his wife Jen for 14 years and lives in the North Lawndale neighborhood on Chicago’s west side.

Kathy Khang

Multiethnic Director at InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA Great Lakes West region

Kathy Khang is currently the multiethnic director for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA Great Lakes West region – overseeing multiethnic training and ministry development for staff and students in Illinois and Indiana. Before that, Kathy spent 10 years ministering to students at her alma mater, Northwestern University, first as the campus staff for the Asian American InterVarsity chapter and then as the area director overseeing undergraduate ministry to more than 300 students. An alumna of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Kathy worked as a newspaper reporter in Green Bay and Milwaukee, WI before going on staff with InterVarsity.

She is one the authors of More Than Serving Tea (IVP, 2006) – a one-of-a-kind book exploring faith, gender, culture and ethnic identity from the distinct perspective of Asian American Christian women and has spoken at countless InterVarsity chapters and conferences across the country as well as guest lecturing and speaking at North Park Theological Seminary, Moody Bible Institute, Wheaton College, Q: Women & Calling, and the Wild Goose Festival. Kathy also was one of the activists behind the Asian American Open Letter to the Evangelical Church. Kathy inconsistently blogs at morethanservingtea.wordpress.com and is a contributor at A Deeper Story. But most importantly, Kathy loves Jesus and can’t get through a week without coffee, yoga, nail polish, and laughter. She and her husband Peter Chang live in the north suburbs of Chicago and are honored to be the parents Bethany, Corban and Elias.

You can connect with Kathy at her blog www.morethanservingtea.wordpress.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/kathykhangauthor, or on Twitter @mskathykhang .

Sandra Van Opstal

Associate Pastor at The Grace and Peace Community

Sandra Van Opstal, Associate Pastor, is a preacher and author who is passionate about creating spaces where voices from different cultures can come together and overcome division. She frequently preaches and writes on topics of justice, racial identity, reconciliation and global mission. Previously, she served with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship mobilizing college students for God’s mission of proclamation and demonstration of the gospel in the world. Sandra holds a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. She is contributor to Small Group Leader’s Handbook (IVP, 2009) and author of The Mission of Worship (IVP, 2012). She and her husband Karl enjoy living in community in Humboldt Park. Read her full story on her blog, or connect with her on Facebook or Twitter.



Rev Marshall Hatch

Senior Pastor at New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church

Marshall Elijah Hatch, Sr. has been the Senior Pastor of the New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church of West Garfield since 1993. Born March 11, 1958 in Chicago , Illinois , his spiritual development began in the Shiloh Baptist Church under the pastorate of his father, the late Reverend Elijah J. Hatch. In 1985 he was ordained and appointed as the Pastor of Commonwealth Baptist Church of North Lawndale. In the Summer of 1998, he was awarded the Charles E. Merrill Fellowship of Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge , Massachusetts . This highly coveted fellowship in residence was shared with three other distinguished scholars in the practice of ministry in the Spring of 1999. In August of 2000, he was appointed Adjunct Professor on the faculty of McCormick Theological Seminary. In 2010, he was appointed Adjunct Professor of Northern Seminary.

Throughout his ministry, Marshall Hatch has commenced numerous innovative community outreach programs. Most notable among these are: the Westside Isaiah Plan – Interfaith Affordable Housing Construction; an annual pilgrimage to Zimbabwe, Africa; an Illinois Department of Corrections and Cook County Jail visitation and correspondence ministry; Mountain Men’s Ministries and Enterprises; the Christian Sisters Women’s Ministries; a Substance Abuse Task Force; and the Pilgrim Community Development Corporation (Pilgrim Village).

Rev. Hatch has a history of civic involvement spanning over two decades. He served as a member of the Chicago School Board Nominating Commission from 1989-1991. He served as Moderator of the Friendship Baptist District Association and he is the National Director of Religious Affairs of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. He also serves on the board of the African American Leadership Partnership and Westside Ministers AIDS Coalition. He and his church are actively affiliated with the American Baptist Churches of Metro Chicago, the Illinois National Baptist State Convention, and the National Baptist Convention of America, Inc. He is presently involved in the formation of the Chicago Metropolitan United Power for Action and Justice.

The Rev. Dr. Hatch earned his doctorate and master’s degrees in ministry and theological studies, respectively from the McCormick Theological Seminary of Chicago. He also holds a master’s degree in Government from Georgetown University in Washington , D.C. His bachelor’s degree in Political Science and History was earned at Western Illinois University in Macomb , Illinois .

Marshall Hatch is married to the former Priscilla Murchison and they are the parents of four children; Joyce, Janelle, Marshall and Maurice.