Meet the Seeds Fellows
Get to know the innovators who have been selected as Seeds Fellows
Andrew Nemr
Andrew Nemr is an interdisciplinary artist, teacher, and speaker. His work has spanned the music, dance, theatre, and visual arts worlds, exploring art as a vehicle for storytelling, community building, and caring for people.
Tyler Sit
Rev. Tyler Sit is the pastor and church planter of New City Church, a church mainly led by queer people of color. Sit is a second-generation Chinese American, trained community organizer, and United Methodist pastor.
September Penn
September Penn is a singer/songwriter and theater performance artist. She is the Music Director at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles and has recently become the pastoral leadership of Angeles Mesa Presbyterian Church.
Jennifer Oliver
Jennifer Oliver is an educator, food scientist, food justice advocate, and an ordained itinerant elder in the A.M.E Church. She aids in transforming communities by filling need gaps in the area of hunger, poverty, and clean water through her food systems solutions consulting firm Dixon & Dukely, LLC and its nonprofit arm Manna Movement Collaborative.
Colleen Montgomery
Pastor Colleen Montgomery is an ordained pastor in the ELCA and is the mission developer for All Place Together. She is also called part-time to the Virginia Synod staff as Director for Digital Ministries.
JD Larson
JD Larson and his wife co-pastor North City Church in North Minneapolis. He is a co-vocational pastor and works in real estate and various entrepreneurial endeavors.
Chuck Whitley
Chuck Whitley is a coach, trainer, pastor, non-profit leader, and business owner. Chuck currently serves as the executive director of 4C Business and has dedicated his life to influencing culture through kingdom business practice.
Sean Steele
The Rev. Sean Steele is Vicar of St. Isidore Episcopal Church and The Abundant Harvest. Sean is a church entrepreneur and traditioned innovator. He received an MA in Theology from Creighton University, an MDiv from Seminary of the Southwest, and is a fully trained mediator, LDWF, and ICF Coach.
Jane Lam
Jane Lam is a HongKonger in San Francisco, a 6th generation Christian (5th in ministry) from a family of Lutheran ministers. She serves at a community services NGO for low-income housing and plants micro house churches among first-generation immigrant seniors outside of work with a team of “unlikely leaders” (amazing seniors in their 70s-90s).
Heidi Ferris
Heidi Ferris is an author, teacher trainer, public speaker, advocate, and environmental scientist. Heidi started Growing Green Hearts LLC in 2012 to increase climate literacy for communities and spark wonderment in Creation for youth.
Joe Davis
Joe Davis is an artist, educator, and speaker based in Minneapolis, MN. He is the Founder and Director of the multimedia production company, The New Renaissance, the frontman of the emerging soul-funk band, The Poetic Diaspora, and co-creator of JUSTmove, racial justice education through art.
Mike Wu
Mike Wu is a Chinese-Australian pastor, vocational coach, and church planter based in Kuala Lumpur. He was born in Shanghai, raised in Melbourne, and worked in banking and strategy consulting before seminary in the US.
Chris Kramer
Chris Kramer has served as a pastor and non-profit executive. Chris currently serves Oregon Synod as Dean o’ the Desert and on the Stewardship Table; He serves on the Board of Directors at Luther Seminary. Chris enjoys his family, outdoor adventuring, making music, and disappearing across Oregon on his motorcycle.
Kimmothy Cole
Kimmothy Cole is a multidisciplinary artist, organizer, and ritual practitioner in Austin, TX. Kimmothy works as the Director of Family Ministries at Servant Church and the Creator and Facilitator of Communitas, a small community rooted in holistic health and tangible relationships.
Alma Lizzette Cárdenas- Rodríguez
Alma Lizzette Cárdenas- Rodríguez is a México-Estadounidense writer, published author, speaker and mentor. She currently serves as an academic advisor for graduate students at Fuller Theological Seminary.
Charlene S. Bowden
Charlene S. Bowden is an entrepreneur and a passionate minister and faith leader who focuses on building relationships by creating opportunities to invoke honest and transparent conversations. Charlene is the Founder of It’s Just Us Productions, and Founder and Executive Director of It’s Just Us in the Community, Inc.
Tim Anderson
Tim Anderson is an author, storyteller, dreamer, schemer, and neighborhood collaborator. He is the Founder and Executive Director of Ace in the City, a Minneapolis-rooted placemaking organization cultivating belonging by reimagining and repurposing spaces and how we inhabit them.
Lou Weber
The Rev. Lou A. Weber IV is one of the Cultivators for the Florida Fresh Expressions Team. Lou serves as the Executive Pastor of First United Methodist Church of Melbourne, Florida. As the Executive Pastor, he leads staff development, operations, finance, Fresh Expressions of Church, and drives the vision and mission of the Lead Pastor.
Tamisha Tyler
Tamisha A. Tyler, MDiv is Executive Director of Arts | Religion | Culture and a Ph.D. Candidate in Theology and Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary. Her work focuses on theopoetics and the arts, with her most recent project centering on the work of Octavia E. Butler. She serves in leadership at Kinship Commons, a worship collective that designs worship experiences centering the work and life of people of color.
Rosario Picardo
Rosario (Roz) is an experienced church planter who has planted and restarted four different congregations. Along with being a church planter, Roz is the author of 7 books, consults with church planters from across the country, and serves as Dean of the Chapel, Director of the Pohly Leadership Center, and a professor at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio.
Trin Peterson
Trin is a church planting pastor whose church is in its first years of life. Eden Community Covenant Church is a very different church that observes the Christian calendar but also the Jewish calendar. Eden Community takes a learning position as they observe the Jewish calendar and have the deepest respect for their Jewish brothers and sisters.
Scott McBean
Scott serves as an associate pastor at Northstar Community, a faith-based recovery ministry in Richmond, VA. As part of his role there he has run support groups for people in recovery, led Bible Studies, adult education classes, and a children’s ministry, as well as preached around 20-25 times a year. He’s currently in his final semester of a second Master’s in Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling from Virginia Commonwealth University. Scott McBean graduated from Fuller Seminary in 2011 with a Master of Divinity.
Josh Linman
Josh grew up in Orlando, Florida, discovering a passion for marching band, Jesus, and serving others. After working in media production at a few large churches, he felt the longing to make a difference beyond the consumer-focused show of Sunday morning and was either going to do communication work for a non-profit in Africa or become a pastor.
Samuel Lim
A graduate of Fuller Seminary (MAT, 2020) and former Young Adults and Assistant East Campus Pastor at Neuma Church, Melbourne, Australia (formerly Bridge Church, 2012-2018), Sam Lim is now embarking on the adventure of church planting somewhere in the central southeastern region of Melbourne, with an anticipated launch in Spring 2021.
Dea Jenkins
Dea Jenkins is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, curator, and CEO of Dea Studios. Through a series of life twists, including deciding not to pursue a career as a professional track runner, Dea “accidentally” discovered an interest and a talent for art making. As she discovered the world of painting, drawing, and graphic design, she ultimately chose to pursue an undergraduate degree in filmmaking from The Art Institute of Houston.
Jeff Evans
Jeff is a youth and teaching pastor in Crossville, TN. He grew up agnostic but at the age of 22, gave his life to Jesus and answered His call to ministry. Shortly thereafter, he and his wife were asked to come on as the full-time youth pastors at the church where he was saved. In 2017, he began a YouTube ministry called That Bold Life with a plan to teach others to live boldly for Christ in love.
Bethany Fox
Bethany McKinney Fox is the founding pastor of Beloved Everybody Church, an ability-inclusive church in Los Angeles where people with and without intellectual, developmental, and other disabilities, as well as neurodiverse folks, lead and participate together. She is director of spiritual formation for Cyclical LA, a church starting network.
Lydia Bucklin
Lydia Kelsey Bucklin serves as Canon to the Ordinary for Discipleship and Vitality in the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan. She was formed from a young age in baptismal, collaborative ministry and currently works with congregations and communities of faith in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan re-imagining and co-creating transformative ways of being Christ’s presence in the world.
Linda Brown
Linda K. Brown is the founder and CEO of Fully Unleashing Life. Her mission is to help individuals, particularly women, women in leadership, and churches and organizations know who they are and why they exist. Through transformational life coaching, evidence-based and psychoeducational trainings and workshops, people experience a metamorphosis.
Inés Velasquez-McBryde
Inés Velasquez-McBryde is a pastor, preacher, reconciler, and speaker. She is co-lead pastor of The Church We Hope For, a multiethnic church plant, with her co-pastor, Bobby Harrison, in southern California. She is also a chaplain at Fuller Theological Seminary where she earned her MDiv. Inés is originally from Nicaragua and has 20 years of combined ministry experience in church planting and pastoral staff leadership in multi-ethnic churches.
Alexus Rhone
Alexus Rhone (affectionately known as “Lex”) is a writer, producer, artistic theologian, and “revolutionary artist” devoted to candidly exploring the power of truth when “dressed” in story. Lex holds a Master of Arts in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, and a Bachelor of Journalism/Public Relations degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
Aleah Nishizaki
Aleah’s current context is working in and with the Deaf community, both locally in Washington D.C. and globally. She is passionate about addressing the barriers and obstacles that marginalized peoples experience, especially in regards to accessibility within the church. Before moving to DC she served as an international missionary in the Dominican Republic and Mexico.
Jonathan Myers
Jonathan earned his M.Div from the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology, was ordained in the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia, and opened a brewery in Ashville, North Carolina before being called to Spokane, WA to serve as Vicar of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and the West Central Abbey.
Cat Moore
Cat Moore is an applied philosopher focusing on belonging and simple ethics, which starts with being a mom to her 11-year-old superhero son, Noah. She apprenticed to philosopher-theologian Dallas Willard, trying to make her lonely life work and come to understand the conditions for community.
Darin McKenna
Darin McKenna is a queer pastor and church planter, currently located in North Hollywood, CA. Born and raised in the suburbs of Atlanta, GA, he has worked in church contexts for 8 years. He received his MA in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary in 2018. He is also a certified enneagram coach and teacher.
Lily Li
Lily is a Marriage and Family Therapist in California. She has a particular interest and passion for serving marginalized and oppressed populations as a therapist and bringing the truth of Christ to her clients. Previous to the counseling profession, she spent 6 years working as a consultant for creative agencies globally.
Catherine Kaminski
Although a Massachusetts native, Cath Kaminski is a church planter in Lincoln, Nebraska. Lincoln has one of the highest populations of refugees per capita in the United States. This is one of the many reasons Cath moved there a year and a half ago to start Beacon Community Church. Beacon is called to racial justice and reconciliation ministry.
Charisse Jones
The Rev. Charisse Jones is a dream catcher, purpose pusher, and vision catalyzer. Charisse is the founder and CEO of Grace + Grit Unlimited, LLC. Charisse seeks to create brave and bold spaces for women who are ready to own their worth and live the vision of who they are created to be.
Carl Johnson
The Rev. Carl Johnson moved to the Twin Cities (MN) in the fall of 2016. He has a mission to abolish food insecurity in major cities starting with St. Paul, believing that race and economic justice are tied to food. Carl’s extensive knowledge of black culture and structures of identities in the black community has propelled his work with racial injustice.
Al Han
Al Han is the pastor and church planter of Perch.Church in Glendale, CA. The Perch.Church tagline is to simply “love Jesus and love like Jesus.” Even though he’s new to church planting, he’s served as a pastor for 18 years in youth, college, and young adult ministries. He has a passion to minister to Millennials who are spiritual wanderers and misfits.
Paul Gorrell
Paul Gorrell is the Founder of Peace Right Here a nonprofit on mission to recover and reshape imaginations to embrace, practice, and champion alternatives to violence. Paul is committed to equipping leaders to build what the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. referred to as the Beloved Community.
