Prior to his role with the United Church of Christ, Jefferson worked in various communications roles with Holy Trinity High School, Chicago Theological Seminary, the Moran Center, and Community Renewal Society. After receiving his bachelor’ s degree in journalism from Columbia College Chicago, Jefferson worked as a web and segment producer for Chicago Tonight, the nightly news and public affairs show on WTTW-Channel 11. Jefferson also worked as a producer and photographer for Waskul Entertainment, a multimedia company that produced live web segments for the NAB Show in Las Vegas; an apprentice at WGN-TV, where he was an assistant web producer for the station; and as a staff adviser to The Columbia Chronicle, the award winning, student-run newspaper at Columbia College Chicago.

Jefferson also served as program manager for Columbia Links, a high school journalism and news literacy program that was housed at Columbia College Chicago. There, Jefferson coordinated student interviews, orientations, co-planned class syllabi, ran all social media efforts, produced the student webcast and co-managed production of the annual magazine featuring student stories that was distributed to high schools across the Chicago area. Jefferson received his journalism degree from Columbia College Chicago in 2014. Jefferson is an active member of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) – Chicago Chapter.

When Emily is not at church, she’s at church! She serves the Enfield United Church of Christ as the Director of Faith Formation & Office Administrator. She is a long-time volunteer at Silver Lake Conference Center, the UCC’s outdoor ministry site in Connecticut. Emily loves living in the West End of Hartford with her partner Casey and their four year-old son, Peter Parker. She is thrilled to be a member of the UCC Media Justice Board.

Prior to joining TPL, Jessie spent more than 15 years working in the D.C. interfaith advocacy community. During this time she supported digital communications and public policy advocacy for the Friends Committee on National Legislation and the United Church of Christ.

She holds a M.A. in Communications from Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communications from Saint Michael’s College. Jessie lives in Washington, D.C. and is a proud Vermonter.

Originally from Washington DC, Freeman is a second career minister, attending Seminary after a fifteen-year career with CBS Inc. He had several positions in television and radio financial management before serving as head of Finance and Administration of WCBS-AM News Radio 880 in New York City. After graduating from Georgetown Day High School in Washington, Freeman’s educational background includes a BA in Economics from Swarthmore College, an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a M.Div. with honors from New York Theological Seminary, where he served as Comptroller while a student and received an award from the faculty for excellence in theological studies. He also served for two years as Chief Financial Officer for the North Jersey Community Research Initiative, one of New Jersey’s largest social service organizations serving people living with HIV/AIDS. Rev. Freeman lives with his spouse, Donal, an ordained minister with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, in Baltimore with their Australian Silky Terrier Pooh.

In his spare time, Freeman enjoys both traditional and contemporary jazz, reading books ranging from biographies to graphic novels, enjoys movies, and as a ‘map geek’ with extensive knowledge of the US highway system, enjoys getting on a road just to enjoy it and see where it leads.

Rev. Donna Schaper has served in seven settled UCC and American Baptist settings and four multi-denominational bridge settings. She is retired but continues to serve as an interim minister when called and takes on projects as a conflict consultant, a writer, a builder and a chaplain. Donna is currently serving Interim Minister, United Congregational Church of Little Compton, Rhode Island. She is editor-at-large at the Brooklyn Rail.

Rev. Schaper was ordained in Tucson in 1973, then worked in Philadelphia, at Yale, in Amherst, then Chicago, then back to Amherst to work as Area Minister in Western Massachusetts. She later pastored in Miami and New York City, where she was pastor at Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village for 15 years. Since retiring from settled ministry, she has been a bridge pastor, briefly, in Orient, New York; Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts; Tiverton, Rhode Island and San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. 

Her interim training was through the Alban Institute, where she also specialized in conflict resolution. She teaches leadership at several seminaries, most recently at Hartford, an interfaith seminary in Connecticut.

She is one of the original and continuing writers for the UCC Daily Devotional, which “The God is Still Speaking Writer’s Group” produces, together, daily. She was one of the founders of the Open and Affirming movement and the God Is Still Speaking Movement in the UCC. She has written 39 books, mostly in a series of “practical spiritual guides” for Rowman-Littlefield. Her most recent book is about Bricks & Mortals and is titled Remove the Pews. She sometimes writes under the pen names The Dolly Mama and City Mouse Country Mouse.

She is married to Warren Goldstein, a writer and professor of American History, who now writes speeches for the American Federation of Teachers. Their three “grown” children have six grandchildren, three Jewish, one African-American, the youngest two Mexican-American. They live variously in Northampton, Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts and Austin, Texas.

Currently, she maintains two blogs, “Media! Tech! Parenting!: Timely Topics on Teaching & Parenting Digital Learners,” and “As Our Parents Age: Timely Topics for Adult Children.” The daughter of a UCC minister, she is currently a member of Central Congregational United Church of Christ in Atlanta, GA.

He is a member of the Ohio Bar. He has served as an Assistant County Public Defender and Assistant County Prosecutor. He is an industry arbitrator for FINRA. He has served as a city council member of the City of Shaker Heights, Ohio. Married with three children, he is a member of South Euclid Congregational Church UCC, Cleveland, Ohio.