Trey Gillette (MDiv/MA ‘16, ThM ‘17) is Princeton Theological Seminary’s Classroom and Media Support Specialist. He has over a decade of ministry experience in the United Methodist Church.
Leadership
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Bo Karen Lee | Founder & Director
Bo Karen Lee, ThM ’99, PhD ’07, is associate professor of spiritual theology and Christian formation and the Founder and Director of the Center for Contemplative Leadership at Princeton Theological Seminary. She earned her BA in religious studies from Yale University, her MDiv from Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois, and her ThM and PhD from Princeton Seminary. She furthered her studies in the returning scholars program at the University of Chicago, received training as a spiritual director from Oasis Ministries, and was a Mullin fellow with the Institute of Advanced Catholic Studies. Her book, Sacrifice and Delight in the Mystical Theologies of Anna Maria van Schurman and Madame Jeanne Guyon, argues that surrender of self to God can lead to the deepest joy in God. She has recently completed a volume, The Soul of Higher Education, which explores contemplative pedagogies and research strategies. A recipient of the John Templeton Award for Theological Promise, she gave a series of international lectures that included the topic, “The Face of the Other: An Ethic of Delight.”
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Wesley Tenney-Free | Program & Community Coordinator
Wesley Tenney-Free | Program & Community Coordinator
Wes serves full-time at the CCL office in Alexander Hall 113. You can often find him planning retreats, prepping for a conference, or facilitating a Contemplative Listening Circle with students. Wes’ academic interests include the history and praxis of Spirit-centered models for Christian education. He also loves to teach and write curriculum. In his free time, Wes enjoys hiking, watching movies, and writing poetry. He is married to local artist, Meredith Tenney-Free. If you’d like to learn more about Wes, please visit his LinkedIn.
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Julia Feacher | Administrative Assistant
Julia Feacher | Administrative Assistant
Julia A. Feacher, a native of Nutley, NJ, ordained an Elder in the Lord’s church, July 2010, is passionate about empowering and enhancing the lives of others. She is motivated to witness individuals WIN! As a visionary, she has worked diligently for more than 25 years to influence others in the transformation of their lives. Julia has hosted and coordinated both National and International Conferences in addition to Educational Seminars, Fundraising Events and Musical Concerts which featured local and national acclaimed guest speakers, presenters and recording artist.
Julia, A Champion for HOPE (Helping, Others, Pursue Excellence), possesses an acute business acumen balanced with an astute ability to blend human behavior, creative development, and business strategies to advocate a culture of collaboration, creative thinking, and business insights. She leads a talented team of professionals that create various concepts and resources to secure and position the organization in seizing opportunities to establish and promote forums that will build leaders, advocate-self-development, inspire, encourage, educate and motivate individuals to overcome barriers, conquer fears, gain financial stability, pursue dreams and embrace change while thriving to live their best lives.
Julia’s mantra and passion is to always assume the posture of Christ as declared in Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” In the words of American Humorist, Erma Bombeck, “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, I used everything you gave me.”
Members of the Advisory Board
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Lisa Bowens
Lisa Bowens
Lisa Marie Bowens, PhD ’14, associate professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary, earned a BS (cum laude), MSBE, and MLIS from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, an MTS and ThM from Duke Divinity School, and a PhD from Princeton Theological Seminary. She is the first African American woman to earn tenure in Princeton Seminary’s Bible department. Her first book, An Apostle in Battle: Paul and Spiritual Warfare in 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 (Mohr Siebeck), is a revision of her dissertation and examines Paul’s ascent to the third heaven through a cosmic/apocalyptic lens. It traces martial imagery in the letter and explores how this imagery facilitates understanding Paul’s journey as an example of spiritual warfare.
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Heath Carter
Heath Carter
Heath W. Carter is associate professor of American Christianity at Princeton Theological Seminary, where he teaches and writes about the intersection of Christianity and American public life. He earned a BA in English and theology from Georgetown University in 2003, an MA from the University of Chicago Divinity School in 2005, and a PhD in history from the University of Notre Dame in 2012. He came to Princeton from Valparaiso University, where he was on faculty from 2012 to 2019. He spent the 2016–2017 academic year as the William S. Vaughn Visiting Fellow at Vanderbilt University.
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Ki Joo Choi
Ki Joo Choi
Ki Joo (KC) Choi’s research and teaching interests include Protestant and Catholic ethics/moral theology, the thought of Jonathan Edwards, art theory and theological aesthetics, peace studies, critical ethnic studies, nonprofit ethics, and Asian American theology. His publications include the monograph Disciplined by Race: Theological Ethics and the Problem of Asian American Identity (2019), the first sustained account of the racialized contours of Asian American life by a theologian. He is also the author of Art and Moral Change (2024), which challenges prevailing approaches to the relationship between aesthetics and ethics. He is coeditor of the volume Reimagining the Moral Life: On Lisa Sowle Cahill’s Contributions to Christian Ethics (2020) and is currently working on a political theology of freedom and nonviolence through the lens of Asian immigrant experience and settler colonial discourse. He has been interviewed by a number of media outlets including the Los Angeles Times, Sojourners Magazine, HigherEdJobs, and NJ 101.5 FM.
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Keri L. Day
Keri L. Day
Keri Day is the Elmer G. Homrighausen Professor of Constructive Theology and African American Religion at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, NJ. In 2023, she was the first African American woman to be promoted to full professor in the 215-year history at Princeton Theological Seminary. She earned a B.S. in Political Science and Economics from Tennessee State University, an M.A. in Religion and Ethics from Yale University Divinity School, and her Ph.D. in Religion from Vanderbilt University. Her teaching and research interests are in womanist/feminist theologies, social critical theory, cultural studies, economics, and Afro-Pentecostalism. She has authored four academic books, Unfinished Business: Black Women, The Black Church, and the Struggle to Thrive in America (2012); Religious Resistance to Neoliberalism: Womanist and Black Feminist Perspectives (2015); Notes of a Native Daughter: Testifying in Theological Education (2021); and her most recent book, Azusa Reimagined: A Radical Vision of Religious and Democratic Belonging, (2022). She has been recognized by NBC News as one of six black women at the center of gravity in theological education in America. She is a fourth-generation preacher in the Church of God in Christ (COGIC).
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Trey Gillette
Trey Gillette
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Abigail Visco Rusert
Abigail Visco Rusert
Abigail Visco Rusert, is the Associate Dean of Continuing Education at Princeton Theological Seminary, which houses the Joe R. Engle Institute of Preaching. She is an ordained pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and has held a variety of roles in higher education and ministry, including serving as the Director of the Institute for Youth Ministry, an associate pastor, youth director, chaplain, and camp counselor. Abigail is passionate about researching and designing programs that cultivate Christian leaders and transform faith-based communities. She collaborates with faculty to lead and operationalize projects that foster changemaking in the academy and the church. A graduate of Valparaiso University, Princeton Theological Seminary, and a current PhD student at Notre Dame of Maryland University, she is the co-author of the book Delighted: What Teenagers are Teaching the Church About Joy. Abigail serves on the Research Advisory Board of the Springtide Research Institute. Abigail and her husband, Thomas, have three kids—Dorothy, Solveig, and Frank—and live in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, where Abigail serves as a small group leader at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church.
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BJ Katen-Narvell
BJ Katen-Narvell
BJ Katen-Narvell (SDSG) holds an AB in Religion from Princeton University, an MBA from the Wharton Graduate Division, University of Pennsylvania, an MA in Christian Spirituality from The General Seminary of the Episcopal Church and is a 2012 graduate of the SDSG program of Oasis Ministries. After twelve years in corporate marketing and brand management she retired to focus on family and nonprofit work. Most recently, she was Coordinator of the Lilly Endowment Sabbath Renewal Program at Princeton Theological Seminary and she currently serves on the Advisory Board for the Center for Contemplative Leadership. She is married and has three grown daughters.
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David Kim
David Kim
David Kim is the CEO and co-founder of Goldenwood. Over the past several decades, Rev. Dr. David Kim has trained, consulted, and counseled hundreds of leaders and organizations in developing a robust, meaningful integration of faith and work. David’s past experiences as VP of Faith and Work, Executive Director of the Center for Faith & Work, Director of the Gotham Fellowship, and editor of the NIV Faith and Work Bible have given him a breadth of exposure to the challenges of integrating faith and work. His expertise as a key thought-leader in the faith and work space has been well-established having addressed prominent institutions and churches around the world. David’s passion is to help people and organizations see the unseen realities that give rise to the world we create.
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Leonard McMahon
Leonard McMahon
Leonard McMahon has a Doctorate in Theology at the Graduate Theological Union at UC Berkeley, working in spirituality, theology, and political theory. Leonard holds an MA in Religious Studies from UC Santa Barbara and an MDiv from Harvard Divinity School.
With his interest in improving the common good through political theology, spirituality, and pastoral care, Leonard works through his consultancy, Common Ground Dialogue, to bring divergent citizens into deeper conversation for the sake of our democracy. He is deeply concerned about political polarization and draws upon classical spirituality and modern political theory to craft a pastoral approach that attends to both the macrosocial and microsocial aspects of our common life.
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Shann Ray Ferch
Shann Ray Ferch
Poet and prose writer Shann Ray Ferch teaches leadership and forgiveness studies at Gonzaga University. Dr. Ferch is the author of a work of leadership and political theory, Forgiveness and Power in the Age of Atrocity: Servant Leadership as a Way of Life (Rowman & Littlefield), and co-editor of Servant-Leadership, Feminism, and Gender Well-Being (SUNY Press), Servant-Leadership and Forgiveness (SUNY Press), Global Servant-Leadership (Rowman &Littlefield), Conversations on Servant Leadership (SUNY Press), and The Spirit of Servant Leadership (Paulist Press). In his role as professor of leadership studies with the internationally renowned PhD program in Leadership Studies at Gonzaga, he has served as a visiting scholar in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. In addition to his work in leadership studies, he has also taught poetry at Stanford University and the Center for Contemplative Leadership at Princeton Theological Seminary.
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Ruth P. Workman
Ruth P. Workman
Ruth Workman, M. Ed., M.A., is a Certified Spiritual Director, Retreat Leader, and Supervisor of Spiritual Directors. She has offered Spiritual Direction since 1995.
Student Assistants
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Alex Zubak
Alex Zubak
Alex has spent much of her career working in video production producing educational, children’s and branded content. Alex most recently worked as the Director of Prayer at Oaks Church Brooklyn in New York City. She has called Brooklyn home for the past decade and is now studying for her MDiv at Princeton Theological Seminary. Alex is passionate about interfaith dialogue, embodied faith and giving a voice to artists in the church. She aims to foster environments of hospitality with messy tables.
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Brit Whittle
Brit Whittle
Brit Whittle is an MDiv student at Princeton Theological Seminary. A native of the state of Georgia, he spent 29 years as a professional actor and voice over artist. He’s an avid lover of theater, Shakespeare, literature, and watching Bluey with his two young daughters. He’s grateful and excited to grow and learn at CCL.
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Febrianto
Febrianto
Febrianto is a Ph.D Student in Practical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. His research interest lies in the intersection of spirituality and social justice, focusing on Christian mysticism and how its theology and practice can foster the pursuit of justice in postcolonial contexts. Febri is originally from Indonesia and is married to Shyanee Anabella. In his free time, he enjoys walking and wandering around, playing sports, or doing nothing at home.
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Nina Laubach
Nina Laubach
Nina Laubach is in the MDiv program at Princeton Theological Seminary with a Concentration in Theology, Ecology, and Faith Formation. Her current Seminary journey brings together, often in creative ways, the experiences from her previous career paths as a structural engineer, yoga teacher, and assistant school chaplain. Nina studied contemplative dialogue with a Benedictine oblate for four years and her other interests include interfaith spaces, and how the Gospel is preached and expressed in public life. Nina is pursuing clinical chaplaincy certification, and continues to advocate for diverse leadership in the Catholic Church.
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Zainab Kajang
Zainab Kajang
Zainab Kajang is a fourth-year MDiv/MACEF dual degree student at Princeton Theological Seminary. Zainab is also a research assistant under Dr. Bo Karen Lee and an intern with the Center for Contemplative Leadership. Zainab is interested in pastoral care and especially chaplaincy as a vocation after graduation. She is originally from Nigeria.
Frequent Volunteers
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Kenneth W. Henke
Kenneth W. Henke
Kenneth (now retired) was the Curator of Special Collections and Archivist at Princeton Theological Seminary. He served for many years on the oversight committee of the Elizabeth Ann Bogert Memorial Fund for the Study and Practice of Christian Mysticism. He currently serves with the Justice and Peace Committee of Salford Mennonite Meeting in Harleysville, PA, and leads occasional classes on the history of Christian Spirituality.
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Tamara Hemingway
Tamara Hemingway
Tamara (Tammy) Hemingway is the Center’s first staff member, providing administrative support to the CCL Team and community. Tammy is a Boston University alumna who has spent most of her career working with nonprofit organizations, specializing in emerging NPO’s. When she isn’t working, she is practicing Judo, riding horses, gardening, or hanging out with her family.