The JustLove Collective is a collaboration of Adventist activists. We are an inclusive movement, an international gathering, a shared spirit, a galvanizing, grace-filled group moving toward and motivated by Jesus.
The organizing Team
Chris Blake
Chris Blake has been a pastor, professor emeritus, chair of Lincoln Interfaith Peacemaking Coalition, and editor of Insight magazine. The author of more than 250 published articles and recipient of numerous teaching, service, and national writing and editing awards, he has written several books, including Swimming Against the Current, Reinvent Your Sabbath School (with his wife, Yolanda), and Searching for a God to Love. Chris launched Maranatha’s Ultimate Workout, the website Adventist Church Welcoming Statements, Union College Peace Week, and The Giraffe Society, for people willing to stick their necks out for youth and young adults. To foster a listening climate in Adventist churches he moderated Enough Room at the Table and created the seminars Learning to Love and A Sanctuary for Conversation. He sees following Jesus as fundamentally love in action.
Dilys Brooks
Dr. Dilys Brooks is the Campus Chaplain of Loma Linda University, where she provides spiritual care for the students, faculty, and staff. She is passionate and enthusiastic about assisting individuals of all ages to know Christ personally and accept His call to become change agents in the world for the kingdom of God. She believes Christ’s challenge to the culture includes speaking truth to power on behalf of those who are “othered,” forgotten, and living on the margins. Her scholarship encompasses spiritual care, trauma, relational justice, restorative justice, culture, teaching, and pedagogy.
Nathan Brown
Nathan Brown is an author, columnist and blogger. He has served as editor of Record and Signs of the Times (Australian edition) and is the book editor at Signs Publishing Company, based just outside Melbourne, Australia. He has written articles for a wide variety of magazines around the world. He has written or been the editing author of 20 books including A House on Fire, Thinking Faith, Advent, Of Falafels and Following Jesus, and For the Least of These. Nathan has degrees in law, literature, English, professional writing, and justice and theology, and has used his training to promote equity and justice locally and internationally.
Courtney Ray
Dr. Courtney Ray is an ordained pastor whose nearly two decades of working with congregants and community members led her to pursue advanced studies in mental health to address the needs in this often neglected area. She is an academician, licensed clinical neuropsychologist, neuroscience researcher, and one of the founders of the Society for Black Neuropsychology. She is also a prolific writer who has contributed to numerous publications including Message Magazine, Adventist Review and Adventist Today, and is a regular columnist for Spectrum Magazine. Her work in the religious, scientific, educational, and mental health realms intersect at her calling to help facilitate holistic healing and growth in communities, especially among those who have been historically minoritized and underserved.
Stephen Chavez
Stephen Chavez retired after 26 years as an editor for Adventist Review. He served a two-year term as president of the Associated Church Press, North America’s oldest religious press association. He is the Director of Church Relations at Kinship International, a community committed to welcoming and affirming the identities and journeys of LGBTQIA+ Christians.
Amalia Goulbourne
Amalia Goulbourne is a pastor finishing her Master’s in theology at Andrews University. Her vision is to nurture holistic people, preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and build bridges across generational and cultural divides.
Dave Gemmell
Dave Gemmell recently retired from the Ministerial Association of the North American Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church where he helped build an ecosystem for pastors to grow more competent in their core qualities of professional ministry. Now, with his wife Eileen, he can’t wait to join the synergy of the JustLove Collective to grow in equipping next generations with the tools to pursue biblical justice and mercy.
Jessie A. Lopez Abdul-Karim
Jessie is a Nuyorican (Puerto Rican from New York City) living in Southern California who advocates for spiritual health, social justice, equity, and trauma-informed avenues of healing. She currently serves as the Director of Spiritual Care for SAC Health, the largest teaching FQHC in the nation located in San Bernardino, California. She previously served as a pastor for Southeastern California Conference and Georgia-Cumberland Conference. She holds a Master of Social Work and a Master of Divinity from Andrews University. Jessie enjoys providing safe environments for people to feel supported, heard, and seen. She also provides coaching to help people navigate life after loss and is committed to being compassionate, devoted, and to inspiring transformation. She is married to her best friend Robert Abdul-Karim who is a pastor at Southeastern California Conference and has a fur baby named Romeo.
Sam Gungaloo
Sam Gungaloo is the pastor of Eastside SDA Fellowship and a chaplain at a Youth Detention Center in Washington. Originally from England, he co-founded The Sabbath Sofa project which reframed the concept of the Sabbath to seekers who aren’t familiar with the Adventist culture and perspective. He also comes with the experience of pastoring in numerous multi-ethnic communities. He champions diversity and practical faith. He advocates for a world shaped by justice, compassion, and inclusion, emphasizing action beyond theology.
Emily Kuchurivska
Emily Kuchurivska recently graduated from La Sierra University where she obtained a BA in Religious Studies. During her time there, she served as the Divinity School Student Forum president, Spiritual VP, and student chaplain. She is passionate about creating spaces that encourage courageous conversations about faith intersecting real life that make a difference.
Herb Montgomery
Herb Montgomery is a self-described itinerant teacher. He is founder of Renewed Heart Ministries, a not-for-profit organization created to engage the intersection of faith, love, compassion, and justice and committed to shaping the world into a compassionate, just, and safe home for all. He practices listening to communities on the margins, and believes following Jesus means working toward ending human suffering here and now.
Moe Stiles
Pastor Moe Stiles is lead pastor of the Crosswalk Melbourne Church and Chaplain for AdventCare Whitehorse. She is also the chaplain for tertiary institutions in Victoria, Australia. In addition to providing on-campus support at Monash and Deakin, she leads the Victorian Adventists Students Association, which exists to support tertiary students in Victoria more broadly. She has been outspoken on issues of government accountability and global hunger. She is driven by justice advocacy work, community connectedness, authentic living, and building leaders. She passionately yearns to see the person of Jesus truly honored in the way we live and love.
Trevan Osborn
Pastor Trevan Osborn is the Coordinator for Enrollment Marketing Strategy and School Health and Safety at the Southeastern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. He credits his more than 20 years in Christian education for instilling in him the importance of standing up for what he knows to be right, no matter the cost.
Ben Amoah
Ben is the youth pastor at La Sierra University Church in the Southeastern California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. He first graduated from Burman University in Canada where he received his Bachelors in Theology and is currently working on his Master’s of Divinity at La Sierra University. Ben strives to create safe spaces for all youth and leaders of youth. He hopes others can see the God of love that is moving and calls us to join in that movement of love. Ben has created online spaces for conversations about social justice and compassion through his concluded podcast, The Auricle Podcast, and continues to find new ways to create invite people to understand how their story intersects with the ever present story of Jesus.
Alex Barrientos
Alex is the Senior Pastor of Sligo Church in Takoma Park, Maryland. His pastoral and academic pursuits encompass theology, ethics, history, and social justice. Alex is a member of several community, church, academic, educational, editorial and hospital boards. He believes in creating spaces for communities to grow in grace and developing opportunities of service and advocacy for the Kingdom of God.
Renewed Heart Ministries is a fiscal sponsor of JustLove Collective.