May 30 - 31, 2025

Peter Block is an author and citizen of Cincinnati, Ohio. He is partner in Designed Learning, a training company that offers workshops designed to build the skills outlined in his books. His books include Flawless Consulting, Stewardship, The Answer to How Is Yes, Community, The Abundant Community, Activating the Common Good and An Other Kingdom. Peter is a founder of the Common Good Collective, and is part of the Cincinnati Common Good Alliance. He served on the board of directors of LivePerson, a provider of online engagement solutions. His work is in the restoration of the common good and creating a world that reclaims our humanity from the onslaught of modernism.

The Rev. Dr. Mary Laymon has been nurturing the spiritual journeys of individuals and communities for more than 25 years with experience in inner city, rural and suburban neighborhoods. In all these settings she has worked with children, youth, and families, as well as led retreats and pilgrimages for adults. Whether she is serving as the pastor at St. Simon’s of Cyrene Episcopal Church in Lincoln Heights or the Spiritual leader of The Beloved Community at Tikkun Farm, she strives to offer the same spiritual leadership, helping others hear the quiet and persistent sacred voice speaking love to each of us. She has been offering Spiritual Direction for 20 years with adults wanting to explore their sacred selves and deepen their spiritual awareness.

Professor Alison Jack is Professor of Bible and Literature at the School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh, and Principal of New College. She  was ordained as a Church of Scotland minister in 1998 and has served in team-ministries in Portobello and in the Carse of Gowrie. She was born and brought  up in Stirling and has been a Trustee of the Drummond Trust since 2018. Throughout her academic career, she has sought to integrate her interest in English and Scottish literature with her study of the Bible, leading her to focus on the fiction of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Her work in various parishes alongside her academic studies has provided fruitful engagement with committed and interested readers of these biblical texts in a wide variety of circumstances. The combination of roles has been both stimulating and challenging. Additional research in Religious and Moral Education in primary and secondary schools has offered fresh insights into contextual readings of the Bible and other sacred texts.

Born in Romania and having spent his teenage years in Germany, Rolf Billes has lived in Scotland since 1992 and has been a parish minister in the Church of Scotland since 1996. Ministering in congregations and communities in city centre, urban housing estate, rural and suburban settings has taught Rolf how to navigate difference by cultivating an attitude of curiosity about what makes people unique and how their context shapes their views and outlook in life. By engaging people from different backgrounds to collaborate on shared projects and inviting them to listen deeply to each other, Rolf has enjoyed building the capacity for dialogue in church and community settings witnessing a growing sense of cohesion and mutual respect. Rolf has a special interest in the use of the speaking and singing voice. As a Naked Voice facilitator, he has worked with many individuals and groups in cultivating authentic self-expression and non-judgmental listening to others.

Adam Clark, Associate Professor of Theology at Xavier University, is committed to the idea that theological education in the twenty first century must function as a counter-story. One that equips students to read against the grain of the dominant culture and inspires them to live into the Ignatian dictum of going forth "to set the world on fire." To this end, Dr. Clark is intentional about pedagogical practices that raise critical consciousness by going beneath surface meanings, unmasking conventional wisdoms and reimagining the good. During his tenure at Xavier, Dr. Clark has received several distinctions in teaching including Teacher of the Year Nomination by the Alpha Sigma Nu International Honor Society and The Faculty Support Award by the Black Student Association. His courses on Black Theology, Jesus and Power, Faith and Justice and Religion and Hip Hop contribute to the Jesuit practice of educating students in the service of faith and the promotion of justice. He currently serves as co-chair of Black Theology Group at the American Academy of Religion, actively publishes in the area of black theology and black religion and participates in social justice groups at Xavier and in the Cincinnati area.