Schaper’s purpose in life is to provide spiritual nurture for public capacity. She likes to “kick hope into high gear” and show people what is possible through the magnificence of human community strategically focused and spiritually filled. Her plan at Judson is to be a steward of an extraordinary legacy and to carry the church into the 21s century in terms of organization, vision, resources and courage. Schaper is no stranger to controversy, having led her Miami congregation through an institutional transformation that opened it to gays, Jews, anti-war protests, significant membership growth and fund and fun raising on behalf of the poor and outcast. Her 31 published books tell the tale of her interfaith marriage, her pioneer as an ordained woman, her quiet spirituality and noisy activism. One of the first women trained by Saul Alinsky, the founder of community organization strategies, Schaper has focused on issues of political and economic development and interfaith and open rituals which support action for social change.

At Judson she has pioneered work with the New York City New Sanctuary Movement to protect those immigrants being detained or deported unjustly as well as making Judson a home for Occupy and Occupy Faith. She has continued Judson’s legacy as a haven for women who insist on the right to choose an abortion and opened the building to countless groups, including Hudson River Clearwater, Domestic Workers and Sex workers organizations, while maintaining its work on harm reduction kits, support for GLBTQ people and especially for homeless gay youth. She has initiated cooperation with NYU, especially through its Spiritual Life Center, now across the street, and has pioneered multifaith liturgy with the campus ministries at NYU. She has presided over a growing congregation and Sunday School and developed a community ministry program which has over seven years a total of 43 year long interns who are prepared to do Judson’s brand of public ministry from a parish base. She has also nurtured the arts through Bailout Theater, a site for emerging artists to perform in a cabaret atmosphere, while also bringing free food to the growing numbers who come, and developed the “Gym at Judson,” a work-out space for the arts.

At the core of Rabbi Kerry Chaplin's rabbinate is relationship, which inspires her to work towards a world in which truth and empathy shall kiss and justice and peace shall meet (Psalm 85:11). That work is anchored by a Jewish practice in which our greatest socio-political inequities not only shape who we are, but help us reveal the Divine among and within one another, and compel us to shape a more whole world. Through projects like Two Faiths One Prayer, Talmud + Yoga, and Jewishness and Race workshops, Kerry encourages others to bring all of who they are to Torah and Torah to all of who they are. Kerry was ordained by the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in 2015 and received both a B.A. in Religious Studies and an M.A. in Non-Profit Management from Washington University in St. Louis. At once a community organizer, a yoga teacher, and a former rugby player, Kerry is the Jewish Emergent Network Rabbinic Fellow at Lab/Shul. She lives with her wife Julia, her cats Louie and Izzy, and her dog Charlie (Chaplin).

During a career which included seventeen-plus years as a business manager & owner, I assumed responsibility for six businesses that were either struggling or under duress. Using efficient networking & a wholesale strategy, I built & managed businesses of various dimensions & domains, turning them all into efficient money-makers. I also launched & developed two businesses, from start-up to stability, covering overhead expenses within months of launch.
In January, 2015, after burning-out from the rigors of building & managing businesses, I walked-away from a career which became increasingly empty & meaningless. During the next twenty-seven months, first at Chuang Yen Monastery in Carmel, NY and then in forest monasteries of Sri Lanka, in an attempt to gain insight into the mind and how it works, I engaged in vigorous meditation practice under the guidance of meditation masters. With training sometimes lasting 15 hours-per-day, using traditional Samatha (tranquility) & Vipassana (insight) methods, mindfulness, concentration & awareness were greatly enhanced. From November, 2015 to May, 2017, I completed 5000+ hours of Satipatthana, Anapanasati & Metta methods of meditation...
Using the techniques learned, I am extremely proficient at guiding beginners to experienced practitioners in their development, by overcoming obstacles which may hinder growth. With a unique ability to lucidly explain various methods of meditation, yogis will easily understand & and be able implement the lessons into their daily practice & lives.

The methods taught are remarkably beneficial to improving the quality of life for the average practitioner... The teachings are also essential to cultivating one's spiritual practice, regardless of faith or denomination...

Sunita Viswanath has worked for over two decades in women’s rights and human rights organizations. She is co-founder and active board member of the international women’s human rights organization, Women for Afghan Women. Sunita was raised in an Andhra Hindu family, and always felt that it was her Hindu values and beliefs that motivated her insistence on justice and human rights. However, she did not find that there was a Hindu voice or presence in the movements for justice of which she was a part. Sunita co-founded Sadhana in order to bring together these two parts of her journey: her activism for human rights and her identity as a Hindu. Sunita lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband Stephan Shaw and their three sons, Gautama, Akash and Satya.

Dr. Debbie Almontaser is an American Muslim of Yemeni descent, who started out as a schoolteacher and now has become an influential community activist and leader. She is the CEO and Founder of Bridging Cultures Group Inc and was the founding principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy, a New York Arab-themed public school, named after the Christian Arab poet, Khalil Gibran. Dr. Debbie is a veteran of New York City's public school system, she taught special education, trained teachers in literacy, and served as a multicultural specialist and diversity adviser. She co-designed a curriculum for the Muslim Communities Project at Columbia University and for Educators for Social Responsibility/Metro. In addition, she has contributed a chapter in The Day Our World Changed: Children's Art of 9/11 for New York University's Child Study Center and the Museum of the City of New York and in Forever After: New York City Teachers on 9/11 for Teachers College Press as well as articles and essays in several magazines.