Voices Shaping the Conversation

We are honored to feature Dr. Willie James Jennings and Dr. Alexia Salvatierra as guiding voices for Inhabit 26. While we continue to celebrate everyday stories, their wisdom is a central focus this year, shaping our common sessions and helping us engage faith, justice, and community in meaningful ways.

Dr. Willie James Jennings

Theologian, Author & Professor of Systematic Theology and Africana Studies, Yale Divinity School

Dr. Willie James Jennings is a theologian, teacher, and ordained Baptist minister whose work explores the intersections of race, culture, place, and Christian formation. Through his scholarship and writing, he invites the Church to reimagine what it means to belong to one another and to the communities we inhabit. His work challenges Christians to examine how history, identity, and theology shape the life of the Church today.

At a time when many are seeking deeper connection and renewed imagination for the Church’s role in the world, Dr. Jennings offers wisdom that calls us toward communities marked by justice, reconciliation, and faithful presence.

  • Ordained Baptist minister with pastoral experience in North Carolina

  • Author of The Christian Imagination, widely recognized as a seminal work in theology

  • Scholar of Christian thought, race theory, and decolonial studies

Dr. Alexia Salvatierra

Lutheran Pastor, Author & Professor of Mission and Theology, Fuller Seminary

Dr. Alexia Salvatierra is a pastor, professor, and nationally recognized advocate for faith-rooted justice. Her work has long focused on equipping churches and communities to respond faithfully to issues such as immigration, poverty, and systemic injustice. Through decades of ministry, organizing, and teaching, she has helped shape movements that bring together faith and public action for the flourishing of vulnerable communities.

Her voice brings both prophetic clarity and practical wisdom, helping churches imagine what it looks like to live out the Gospel through courageous love, solidarity, and collective action. In this moment, her leadership offers important guidance for communities seeking to embody a faith that is deeply rooted in justice and compassion.

  • Academic Dean for Centro Latino at Fuller Seminary

  • Co-author of Faith-Rooted Organizing and other influential works

  • Founder and leader in national faith-based justice initiatives, including the New Sanctuary Movement