Hawkins served as Secretary of the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council (GKCIC) from 2005 until 2011, and presently serves as its American Indian Spirituality Counsellor. Founder of the GKCIC Speakers Bureau until 2019, Hawkins coordinated speaker presentations by faith leaders for the community, and hopes to rekindle the Speakers Bureau now that she comes out
Hi, my name is Rev. Dr. Sharri Johnson, and I am the Senior Minister and lead faculty for One Heart Retreats. This is how I came to be here: I have spent my life in search of spiritual understanding, as an educator, mother, friend and practitioner. My goal is to continue that search, to be
Bennette Seaman was born and raised in Kansas City, Kansas. Bennette and her husband Bob have raised 6 children and now have 5 grandchildren. She attended the University of Kansas when her youngest child reached age 5, where she studied Political Science, Philosophy and Religion. She is currently managing her husband’s dental practice on a
Rev. Dr. Zac Harmon-McLaughlin is the director of the Community of Christ Seminary at Graceland University where he also serves on the faculty of religious studies. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Religion in 2008 from Graceland and Master of Arts in Religion in 2010 from Graceland’s Community of Christ Seminary. In 2019, he
Teresa is a Pastoral Minister at Visitation Catholic Church in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph who has also ministered in Houston, Jefferson City, and Boston; after earning a B.A. in Philosophy and an M.A. in Theology. For over 25 years her academic and personal focus has been in religious literacy, interfaith dialogue and peacemaking; beginning
Geneva Blackmer is a five precepts lay Buddhist within the Kwan um School of Zen since 2014. She is a Ph.D. Candidate at Amridge University, earned a Master's of Ecumenical Studies from the University of Bonn in 2023, and a Master of Arts in Religious Studies in 2019 from Athens State University. She is the
Rev. Dr. Matthew Silvers is a pastor at Lee's Summit Christian Church (DOC) and has served that faith community since 2009. He has been part of the People of Faith for Peace since its inception and has participated in various interreligious gatherings across the city. He completed a Doctor of Ministry project entitled "Tables of
Ira Sirkar has served as the Sufi Faith Director with the GKC Interfaith Council since 2011. He has been a student of Sufism since 1976 and is an ordained minister, a Cherag, in the Sufi Universal Worship, a concentration that brings the world’s religions together to promote understanding and spiritual awakening for humanity in a
I am a lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One of the basic tenets of our faith states, “We claim the privilege of worshipping almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience and allow all men this same privilege; let them worship how, where, or what they may.”
