DAN & SHARON BUTTRY
Rev. Dr. Daniel L. Buttry retired in 2020 from his position as the Global Consultant for Peace and Justice for International Ministries of the American Baptist Churches. He traveled around the world training people in conflict transformation, working from grassroots communities to high-level educational institutions. As a Christian minister and missionary he worked primarily with and through the Christian communities, primarily Baptists. But he is also deeply committed to interfaith peacemaking and is comfortable engaging in multi-religious contexts. He was a founder and officer for the InterFaith Leadership Council in Metro Detroit. He has been involved in many mediation efforts, especially in Myanmar/Burma and with the Nagas of northeast India and northwest Myanmar. He has conducted trainings and workshops in every region of the world (except Antarctica!) and has been a speaker at countless conferences. He has authored 10 books, mostly on peacemaking topics but also on church renewal and preaching.
Rev. Sharon Buttry retired in 2020 from her position as a part-time commissioned Global Consultant for Community Transformation with International Ministries. From 2013 – 2018 she served with the International Hope Center leading urban mission work and community organizing in Hamtramck, Michigan–a municipality completely surrounded by Detroit. She joined Dan in many of his international travels, co-facilitating with him in the conflict transformation training. She has also been engaged in interfaith peacemaking initiatives and serves on the Advisory Board of WISDOM, a women’s interfaith organization in Detroit. She continues her involvement as an activist for environmental justice seeking to hold industry accountable for the toxins they release in urban communities as well as engaging in many other community justice issues. She recently co-authored Daughters of Rizpah: Nonviolence and the Transformation of Trauma with Dan Buttry.
LANCE MUTEYO
Lance Muteyo is from Harare, Zimbabwe. He is the founder and coordinator of Trees of Peace Africa. He was one of the founders of the Pan African Peace Network and serves as PAPNET’s coordinator. He has co-facilitated two TCTTs and introduced the tradition of planting a tree for peace at each TCTT (click here to see more about using this as a training tool). Lance has done conflict transformation training work in Zambia, Malawi, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Ukraine and Italy as well as in Zimbabwe. Lance is one of the founders of the Pan African Peace Network (PAPNET). His wife Christina is a TCTT grad and has co-facilitated with him in some of the training work. Lance has a special heart for children. He has administered an international sponsorship system through the churches for vulnerable children and often leads conflict transformation trainings for children.
PHILIP KAKUNGULU
Philip Kakungulu a.k.a Stargate, is a missionary pastor living in Kampala, Uganda. He is married to Immaculate. Philip calls himself a student of life and a peace missionary facilitating peace-building through conflict transformation training for trainers. He is the Team Leader and Founder of Crossing Lines Africa, a faith-based peace making organization with representation in the Africa Peace Warriors Network which is part of the informal Global Peace Warriors Network. Philip was one of the founders Africa Peace Warriors organic Network which started in 2013 Nairobi, Kenya following the All Africa Training of Conflict Transformation Trainers (TCTT) held by Dan and Sharon Buttry. Philip is a seminary graduate with Masters of Divinity, and a University Graduate in Industrial Relations and Conflict Management. Having majored in Faith-Based Training in Conflict Transformation for Trainers. Philip believes in non-violence and specializes in getting to work in areas where no one else will go. He has worked extensively with faith leaders in refugee settlements and internally displaced people settlements in Uganda, South Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, D.R.Congo, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. As Philip tells his story: “Early on in my life at the age of 13 years I was quickly enrolled into traditional church ministry ranks of conquering the lost world through evangelical conversion. When I first met Rev. Daniel Buttry in 2013, I learned about how the life of Jesus and the Gospels are rooted in the struggles of the people of Jesus’s day, and this changed the way the i see the world and it’s needs. I started a long journey of unlearning and relearning that would eventually dislodge me from the typical centralized power of pulpit ministry, to shared grassroots community outreach. As a young believer, I witnessed first-hand the consumeristic patterns and power struggles that never allowed the clergy to sit together at the same table and how they legitimatized their grab on power using the scriptures and spiritual gifts as weapons of their own benefit. These experiences thrust me into the passion of Peace Building ministry that I have become today, where I care more about the world around me and where I am learning to deconstruct so much of the religious baggage which does not bring to bare the Father heart of God and the needs of humanity. I am continually learning to this day how critical the place of peace building is central to my spiritual experience and practice. I live with the conviction that God’s peace-building mission forms the basic essence of the Christian mandate and that we participate in the Kingdom of God as we pursue peace: peace with God, self, neighbors, and the world. This all-encompassing peace is the core of what Christians are called to work for in the world, this is how Christians achieve the zero mandate of reaching the world, knowing that we will never look in the face of a human being whom God does not love. Having moved away from the traditional Crucifixion Revivals of the church, into the Shalom vision of Incarnational Reformation, I am developing and sampling experiential learning tools for Holistic theology that will make the African a Happy person and the Africa a better place.”
VERONIKA VOLOSHYNA
Veronika Voloshyna is a conflict transformation trainer, mediator and Christian counselor from eastern Ukraine. She founded and is a board member of Vil’na Peacemaking Space (“Vil’na” means “freedom”). Her commitment to non-violence came through the example of her seminary teacher, Rev. Dr. Buttry from whom, she says, “I learned that non-violence is not a doormat mentality and behavior; it actually requires more courage than violence and a lot of inner work.” Veronika’s primary audience is women, and she sees her mission as empowering women as the main driving force for building peace and preventing future conflicts in Ukraine. She is one of the founders and coordinators of a mediators network in eastern Ukraine. Veronika has organized and conducted three Women Peacemakers’ Conferences in two Ukrainian cities, and regularly conduct educational events: trainings, workshops , seminars, etc. She is also an outstanding translator who translated the “Bible Study Manual on Conflict Transformation” into Russian.
MYLINDA BAITS
Mylinda Baits is an ordained American Baptist clergywoman, a pastoral artist and trainer. Serving as a Global Consultant for Training Through Restorative Arts, she partners with IM colleagues, national church leadership and social change organizations to seek justice, healing and transformation through restorative art-making and creative expression. Having worked alongside beautifully diverse populations throughout the world for almost two decades, Mylinda values and honors the deep wisdom, creative expression and resilient healing resources that can be shared through the arts. She finds joy watching diverse communities come together through collaborative art making, storytelling and contextual worship. She has co-facilitated in 3 TCTTs and is a certified trainers with First Aid Arts. Mylinda creates resilient and brave spaces where servant leaders and those who do the hard work of rescue, relief and restoration can be nurtured and renewed. As sinner and saint, she sees beauty in broken places, wonder in wounded people, and life in loving God and others.
RAY SCHELLINGER
Ray Schellinger serves as the Global Consultant for Immigration and Refugees with International Ministries of the American Baptist Churches. He has worked in Nicaragua and Mexico, first with community/economic development and later with families trying to escape the bonds of domestic violence. Over the last 11 years, Ray has developed and led immigration immersion experiences to Tijuana in order to help change misconceptions that US Americans often have of our neighbors and to re-humanize our understanding of the issues affecting us all. In addition, he is working in support of ABC’s international partners as they welcome refugees and immigrants in crisis. Ray co-facilitated TCTTs in Mexico City and Santiago, Cuba.
MANAL EL TAYAR
Manal El Tayar recently earned a Master in International Development Policy with a focus on Peace and Conflict Resolution at Duke University. She holds a postgraduate degree in Mediation from Saint Joseph University, Beirut, and a BA in Political Science and International Affairs from the Lebanese American University, Beirut. Manal’s theses topics focused on the ‘Roles and Limits of Grassroots Mediation in the Context of the Syrian Civil War’ and on the ‘Role of Leadership in Effective Social Movements in Hard Contexts with a case study on Vaclav Havel’. Previously, Manal was the Peacebuilding Initiatives Manager at the Institute of Middle East Studies, served as the Middle East/North Africa Regional Liaison Officer for the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflicts. She also worked closely with many NGOs, INGOs and UN agencies on issues relating to peace and security including the UN Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect, the Nonviolent Peaceforce and the Permanent Peace Movement. She co-facilitated the 2017 Alexandria, Egypt TCTT. Manal is also a track and field athlete and has broken national records in mid-distance athletics in Lebanon. She has competed nationally, regionally and internationally. She is passionate about using high-level sports as a platform for peacebuilding between the various communities in Lebanon.
SHABRAE JACKSON KRIEG
CHRIS PERKINS
KAYILU PFOSE
Kayilu Pfoze is a theological student who is interested in pastoral and justice and peace-building ministries. He obtained his Master of Divinity at Oriental Theological Seminary, Dimapur, India where he studied under Rev. Dr. Wati Aier, the former Principal and also the convener of Forum for Naga Reconciliation. He belongs to the Naga community from the North East region of India. Growing up in a conflict-ridden region, justice, peace and harmonious society lies at the heart of his vision for ministry. Kayilu is passionate about peace-building at the grassroots. While he was serving in his local church, he planned worship experiences, led Bible studies and organized activities that create opportunities for the transformation lives of people especially the youth. He firmly believes that God is engaged in transforming the world through the ministry of the church. Currently, Kayilu is studying in the US where he is sharpening his ministry vision and equipping himself to do more for God. In his faith journey, one of the key turning points of his life was the 10-day TCTT training at the Philippines with Dan and Sharon Buttry and Mylinda Baits in 2016.
JAYME REAVES
Jayme Reaves is a public theologian based in Dorset, U.K. and author of the 2016 book Safeguarding the Stranger: An Abrahamic Theology & Ethic of Protective Hospitality (Wipf & Stock). She has an M.Div from Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond (Virginia, US) as well as an M.Phil in Conflict Transformation and Reconciliation and a Ph.D in Theology from Trinity College, University of Dublin. Jayme lectures, facilitates workshops, leads retreats and works with organisations, community groups, churches, and individuals interested in thinking theologically about public issues. Find out more at www.jaymereaves.com.
JEC DAN BORLADO