Poet-Priest Malcolm Guite was Chaplain for 20 years at Girton College, Cambridge and remains Supernumerary Fellow. He is the author of several books including Mariner: A voyage with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Love Remember: 40 poems of loss, lament and hope, and David’s Crown: Sounding the Psalms. Guite earned degrees from Cambridge and Durham universities.

His research interests include the intersection of religion and the arts, and the examination of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, and British poets such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Malcolm has a particular interest in the imagination as a truth-bearing faculty and continues to reflect deeply on how poetry can stimulate and re-awaken our prayer life.

Dr. Swinton is a consulting faculty member at Duke Divinity School and Chair in Divinity and Religious Studies at the University of Aberdeen. A former mental health nurse and chaplain, he founded Aberdeen’s Centre for Spirituality, Health and Disability. His work explores mental health, dementia, disability theology, and pastoral care. He is the award-winning author of Finding Jesus in the Storm and Dementia: Living in the Memories of God, and is a fellow of both the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the British Academy.

Mitali Perkins was born in Kolkata, India, and grew up across the globe before settling in California. A lifelong lover of story, she writes award-winning books for young readers that explore identity, justice, and belonging across cultures. Mitali has taught at every level from middle school to college and is the author of both fiction and nonfiction, including Steeped in Stories and Just Making. She speaks widely on the power of story to bridge divides and bring healing.

Bruce Herman is a painter, writer, and speaker based in Gloucester, Massachusetts. His work has been exhibited in over 150 shows worldwide and is held in collections including the Vatican Museum of Modern Religious Art, the Hammer Museum, and the Cape Ann Museum. Herman’s recent book, Makers by Nature (IVP, 2025), continues his exploration of beauty, faith, and the human condition. He taught at Gordon College for nearly 40 years, where he held the Lothlórien Distinguished Chair in Fine Arts and founded the Art Department.

Erin Shaw is a Chickasaw-Choctaw painter and visual storyteller exploring the spaces between worlds. Raised on an Oklahoma farm, she weaves color, iconography, and narrative to reveal truth through both solemnity and humor. Shaw holds a BFA from Baylor and an MFA from the University of Oklahoma. With over 25 years in education, she speaks internationally and has exhibited widely, including as a featured artist in Visual Voices: Contemporary Chickasaw Art.

Benjamin Myers is a poet, essayist, and professor who directs the Great Books Honors Program at Oklahoma Baptist University. A former Oklahoma Poet Laureate, he is the author of four poetry collections and two books of nonfiction. His work has appeared in The Yale Review, Image, The Christian Century, and First Things. Myers is also a deacon and Bible teacher at Chandler First Baptist Church.

Alan Noble is a writer, professor, and cultural critic who teaches English at Oklahoma Baptist University. He is the author of Disruptive Witness, You Are Not Your Own, and On Getting Out of Bed. A fellow at the Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics, Noble writes regularly for outlets such as The Atlantic, Christianity Today, and The Gospel Coalition, and speaks widely on faith, culture, and mental health.

Josh Nadeau is an artist and author from the West Coast of Canada whose work invites others to see the holy in the ordinary. Through visual art and writing, he explores how beauty can reawaken our imagination for God’s presence in everyday life. He has created work for The Chosen, churches, musicians, and organizations including Searock and Bless God. Josh is the founder of Sword & Pencil and Every Day Saints, and lives with his wife Aislinn and their son Ransom, delighting in life’s good and perfect gifts.