Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty has named a diverse group of 10 young professionals to its 2023 class of BJC Fellows.
BJC Fellows recently completed an intensive training seminar over five days in Colonial Williamsburg, Va., where they learned how to advocate to protect religious freedom. BJC staff and other legal and theological experts, plus Colonial Williamsburg’s own historic interpreters, provided a education in the historical, legal and theological underpinnings of religious liberty.
“BJC’s efforts in training and equipping the next generation of religious liberty advocates have never been more important, said Sabrina Dent, director of the BJC Center for Faith, Justice and Reconciliation, which serves as the home of the BJC Fellows program. “This year’s class of BJC Fellows cultivated a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities that exist in the religious freedom legal landscape, all through a social justice lens.”
This is the eighth class of BJC Fellows since the program began in 2015, bringing the total who have served in the role to 78.
This year’s fellows are:
Mehmet Saracoglu, Fairfax, Va. Saracoglu serves as director of the Center for Faith, Identity and Globalization at the Rumi Forum. A graduate of Istanbul Technical University and the University of Kentucky, he has been active in the interfaith dialogue and intercultural understanding space for the last 20 years.
Kari O’Brien Baumann, Greensboro, N.C. Baumann is the pastor to children and families at College Park Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C., and a recent graduate of Wake Forest University School of Divinity. A former school librarian, she enjoys bringing literature, especially picture books, into faith education.
Natalie Copeland, St. Cloud, Minn. Copeland is the founder and executive director of Unite Cloud, a nonprofit organization committed to advancing social justice in central Minnesota. She also is a trainer with the Community Anti-Racism Education team at St. Cloud State University and a member of the St. Cloud Area School Board. She also works as a consultant in the areas of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, hosting workshops such as “Dismantling White Saviorism” and “Anti-Racism Personal and Professional: Doing Our Own Work.”
Maggie Clark, Winston-Salem, N.C. Clark serves as an adjunct philosophy professor at Vance-Granville Community College and is a student at Wake Forest University School of Divinity. A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Edinburgh, she has a bachelor’s degree in philosophy with a concentration in politics and economics, and a master’s degree in philosophy.
Don Abram, Chicago. Abram is the founder and president of Pride in the Pews, a nonprofit building bridges and creating solutions that empower Black LGBTQ communities to thrive in the church and beyond. A graduate of Harvard Divinity School, he has strategically recruited Black congregations, trained ministers, created data-collecting mechanisms and analyzed engagement strategies to maximize impact, equipping more than 100 community leaders.
Hannah Phillips Mollenkamp, Evanston, Ill. Mollenkamp is the associate pastor over youth, family and young adult ministries at Sycamore United Methodist Church in Sycamore, Ill. She holds a master of divinity degree from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary and dual degrees in English literature and German from the University of North Texas. A musician, writer and published poet, she is passionate about helping others embrace their own creativity, both as a spiritual practice and as a means of social change.
Abigail Villagrana, Waco, Texas. Villagrana is a master of divinity student at Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary. A graduate of Dallas Baptist University, she currently serves as a resident chaplain in one of Baylor University’s residence halls and serves as a volunteer chaplain for asylum seekers at the Naomi House operated by DaySpring Baptist Church in Waco.
Amethyst Holmes, Washington, D.C. Holmes is an Ethical Leadership & Racial Justice Fellow at the Howard University School of Divinity. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Alabama, and she has experience as a reporter and nonprofit communications leader. Her work has been featured in Christianity Today, Interfaith America Magazine and Religion News Service.
Rachel Baltimore, Lorton, Va. Baltimore serves as assistant pastor of the International Community Baptist Church in Chantilly, Va. She was ordained in December 2022 and has served on the CAB Outreach International Ministries Missionary Team since age 17. She recently was appointed a missional leader and is currently the executive secretary of the Ecumenical Global Mission Alliance (Mission Reformation). A Life Member of the Northern Virginia Baptist Association Women’s Ministry, she serves as co-chair of the Helen B. Webb Scholarship committee.
Bobbie Newell, Jr., Richmond, Va. Newell is a 2021 graduate of Virginia Union University, where he majored in criminal justice. He hails from Queens, N.Y., and previously served as the 86th Student Government Association President at Virginia Union as well as the second vice president for the Virginia Association of Chapters of Alpha Phi Alpha. He is a student at Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology of Virginia Union University and currently serves as youth pastor at Cedar Street Baptist Church.