Partial List of Presenters
The Rev. Canon Tina Campbell
served as the Trinity Cathedral Deacon in Sacramento from 1993 until her retirement from the staff in 2010. She serves now as associate at Trinity, focusing especially in Community Organizing and environmental efforts, and as the Missioner for Indigenous Ministries in the Diocese of Northern California where she shares her experience as Latina and Navaho. As part of her ministry, she has participated in and helped facilitate three Sacred Ground Circles.
A year ago Tina was installed as Transitional Pastor of Black Mountain UCC. She shares her work with the Indigenous Ministry Task Force and Red Bud Resource Group to assist two parishes in crafting meaningful Land Acknowledgements and building relationships with local Native groups. She is most active with Sacramento ACT’s homeless committee and the Cathedral’s environmental ministry (TREE). She and her husband, Brian, retired from teaching in 2008, are enjoying baseball, working with the SPCA, and some travel.
Fr. Jim Clarke
With an extensive academic background in the fields of spirituality, adult education, counseling, ritual and depth psychology, Fr Jim Clarke currently serves as Consultant of Spiritual Formation for the Permanent Diaconate Office for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He also is an Associate Spiritual Director at the Cardinal Manning House of Prayer for Priests.
Fr. Jim’s work and further education have taken him to Israel, Mexico, Canada, Africa, Europe, Australia, the United Kingdom and the Pacific Islands. His CD/DVD series and published books have added to his continuing public ministry of retreats, workshops, and conferences throughout the United States for priests, women religious, seminarians, parish and school staffs as well as parishes at large. His newest book is: Rethinking Catholic Devotions: Energy, Engagement, Transformation.
For many years, Fr. Jim has acted as an important contributor to our Word and Life series – often stepping forward to summarize the season’s journey of 9 weeks, weaving it all together into new understanding and usefulness.
The Rev. Canon Mary Crist, Ed.D.
(Piitaki/Eagle Woman) is enrolled Blackfeet from the Douglas family in Montana. She has served as a priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, serving at St. Michael’s Ministry Center in Riverside. Dr. Crist served on the Presiding Bishop’s Staff as the Coordinator of Indigenous Theological Education in the Department of Ethnic Ministries. She is a Visiting Professor of Education and Indigenous Studies at Bexley Seabury Seminary in Chicago. She has earned the Doctor of Education from Columbia University in New York, Master of Divinity from Claremont School of Theology, Master of Education from Pan American University, and Bachelor of Arts from the University of California Berkeley. She is the author of the articles “Frybread in Canaan” and “Native Christian Perspectives on Reconciliation,” both published in the First Peoples Theology Journal, as well as various articles in early childhood education, special education, and online instructional design. In 2022 she was named a Woman of Distinction for Province VIII by the National Episcopal Church Women.
Rev. Steve Jacobsen
Steve Jacobsen earned a BA in European History from UCSB, a Masters of Divinity from Princeton Seminary and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Seattle University. He served as a Presbyterian pastor for 30 years, with the last 16 in Goleta.
From 2008-2014 he was Executive Director at Hospice of Santa Barbara; from 2014 to May, 2018 he was Director at La Casa de Maria. He has published a book and 11 articles on the relationship of spirituality to various aspects of daily life, including secular work, leadership and digital technology.
He has been active in interfaith projects with Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist communities. Since “being “released into the wild” and retiring in 2018, he has served as an Interim Pastor, first at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian and now at Summerland Presbyterian. He writes a weekly blog, “Pocket Epiphanies” at www.drjsb.com
Michael Kearney, MD
Michael Kearney has worked for over 40 years as a palliative care and hospice physician, sitting at the bedsides of people who are seriously ill and dying. He recently retired from his full time clinical work to dedicate himself to teaching through the newly founded Becoming Forest Project. He and his wife, Radhule, live in Santa Barbara, California.ourselves, making the world a better place for all.
Ernie Tamminga, PhD
has been reflecting on the dynamics of emerging and cross-cultural spirituality for over 50 years. He earned his doctorate in Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where for five years he was a member of Raimon Panikkar’s graduate seminar in Cross-Cultural Religious Anthropology. His dissertation was an analysis and critique of Teilhard de Chardin’s notion of a “privileged axis” of evolution.
Ernie is a trained Spiritual Director, and for 20 years was a member of the board and teaching faculty of Stillpoint: The Center for Christian Spirituality. A Long Time Ago, he was a board member of “The Phenomenon of Man Project,” a nonprofit that offered retreats and presentations centered on the evolutionary vision of Teilhard de Chardin. He describes himself as a “planet empath.” He and his wife Alison have, between them, 12 grandchildren and – as of mid-2023 – one great-grandson… intensifying his sense of urgency about what we are doing to our beloved planet.