Complex Aspects of King

Mika Edmondson is the pastor of New City Fellowship OPC, a Presbyterian church in Southeast Grand Rapids. He earned a PhD in systematic theology from Calvin Seminary and wrote The Power of Unearned Suffering, a book about Martin Luther King Jr.’s theology of suffering.

Russell Moore (MDiv, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary; PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) public theologian at Christianity Today and director of Christianity Today’s Public Theology Project. He has written many books, including Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel (2015), The Storm-Tossed Family: How the Cross Reshapes the Home (2018), and The Courage to Stand: Facing Your Fear Without Losing Your Soul (2020). He and his wife, Maria, are the parents of five sons.

Carl Ellis serves as provost’s professor of theology and culture at Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS), and associate pastor for cultural apologetics at New City Fellowship. He has authored several books, including Free at Last? and Saving Our Sons.

Charlie Dates is the senior pastor of Progressive Baptist Church in Chicago. Before his call to Progressive, he served as an apprentice pastor at New Zion Baptist Church in Rockford, Illinois, and as a pastor at Salem Baptist Church in Chicago. Charlie earned an MDiv and PhD at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, where his research focused on the burden of black preaching in late 20th-century Chicago. Charlie and his wife, Kristie, have two children.

Trillia Newbell is the author of Sacred Endurance: Finding Grace and Strength for a Lasting Faith, If God Is for Us: The Everlasting Truth of Our Great Salvation: A 6-week Bible Study on Romans 8, Fear and Faith: Finding the Peace Your Heart Craves, United: Captured by God’s Vision for Diversity, Enjoy: Finding the Freedom to Delight Daily in God’s Good Gifts, and the children’s book, God’s Very Good Idea: A True Story of God’s Delightfully Different Family. You can find her at trillianewbell.com and follow her on Twitter.