Elijah Allen - Local Vocalist 

Elijah Allen is 18 years old, in 12^th grade, and attends Thomas Dale High School Specialty Center for the Arts. Elijah participates in show choir, football, and many other community- and academic-based extracurricular activities. Elijah is striving to attend Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in the upcoming fall, majoring in vocal performance with a minor in criminal justice.

Rabbi Sherry Grinsteiner - Prayer Leader

Rabbi Sherry Grinsteiner was born and raised in Israel and has been a dedicated Jewish educator for over twenty-five years. She has developed and led educational programs for youth and adults in Jewish institutions in Iowa, Texas, and Colorado. Rabbi Grinsteiner received her ordination from Aleph, the Jewish Renewal Ordination Program, in January 2021 and is the congregational Rabbi of Congregation Or Atid.

Pastor Sam Rajaratnam - Prayer Leader

Pastor Sam has been ordained since 2006 and serves as a pastor of the Indian Church RVA of Good Shepherd United Methodist Church and at Emmaus Korean United Methodist Church in Richmond. Pastor Sam has also previously served in campus ministry, church planting, and as an intern in hospital chaplaincy, offering spiritual support to people of all faith traditions. Pastor Sam will be reading and praying over the prayer cards, offering a listening ear to members, promoting Bible studies and spiritual discussions, and offering prayer and support as needed. Start looking for “Prayer to Go” pop-ups, and feel free to reach out.

Dilshad D. Ali - Prayer Leader

Dilshad D. Ali is a freelance editor and journalist and the former blog and content editor of The Haute Take, the media arm of Haute Hijab, which covers all things pertaining to Muslim women. Prior to Haute Hijab, Ms. Ali was the managing editor of Patheos Muslim at Patheos.com and the editor of Altmuslim, a microsite at Patheos, where she managed a team of nearly 30 columnists, contributors, and bloggers, as well as blogging on the intersection of faith, family, and autism at The Muslimah Next Door. She has covered Muslims and Islam in America for more than 20 years for a variety of media outlets, including The Atlantic, The New York Times, Religion News Service, Islam-Online.net (before it became About Islam), Newsweek, Azizah Magazine, Illume Magazine, Islamica magazine, and Beliefnet.

Ms. Ali has appeared on CNN, MTV, NPR, and NPR and has been interviewed by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Newsweek. She began her career in religion journalism, covering Asian and Middle Eastern news and arts and culture for Islam-Online.net, including the early chaotic days after 9/11, when she was one of the few journalists on the ground reporting on how Muslims in New York dealt with the tragedy. Ms. Ali is a first-generation Muslim-American who makes her home in Virginia with her husband, three children, and two cats.

Lacroy "Atlas" Nixon - Spoken Word Artist 

Lacroy “Atlas” Nixon was born in Charlotte, NC, and raised in Williamsburg, VA. He earned his bachelor's degree in graphic design from Liberty University and has been writing and performing spoken word poetry for 9 years. He currently is on the executive board for the Writers Guild of Virginia, is a current member of the poetry society of Virginia, has a book available entitled “God and His Humor,"  and is an artist with the Hope Booth Movement (a world-changing initiative that toured across 19 cities in the United States in March 2022 and debuted in London, UK, in October 2021). The Hope Booth repurposes all telephone booths into three-minute interactive, immersive experiences that combine art and technology to produce messages of hope in a conversational format.

He recently became to time back to back verb benders grand slam champion and is on the verb benders slam poetry team, which is currently the number 3 slam poetry team in the United States. He loves Jesus and hopes to inspire people to be the best version of themselves through the arts and self-expression.