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Authors

Fiorella Kuczma

Fiorella has been working in the Ontario Public Service for 12 years. She began her career in Victim Services after graduating from the University of Ottawa with an Honours degree in Criminology. She has held a variety of positions within various ministries and is currently with the Ministry of the Solicitor General, Correctional Services Recruitment and Training Centre. Here she designs, writes and revises training curriculum as well as leads training for correctional professionals.

As a survivor of Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) Fiorella has always been passionate about helping to stop commercial sexual exploitation and human trafficking. Fiorella believes in education and awareness as a tool for prevention and shares her story openly with others. Fiorella has led training throughout her career on self-care and resilience, vicarious trauma, grief counselling and mental health. She shares her story of re-living the trauma when she began her career with victim services, overcoming the challenges and isolating feelings of being a survivor while working in this space, reclaiming your voice and most importantly fostering resilience moving forward.

Joseph Kuilema

Joseph Kuilema is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Professor Kuilema’s academic interests include the integration of faith and social work practice, anti-racism, international social work, restorative justice, community organizing, and community development.
 

John Lamsma

Rev. John Lamsma spent 25 years as a chaplain with the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), from 1978 to 2003. He worked as a chaplain at the Federal Correctional Institution at Milan, MI. In the late eighties, the BOP expanded rapidly. Chaplain Lamsma opened up several new institutions--at Sheridan, OR in 1989 and Florence, CO in 1992. During those years, the ministry also became more complex; many more religions practiced in the institutions than before. In Florence, he worked with nineteen different faith groups. He also trained and worked closely with more than 1500 volunteers during his career. In 1999 he became the Assistant Chaplaincy Administrator in Washington, DC until his retirement in 2003. In 2008, he accepted the part-time position as the Restorative Justice Project Manager for the Christian Reformed Church in the US. He and his wife Debbie live in Sparta, GA on Lake Sinclair. John Lamsma is the Restorative Justice Project Manager for the Office of Social Justice. For more information on the CRC's work in Restorative Justice, visit the Office of Social Justice.

Terry LeBlanc

Terry is Mi’kmaq / Acadian. He and his wife Bev are in their 49th year of marriage. They have three adult children – twin daughters and one son. He is the founding chair and current Director of NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community (NAIITS). 

Terry holds a PhD from Asbury Theological Seminary, specializing in Theology and Anthropology. He serves as adjunct professor at Acadia Divinity College, Sioux Falls Seminary, the University of Divinity in Melbourne, and Tyndale University College and Seminary. Terry has over 42 years of Indigenous community-based experience as an educator in theology, cultural anthropology, and community development practice. 

Terry has won several awards for his varied writings. In 2010, for his work on the creation of NAIITS, Terry became the 28th recipient of the Dr. E.H. Johnson Memorial Award for Innovation in Mission. In 2015 Terry was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Acadia University. In 2019, Terry was awarded a second honorary Doctor of Divinity from Knox College at the University of Toronto, where he also presented the Founders Convocation 175th anniversary lecture.

Mary Jo Leddy

Mary Jo Leddy is a writer, speaker, theologian and social activist. Leddy is widely recognized for her work with refugees at Toronto's Romero House, which she founded. 

Donna Lee

Donna Lee serves as the California Regional Coordinator for the Climate Witness Project, a campaign of the Christian Reformed Church and World Renew. In her role, she works with churches and individuals to discern creative and tangible ways people of faith can respond to the climate crisis. She engages in climate education, promotes stewardship practices and mobilizes individuals for advocacy and climate action.

Ash and Oil Lent devotions

Ash and Oil: Remembering we are Dust, Leaning toward a New Creation - In this series of Lenten devotions from 2015, we ponder the connection between our mortality, sin, and creation's limitations.  [Image: Flickr user Andrey]

Phillip Leo

Phillip Leo is the Church Communications Director at the Barnabas Foundation and a regional organizer for the CRC's Climate Witness Project. Phillip has been a pastor in the Christian Reformed Church for 23 years, serving as senior pastor to two churches, with his last charge extending for 18 years. 

Ben Lepper

Dr. Ben Lepper is the administrator of Intersection Ministries, a CRC/RCA church in Holland, Mich., as well as an instructor of gospel literature at Cornerstone University.  He currently resides in Hudsonville, Mich., with his wife Zurisadai.

Mary Li Ma

Mary Li Ma is a research scholar, mission consultant, social scientist, and justice advocate. Mary has been working to bring attention to the problem of abuse within Chinese churches. She has a PhD in sociology from Cornell University and is author of Surviving the State, Remaking the Church, and The Chinese Exodus. Mary works extensively on issues of social justice and Christian mission in China, and writes for both public and Christian media in the Chinese-speaking world. She is currently completing a book about the experiences of Christian women in urban China, and in a few months, Mary will be launching a Safe Chinese Church website (in Chinese language), the first in Chinese-speaking Christian community.

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