Arizona Interfaith Movement

AIFM Board

The Arizona Interfaith Movement (AIFM) Board of Directors is comprised of outstanding members of our community who volunteer to represent 22 different Faith Traditions thus far – and we are striving to keep growing! We strive to ensure that AIFM is always focused on our mission and fulfilling it in as many ways possible.

- Executive Director:  Dr. Paul Eppinger, Protestant Christian - Dr. Eppinger graduated from William Jewell College, Princeton Theological Seminary, and San Francisco Theological Seminary.  He served as a missionary in Japan, and the pastor of four different American Baptist Churches.  He was the Statewide Director of the “Victory Together” campaign in 1992 to establish an AZ Martin Luther King holiday.   From 1993 – 2002, he was the Executive Director of the Arizona Ecumenical Council until he became the Executive Director of the Arizona Interfaith Movement in 2002.

Officers:

Eldred Spain, President, Community of Christ

[Picture coming...] – Dr. Albert Celoza, Vice President, Roman Catholic - - Faculty, Political Science & Religious Studies, Phoenix College Liberal Arts. Ph.D.&MA, School of Politics & Economics, Claremont Graduate Univ.;  MA Theology, Univ. of San Francisco; MPA & AB, Univ. of the Philippines Chair, Phoenix College Liberal Arts Department, 1999-2008Visiting/Affiliate Faculty, Thunderbird School of Global Mgmnt. & Arizona State UniversityAuthor, Ferdinand Marcos and the Philippines: Political Economy of Authoritarianism, Praeger, 1997 (amazon.com) and co-author, The Philippines: Marketing and Consumer Behavior – Past, Present and Future in Handbook of Markets and Economies:  EastAsia, Southeast Asia, Australia New Zealand, 2006, & others.2001 Arizona Professor of the Year (Carnegie Foundation and Council for the Advancement and Support of Education)

David Engelman, Vice President – Jewish – Bio coming

[Picture coming...] – Bill Owens, C.P.A., Treasurer, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

[Picture coming...] – Beverly George, Secretary, Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Buddhist - MSHS, MSED, Board Member of AIFM, also Buddhist, Soka Gakkai InternationalPeace and Community Relations Rep.; Adjunct Faculty, Scottsdale Community College,Business Department; Holistic Health Practitioner.

Please meet our Board Members: (total info coming soon)

– Ahmad Daniels, M.Ed, Islam -  is a professional presenter, transformation facilitator, and life coach with over 25 years of experience. He is the founder of Creative Interchange, an organization created to enhance personal and community social capital through changed philosophies, personal empowerment and self-actualization and has championed the cause of African self-determination, both continental and Diasporan, for over a quarter of a century. He has facilitated workshops, spoken at plenary sessions, and chaired meetings at Global Afrikan Congress initiatives in Amsterdam, London, Berlin, Paris, and Accra as well as having played an active role in the United Nations World Conference on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance held in Durban, South Africa in 2001. He is also the author of To Your Journey: Forty Clues to Self-Actualization for African American Men, a must read for anyone engaged in personal empowerment and self-actualization.

Ajai Singh Khalsa, Sikh

Anne Mardick, Humanist

Anne Taylor, Christian Science - Currently serving as the AIFM Business Manager.  Has served as Christian Science Committee on Publication for Arizona (an official representative appointed by her church to provide to the public, various media and the state legislature and agencies accurate information about Christian Science.  Has served as AIFM Treasurer for 5 years and as a member of the AIFM Golden Rule Committee, actively helped Arizona to become the 1st Golden Rule State in the U.S.  Married to Lloyd Taylor.  We have a daughter, Jennifer Miesen, and son-in-law, Chad Miesen.

Arlene McCabe, L.D.S., Golden Rule Committee

Becky Pruitt, Unity

Carolyn Spain, Community of Christ

Dr. Ahmed Mirza, Sufi

[Picture coming...] – Dr. Elizabeth Ursic, Roman Catholic, Higher Education Chair - professor of Religious Studies at Mesa Community College in Phoenix, Arizona.  She is also a board member of the Arizona Interfaith Movement.  Elizabeth holds an MDiv from Yale Divinity School.  Her research focus is religion, gender and the arts.  In addition to teaching, she is a spiritual director, pianist, cellist, and composer, and has recorded a CD, Unspoken Touch.

Dr. Honora Norton, Roman Catholic - Parish Manager at Blessed Sacrament Roman Catholic Parish Scottsdale, currently serves as President of the Catholic Charities Greater Phoenix Advisory Board; Leadership Council Chair of Starlight Children’s Foundation-Arizona; Member of Interfaith Network of Scottsdale Steering Committee; and Founder and Advisory Board member of The Caring Place.  Dr. Norton supports AIFM’s mission “to build bridges of understanding, respect, and support among diverse people of faith through dialogue, service, and the implementation of the Golden Rule.”  As a life-long Roman Catholic and during her Doctorate in Ministry studies, she experienced countless opportunities to learn about many different faith/spiritual traditions and reexamine the beliefs that have formed her and become operative in her life.  Dr. Norton states her personal strength is “connecting the unexpected.”  Joining this strength with her corporate (Fortune 500 business consulting), small-business ownership, faith community stewardship and non-profit strategic planning and organizational (infrastructure) design experience, Dr. Norton looks forward to collaborating with the AIFM leadership team to sustain and grow AIFM.  Her current publication “Stewardship is Spirituality” is available through Amazon.com.

Dr. Larry Bell,  Jewish

Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, Muslim – has been an active AIFM Board member for a number of years and founded an organization, American Islamic Forum for Democracy.

 

Ed Casper, Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Buddhist

Ernest Bruss, Baha’i

 

 

 

Glenda Lambert, Unification

Sardarni Sahiba Gurukirn Kaur Khalsa has been a practicing Sikh for over 35 years. She received her introduction to Sikhism in 1971 from Yogi Bhajan while attending Pomona College in Claremont, CA. She graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a BA in Art in 1974 and received her Teacher’s Credential in 1975. In 1974, she was ordained as a Sikh Minister. Gurukirn Kaur, an artist and poet, pursues her passion for watercolor as a juried member of both the Arizona Watercolor Association and the Arizona Artists Guild. She has written several books on Sikhism, including Pure Longing Fulfilled and Living with the Guru.  Her interest in Sikh history and culture has taken her to India many times. From 1996-2004 she served as President of Sikh Dharma of Phoenix, Inc. She has given educational presentations on Sikhism to the Church of Christ, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, and Unitarian Universalist Church members.  In April 2002 the Centennial Foundation of Toronto, Canada honored her for her artistic contributions to the Sikh religion. In September 2002 she presented a talk on ‘Sikhs in America’ for the City of Phoenix Brown Bag lunch series. She has also participated in the City of Scottsdale’s Cross-Cultural Communication series, lectured at San Jose State University, and was featured on the God Show with talk show host Pat McMahon. She was President of the International Khalsa Council from 2003 – 2005 and was a delegate to the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Barcelona, Spain in 2004. She was an Ambassador and presenter at the most recent Parliament of the World’s Religions in Melbourne, Australia in 2009. She is also a board member of the Arizona Interfaith Movement. She has been a member of the Sikh Gurdwara in central Phoenix since 1975, and lives nearby with her husband. Their three children are all actively engaged in the Sikh lifestyle as well.

Imam A. Shamsid-Deen, Islam

John Giles, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

John Meyer, Roman Catholic: Primary diaconal ministry, as assigned by Bishop Thomas Olmsted, is to serve the Diocese of Phoenix in the area of Ecumenism and Inter-Religious Affairs under the supervision of Reverend Michael Diskin, Ecumenical and Inter-religious Officer for the Diocese of Phoenix. Part of my diaconal minstry is to serve on the Arizona InterFaith Movement Board and be a representative of the Roman Catholic Christian Faith. I have served as a deacon in the Diocese of Phoenix for over 35 years. I retired from full time ministry as Diocesan Director of Catechetical Ministry (Religious Education) in 2006. My parish ministy as a deacon is at St. Patrick’s Catholic Community in Scottsdale.

LeAnn Basha, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Les Koel, Scientology

Leslie Olivas, Unification

Mahendra Shah, Jain

Munnu Bajpai, Hindu

NV “Shama” Shamasundar, Hindu

Piyush Shah, Jain

Patricia and Ramesh Somaiya, Hare Krishna

Rev. Mitzi Lynton, New Thought

Rev. Ron Phares – Unitarian Universalist

[Picture coming...] – Rev. Ray Navarro, Seventh Day Adventist, Tempe - Currently pastor of the Tempe Seventh-day Adventist Church since August, 2006.  Has pastored in the Seventh-day Adventist Church since 1989 in Michigan, California, and Arizona.  Currently resides in Phoenix.  Wife is Elisa Navarro, and they have one son, Ray Joshua who currently studies Pastoral Care as a sophomore at Southern Adventist University in Collegdale, Tennessee.

Rev. Staffan Berg, Unification

Sid Shahid, Islam

Soul Singh Khalsa, Sikh