Interfaith Conversation at Peace of Christ Church
Thursday September 28, 2017, 6:30PM—8:30PM (CST): Dr. Zuniga will participate in a free interfaith panel and community event hosted by Peace of Christ Church, which will take place at ArtSpace (231 E. Main Street, Round Rock, Texas, 78664). A free flier to download and share is here.
Schedule and Details
6:30PM: Doors open, live music and refreshments
7:00-8:30PM: Interfaith panel discussion and audience questions and answers
Rev. Kyle Tubbs is the Lead Pastor of Peace of Christ Church and moderator for this free community event.
Panelists will answer the following questions:
1. Why are we here? (What is the purpose of our lives?)
2. Where are we going? (What is the goal/s of life? Heaven? Nirvana? Etc.)
3. What helps us get there (practices, beliefs etc.) and what are obstacles to this path?
4. What is one thing people "outside" your faith commonly misunderstand?
Bios of Panelists
Rev. Aurelia Davila Pratt is Pastor of Spiritual Formation at Peace of Christ Church, where she is also a founding member. She has an Master of Divinity from George W. Truett Theological Seminary and is also a licensed Master of Social Work. Aurelia has been coordinating these community wide interfaith dialogues for four years. She’s been married to Lyle for ten years, and together they have an almost two-year old, Cosette.
Rev. Uchechukwu (“Uche”) Andeh is the pastor of St. Margaret Catholic Church in Giddings, Texas. He was raised in a large, urban parish, in Southeast Nigeria where he had dreams of becoming a priest as a young child. Fr. Uche was ordained in 2012, and has been serving central Texas in ministry since then.
Imam Shaykh Mohamed-Umer Esmail is currently the Imam at Nueces Mosque in Austin, Texas. He is a Canadian born, traditionally trained scholar. He has Ijazah in Qira’at, Hadith and Fiqh from renowned scholars. He also has over fifteen years of experience in youth and marital counseling.
Gail Tosto is an active member of Congregation Agudas Achim (Conservative Judaism), in Austin, Texas. She teaches “Hebrew Through Torah,” a class in which students learn Hebrew vocabulary and grammar by reading sacred texts. She is the founder of Austin Shmirah, a city-wide cooperative that tends to the ritual needs of the Jewish deceased. Gail lives in Austin with her husband Jim Gelb, their dog Kelev (Hebrew for Dog), and a couple of kids from the neighborhood who think it’s their house too.
Dr. Jagannath Vedula is one of the few few Founding Trustees and is also on the Board of Trustees of the Austin Hindu Temple and Community Center. He has served AHTCC as the founding Religious chair, Vice-president, President and volunteer. Along with his involvement in AHTCC, he volunteers for various other non-profits and manages their IT needs when needed. His major contributions and interests have always been religion, community welfare activities and speaking about Hinduism.
Dr. David Zuniga earned his Ph.D. in clinical psychology and has a practice focused on spiritually integrative counseling. He also earned a masters degree in comparative religion from Harvard, was ordained in South Korea as a Zen Buddhist priest, and worked for over a decade as a Zen/interfaith chaplain in pediatric and adult end-of-life healthcare. Dr. Zuniga also has a masters in English literature; you can learn more his interdisciplinary work here.