About Us « Matthew 25 Network

About Us

About Us

The Matthew 25 Network is a growing community of Christians who insist on a new kind of Christian engagement in our nation’s political process. The core of our political passion rises from Matthew 25:40, in which Jesus tells His followers, “I tell you the truth, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” Out of this political passion, the Matthew 25 Network advocates for the public policies that stand for the least of these and to support the political leaders who will champion these policies.

The Matthew 25 Network is committed to thoughtful dialogue and purposeful action. We reflect seriously on the words of Jesus and the implications of His teachings on our role as citizens in a diverse democracy. Matthew25.org will serve as a new voice for Christian thinkers—including pastors, theologians, seminarians, and other contributors— to explore how theological principles could inform public policy positions. As a forum of thinkers, we encourage lively debate. Our connecting common thread is our belief that we must engage the political process as citizens in support of public policy that supports the common good and justice for the least of these.

The Matthew 25 Network actively pursues an assertive engagement with our nation’s political process. In line with this fundamental mission, the Matthew 25 Network will take stands on major policy debates and track progress on legislative priorities. We seek out political leaders who also take stands for the “least of these” to endorse and will rally resources to get these leaders elected. We are proud that our first political endorsement was for Barack Obama for President.

The Matthew 25 Network is sensitive to the fact that Christianity has at times been used in our nation’s politics as a weapon of division and fear. However, our Christianity is one of hope, compassion, and accepting community. We recognize and affirm the freedom of religion established in the same Bill of Rights that permits our participation in government. E Pluribus Unum, Out of Many, One: we work from our many beliefs towards one peaceful and just nation. “With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, [we strive] to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan – to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.”

Mission Statement

We are a community of Christians from diverse paths gathering in response to the words and acts of Christ. We humbly seek to love and care for all our neighbors.

Government policies and the election of our public officials reflect our core values. As citizens we recognize our responsibility to partake in and affect our national and global community through our government. We believe people of faith and good will should actively engage in the political process as advocates for social justice.

We engage the world as it is and hope for the world as it ought to be, working to strengthen families, to see the dignity in all, to conserve God’s creation, and to seek peace and justice at home and abroad – unabashedly advocating for the least of these.

Statement of Values

The Matthew 25 Network stands for those on the margins, those excluded, and those forgotten. The Matthew 25 Network believes that our nation’s public policy needs a stronger Christian voice for all of God’s children. We will seek to amplify the voices of these forgotten and push towards a more caring and just society.

The Matthew 25 Network stands for a new kind of Christian engagement with our nation’s political leaders. The Matthew 25 Network is not content to sit on the sidelines on the major moral debates of our time. We will be a powerful, hopeful voice supporting the progressive policies of justice for all and supporting the public leaders who champion these policies.

The Matthew 25 Network respects the Constitutional divide between the Church and State. We celebrate the diversity of our society and recognize that our democracy is a collage of many different faiths and spiritual convictions. Although uniquely driven by our Christian faith, we believe that as citizens in a democratic society we must seek consensus that cuts across our differences to advance common goals.

The Matthew 25 Network stands for a new kind of Christian engagement with our fellow believers. The Matthew 25 Network rejects the old politics of division, ad-hominem attacks, and religious condemnations of others. While disagreements are inevitable, we will always seek respectful and constructive dialogue with our fellow believers, believing that the high ground is the most likely place to find common ground.

Blog Contributors

Grant Brooke serves to lead our community by providing organizational leadership, strategic vision, and a leading voice to our efforts. Prior to assuming the role of Executive Director, Grant worked with the Matthew 25 Network through the 2008 election. Grant has been involved in numerous electoral campaigns on the local and national level, issue-based progressive organizing, and the labor movement. He has served in a church as well as in university campus ministry, and academically Grant has pursued theology, sociology of religion, and political science at American University and Princeton Theological Seminary. As he serves the Matthew 25 Network, Grant hopes to see a growing community that stands as a passionate testament to all that is just, loving, and dignifying in our political discourse.

Alan Boswell serves as Political Director for the Matthew 25 Network community, overseeing the organization’s political operations, polling analysis, community mobilization, new media efforts, and outreach. Prior to Matthew 25, Alan has done work in national grassroots issue advocacy campaigns, new media consulting for progressive organizations, and micro-financing and development issues in Sub-Saharan Africa. Alan has studied public affairs and philosophy at American University and recently lived in Nairobi, Kenya, for a year. He grew up in the rural Midwestern town of Aledo, IL, held leadership roles in campus ministry, and currently lives in Washington, DC. Alan is especially interested in the intersection of religion, culture, and politics, and his hope is to help mobilize the community of progressive Christians who desire a different, assertive engagement in our nation’s politics.

Edwin R. Estevez serves as Communications Director for Matthew 25, working closely with the Executive Director, to oversee communication strategies and public relations. Edwin studied political science and philosophy at Fairleigh Dickinson University which led him to examine British government and politics at Wroxton College in the UK and legislative affairs as an intern for Congressman Mark Kirk. He has participated in community organizing and served a three-year term as an elected member for the North Plainfield Board of Education, NJ. He has served in church, as an outreach coordinator and as director of the after school program, designing events dealing with immigration, education, and conflict-resolution. He is currently pursuing his interests in theology and education at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Dorothy Goodman contributes to Matthew 25 Network with blogs primarily concerning Environmental Stewardship and Issues. She grew up in Western North Carolina where her love for the outdoors and environment are rooted, and “officially” named her passion studying and receiving her BS in Environmental Technology from NCSU. Enjoying and pursuing environmental communication since then, she has taught students with Colorado Outdoor Education Center, volunteered with a local nonprofit to promote sustainable practices, and is now working at Hedrick Industries, an aggregate mining company. Dorothy is applying for her MS degree in Natural Resource Management for Fall 2009. Dorothy is motivated daily by public awareness and opinion – creating ways to educate our community about values we assign the Earth in conjunction with the way we live. She is excited for Matthew25, to actively love and engage each other, alongside our government, to better our nation’s policies.

Originally from Mansfield, Ohio, Caleb Henry has a BA in Philosophy and Christian Ministries from Anderson University (IN). He has also studied Peace Studies at Anderson under their program of Peace and Conflict Transformation (PACT) which led him to the Indianapolis Peace Institute where he did some work as a Peace Education facilitator at the Peace Learning Center. A member of the Church of God (And. IN), he plans on becoming a pastor and doing some work in Christian and Religious Education. Currently, he is pursuing these interests at Princeton Theological Seminary. He also has an interest in the growth of Fundamentalism in America and how that has affected both church and state.

Crystal McCormick is currently completing her MDiv at Austin Presbyterian Seminary in Austin, Texas. She has a BA in Missiology and before entering seminary worked as a social worker. She has worked as a live-in houseparent, residing with therapeutic boys in the Texas foster care system. She has also worked as a case manager serving teenage mothers and their small children. Crystal completed an internship with Austin Area Interreligous Ministries assisting in mobilizing various faith communities to come together to promote social justice. Upon completion of her MDiv, Crystal hopes to pursue doctoral studies in comparative religious ethics, comparing fundamentalism in both Islam and Christianity. She studies issues of equality for women and minority groups and the intersection of feminism and motherhood.

James G. Gilmore is the technical director and an occasional blog contributor for matthew25.org and a web producer for Dewey Digital. He previously was web producer on the Matthew 25 Network’s Campaign 2008 project. He is currently a Ph.D student in Communication at the University of Maryland, where he studies the relationship between rhetoric, religion, politics, and culture, with a research concentration on the Christian Right and their understanding of nationalism. He holds an M.A. in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, and a M.A. in Theatre from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.