Meet Our Board
President
DOUG DONLEY (‘24)
Doug Donley (he/him) has been a member of the BPFNA since its inception. He boasts having missed only four summer conferences. He helped lead three friendship tours to Nicaragua (1985, 86 and 2008). He attended the Global Baptist Peace Conferences in Rome(2009) and Cali (2019). He is married to Kim and together they helped lead children's programs at several summer conferences. Their children Amanda (24) and Becca (22) proudly call themselves Peace Camp babies, having attended the summer conferences all their lives. Doug has been Pastor of University Baptist Church in Minneapolis since 2001. Before that, he was pastor of Dolores Street Baptist Church in San Francisco. He served on the BPFNA Board for 6 years, in several roles.
Co-Vice President
KAREN HILLIKER (‘24)
Karen Hilliker (she/her) lives in London, ON and is an active member of Aylmer Baptist Church (ABC) in Aylmer, ON. Her first experience with BPFNA was through the International Baptist Peace Conference in Nicaragua in 1992 and wow what an experience that was! People of God expressing their faith and working through all sorts of circumstances to bring about peace. Karen says, ‘My privileged white butt had to get moving and I’ve been striving to live up to what God wants me to be ever since. Karen has also been connected with BPFNA since then, doing a stint on the Board in the early 2000s and being a regular at Peace Camp. For most of her career, Karen has worked in the charitable sector. Currently she works for Children’s Health Foundation, where they fund the local Children’s Hospital, as well as research and rehab facilities. Involvement in her church has included leading the senior youth group, teaching adult Sunday school and taking part in ABC’s mission trips, where they strive to do as much listening and learning as they work alongside those who have invited them to share their journey.
Co-Vice President
Asaf Vera Baltodano (‘24)
Asaf Vera Baltodano (he/him) is from Ensenada, studied in Mexico City and currently serves in Guadalajara, Jalisco. He has a degree in Theology from the Baptist Seminary of Mexico, which is part of the Theological Community of Mexico, an ecumenical consortium of theological education. He works for Aventuras en la Vida, an organization dedicated to supporting social development programs in Oaxaca, Guadalajara and Ensenada. He is also part of the Hagamos Composta team in Guadalajara, an ecological project dedicated to treating organic waste by transforming it into compost to reintegrate the nutrients into the soil. He has worked with BPFNA-Bautistas por la Paz since 2016 when he attended his first Peace Camp, it has caused him to realize that peace is an urgent task and that we are all called to build a more just world.
Secretary
Michelle S.G (‘23)
Michelle currently lives in the Boston area. Michelle is an outpatient mental health therapist. Michelle, along with their family, have longstanding ties to BPFNA-Bautistas por la Paz. Michelle is grateful to continue contributing to the incredible work of BPFNA-Bautistas por la Paz through this opportunity.
Treasurer
Luis Calderon Reyes (‘23)
Luis Calderon Reyes is from San Juan, Puerto Rico. He is currently doing his doctoral studies in psychology. Luis works primarily in human services and has a passion around serving people in poverty and people experiencing homelessness.
Youth & Young Adult Representative
Lina Forero (‘22)
Hello! My name is Lina María Forero Segura. I am 24 years old and from Cali, Colombia. I am a theologian, antimilitarist, and for nine years, I have belonged to the Cali Center of Praise Baptist Church. My husband Sebastián and I work as the youth leaders at the church where we carry out community programs with young people in vulnerable neighborhoods of Cali. For four years I have been working with social and community programs in rural areas of the country where many in these territories have been victims of armed conflict. I also work with young people on issues of peacebuilding and nonviolence. Currently, I am the coordinator of a social project at the Baptist University in Cali (Unibautista), where we work with young people from Buenaventura in peace building, entrepreneurship and food security. These young people range from 14 to 28 years old. In addition, I am part of a group of conscientious objectors to compulsory military service. I was interested in joining BPFNA-Bautistas por la Paz as a young adult representative because I want to continue working with the youth through a nonviolent social construct to strengthen the church and our communities. I believe that these programs strengthen the church as an organism generating a positive impact on society.
Board Member
Roxanna Wright (‘22)
Roxanna Wright (she/her/hers) – mother, grandmother, retired educator, songwriter, social justice worker and Zumba dancer! A woman of color, Roxanna grew up in an African American community, attended a predominately white school system and was affected by discrimination and racism. Her heroes were her parents; civil rights activists who were strong advocates for education. Roxanna received her Bachelor’s Degree in music education from an HBCU, Central State University (Wilberforce, OH) and her Master’s Degree in education from Cabrini College (Rosemont, PA). She is an accomplished musician and has released a CD called Courage to Fly with the single Oops, Fake News, which she hopes is an inspiration to encourage human dignity, justice and human compassion. As a songwriter, she began composing while teaching vocal music and directing musical plays for over 30 years in the Philadelphia School System. Inspired mostly by her students and other young people she directed in youth church choirs and summer camps, her direction in life began to broaden. She traveled to Haiti and with God’s help, founded and directed Project Compassion: To enrich the lives of children, Inc. The organization was comprised with Haitians, Haitian Americans and African Americans who educated and financailly supported children living on the streets primarily in Jacmel and Demas, Haiti. It also financially aided a Haitian principal while educating over 300 children and supporting an orphanage in Mariani Carrefour from 1997 to 2010. In 2007, Roxanna retired from teaching full-time and became a substitute teacher in the private sector. In this role, she was able to realize that the issues affecting private school children were basically the same issues affecting children attending public schools. The only differences were systemic and economic. As a member of Central Baptist Church, Wayne, PA, Roxanna became a member of BPFNA - Bautistas por la Paz through working in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina and meeting (then Program Coordinator) LeDayne McLeese Polaski. From there, she became involved in other interfaith social justice groups such as the New Sanctuary Movement (supporting undocumented immigrants) and POWER Metro (dedicated to economic and racial justice).
Board Member
Karen Turner (‘22)
Karen (she/her/hers) has a Baptist history but is currently an active member of the Church of the Redeemer, a wonderfully diverse and progressive Anglican parish in downtown Toronto. It was here where she and her partner, Heather Steeves, had a full church wedding in 2016, shortly after the Diocese of Toronto “got its act together” on same sex marriage. Karen has a MSW degree and worked as a social worker for many years in the health care sector in the suburbs of Toronto. Karen and her partner have been active members of BPFNA - Bautistas por la Paz for many years and faithfully attend Peace Camp. In January 2011, Karen joined the BPFNA Friendship Tour to Chiapas to celebrate her retirement. Since then, she has returned to Chiapas several times, and travelled in other parts of Mexico. She has been involved with some BPFNA-supported peace initiatives there and also took part in a Conflict Transformation training in 2011. Karen was on the BPFNA – Bautistas por la Paz Board of Directors from 2010-2016 and served in a variety of committee responsibilities. Karen’s previous experience on the Board was satisfying and challenging, not only because of the opportunity to be involved in overseeing the important work of BPFNA but also because of the deep and lasting relationships formed with committed people with whom she worked. She understands and supports the transition that BPFNA is currently undergoing and feels it is important to reconsider the role of Canada in the organization’s mandate. She sees BPFNA - Bautistas por la Paz as a prophetic organization of people enthusiastically joining the worldwide work of bringing in the Kingdom of God.
Board Member
Zoe McMillan (‘23)
Zoe McMillan (she/her), lives in Jacksonville, Florida but is still associated with Grace Baptist Church in Statesville, North Carolina. She first came to Peace Camp / Summer Conference in 2013 when the conference was in Spokane, WA USA. She attended on a young adult scholarship and was immediately hooked. Zoe says, “ I had found my people. I had never felt such love and acceptance.” Zoe currently serves as a nanny and has a passion for working with children, especially neuro- atypical children. In this time, she is trying to accept that she may not be able to change the entire world, but she can change her part of the world, and is working on where she fits in with that. She is always looking to see where her purpose might be.
Board Member
Michael Ware (‘24)
Michael is Pastor (he/him) of the English-speaking congregation at North Shore Baptist Church in Chicago; the church also includes Spanish-, Japanese- and Karen speaking congregations. Previously, Michael was Pastor of Webster Baptist Church in upstate New York, which allowed him to take a sabbatical to South Africa and engage in mission activities around Cape Town. Michael grew up in the church and was an adult youth group leader for several years in New York State and nationally through the American Baptist Churches, USA. This work led him to enter seminary at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, where he earned a Master of Divinity degree. Michael is past Vice President of the Board of Directors of BPFNA; he also served as the President of the American Baptist Churches of the Rochester Genesee Region, and was appointed to the ABC Taskforce on Race and Race-based Violence. He currently volunteers monthly at Austin Academy for Excellence, in Chicago. Michael’s favorite scripture is Micah 6:8, “And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” This verse has been the basis of his faith journey, and what he seeks to live out every day. Michael brings his lived history of the civil rights struggle, his personal experience of justice and peace, and his dedication to work for positive peaceful change everywhere.
Board Member
Brian Kaylor (‘24)
Brian Kaylor (he/him) is president & editor-inchief of Word&Way, a historically Baptist publication since 1896. An independent media company, Word&Way produces a monthly magazine, podcasts, a website, and more, and partners with Baptist publications in Cuba, Venezuela, and elsewhere. Brian also serves as associate director of Churchnet, a statewide Baptist network of churches in his home state of Missouri. He previously pastored a church, worked for a local association, served as a contributing editor for Ethics Daily, and was an assistant professor in communication at James Madison University in Virginia where he led the advocacy studies concentration. Brian earned a Ph.D. and M.A. in political communication from the University of Missouri, and a B.A. in pastoral ministry and communication from Southwest Baptist University in Missouri. He is the author of four books on religion, politics, and communication, and his writings have been published by the Washington Post, CNN, Sojourners, Houston Chronicle, Religion News Service, Roll Call, and dozens of other publications. Al Mohler says Brian is a "liberal nitwit." Brian and his wife Jennifer and their son live in Jefferson City, Missouri.
