Heather Rice-Minus

Sr. Vice-President, Advocacy and Church Mobilization, Prison Fellowship

Heather Rice-Minus serves as senior vice president of advocacy and church mobilization at Prison Fellowship, the nation’s largest Christian nonprofit serving prisoners, former prisoners, and their families. She is a powerful, knowledgeable voice articulating the case for restorative criminal justice solutions and how churches play a critical role in meeting the needs of those impacted by crime and incarceration.

Heather provides strategic leadership to several teams at Prison Fellowship, including grassroots and policy staff, to advance campaigns on pivotal criminal justice issues. She spearheads Prison Fellowship’s efforts to build new church resources and deepen church partnerships through programs like Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree. Additionally, she directs Prison Fellowship’s outreach to and partnerships with foundations.

Event Host

Denise Strothers

Director of Training, Healing Communities USA

Denise Strothers is Director of Training with Healing Communities.  She provides educational training to faith-based organizations and churches on connecting returning citizens to resources, providing spiritual support, removing the stigma, collaborating with family and friends to rebuild relationships, and advocating for political change.  She also engages with social workers, child welfare agencies, law enforcement and forges relationships with community providers of services to families impacted by the criminal justice system, children of incarcerated parents, and works with agencies and churches to provide significant resources. 

Dr. Denise has released her new book based on her doctoral research, Christian Men Speak Up For Sexually Exploited Women and Children, which informs the church on how to get involved in providing ministry to victims and perpetrators.

Randy Walker

Correctional Ministry Pastor, Church of the Highlands–Alabama | Founder & President, LifeLink Career Resource Center–Alabama

Randy Walker serves at Church of the Highlands as the visionary for planting Highlands Church Campuses inside the prison communities in Alabama. Beginning in 2012, Highlands’ correctional staff along with hundreds of volunteers has planted their campus model in 21 state correctional facilities as well as county jails and juvenile detention facilities.

Randy founded LifeLink in 2008, which is a residential training academy in partnership with the ADOC inside the Alabama prison system. The training academy, named CORE, operates a 260 bed housing unit containing offices, classrooms and full-time staff.  Re-entry is also a primary focus of LifeLink, which also provides transitional housing.

Sammy Perez

Director, Grassroots–Prison Fellowship

Sammy Perez leads Prison Fellowship’s grassroots program to build and mobilize a network of Christians who are passionate about justice that restores. Perez manages a team to equip Justice Advocates and Justice Ambassadors in the U.S. to raise awareness and improve the criminal justice system through digital advocacy, constituent lobbying, media engagement, and storytelling.

After rediscovering faith in Christ, Perez, who has spent time in prison, overcame his past and began to serve others impacted by crime and incarceration, including volunteering as a Prison Fellowship Justice Ambassador before joining as a full-time employee.