Fellow Profiles
Molly Bolton (MDiv ’14)
Molly Bolton earned her undergraduate degree in English from Wake Forest in 2010 and will graduate from the Wake Forest school of Divinity in 2014. She has been involved with a number of non-profits in Winston-Salem, as it is her hometown. In her second year of divinity school she will be interning at Green Street UMC where she hopes to integrate her passion for the arts into pastoral care and worship. Academically, Molly is especially interested in feminist theology, queer theology and interfaith dialogue.
Christopher Michael Coates (MDiv ’15)
Christopher Michael Coates is a native of Reidsville NC. He graduated from Hillside High School in Durham NC. Christopher received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Johnson C. Smith University with a major in Political Science and a minor in Religion and is currently a student a Wake Forest University School of Divinity. Community engagement and social justice is important to Chris because he believes that it is the responsibility of the church to serve the community and to be engineers of social change and reconciliation.
Jessica Place (MDiv ’15)
Jessica Place graduated from Northern Arizona University with a B.A. in Women’s & Gender Studies. After college, she spent a year serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteer in Service to America). As a first year Divinity student, she sees community engagement and social justice work as an integral part of her education, where she can put into practice the things she learns in the classroom. Jessica is especially passionate about issues surrounding gender, LGBT equality, and economic justice.
Christopher Rinker (MDiv ’15)
Christopher Rinker is a twenty-two-year-old follower of Jesus Christ. Though he received a Bachelor’s degree in Archaeology from Washington University in St. Louis in December of 2011, his passion and conviction has been focused on helping victims of human trafficking and modern-day slavery for several years now. His faith largely informs his commitment to social justice and community engagement, as Jesus calls us to serve the “least of these” (Matthew 25:40). It is with this mindset that he has come to Wake Forest Divinity School, in order to place himself in God’s hands and become a part of his plan to continue to love and to serve those in need.
Jamie Sims (MDiv ’14)
Jamie Sims is a second year student at Wake Forest University School of Divinity. He completed his undergraduate degree in 2009 with a B.A. in Religious Studies from Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA. He is passionate about food justice and environmental care – connecting all people with fresh, local food that has been produced in a way that is mindful of the environment.
Christopher T. Copeland, Program Director
Christopher T. Copeland is the assistant director of leadership development at Wake Forest University School of Divinity and the director of the Community Engagement Fellows Program. Chris earned his B.S. at Wake Forest University and his M.Div. and J.D. from Emory University. An ordained minister, Chris has served congregations in Georgia and North Carolina and currently works as the ecclesiastical endorser for the Alliance of Baptists as well as a spiritual director. Chris’s passion for social justice is expressed in his commitment to and work with environmental justice and food sustainability.