Leadership
Board of Directors
The Center of Addiction & Faith is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. All donations to this ministry are tax deductible.
The Founding Board for the Center of Addiction & Faith
Rev. Dr. Ed Treat
president
Rev. Dr. Ed Treat, president, has an M.Div. and D.Min from Luther seminary and has been a parish pastor for 25 years. He has served four different congregations including one he started as a mission developer. He has 34 years of recovery from addiction. In 1990 he joined the newly formed Fellowship of Recovering Lutheran Clergy (FRLC), a non-profit joint effort between pastors of the LCMS and ELCA to provide recovery support to professional clergy and their families. In 2001 Pastor Ed became the director of the FRLC and has been its leader for the past 19 years. In 2018 and 2019 Pastor Ed with the support of the FRLC and in partnership of the Recovery Ministries of the Episcopalian Church (RMEC), launched the highly successful Addiction & Faith Conferences to educate, inspire and equip congregations for addiction ministry. He currently serves on the Boards of the FRLC and the RMEC and now the Center of Addiction & Faith.
D. Richard Wright
member
D. Richard Wright Richard a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Bear Clan, Pillager Band, raised on the Leech lake Indian reservation, Minnesota. “Richard” as he prefers to be called attended the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Community Technical College, and the Archbishop Harry F. Flynn Catechetical Institute, Saint Paul Seminary.
He is Licensed an Alcohol and Drug Counselor with the Minnesota Board of Behavioral Therapy. He has an active interest in drug addiction having worked in the field since 1986. He started his career in Hennepin County 4th Judicial District Court, adult probation, has since worked in residential treatment programs including Hazelden-Betty Ford as a clinician.
He has spoken on an International and National level on drug studies, is an author of three books, “Mukwa and Adjidamoo, The Way of Our People, and From Wine To Mouthwash.” Richard is the father of nine children, eighteen grand children, and five great grand children. Today, Richard is a supervisor of drug addiction programs at the Indian Health Board. He is expected to retire in two years, and currently works as a consultant in the Chemical dependency field.
Rev. Alexander E. Sharp
executive director of Clergy
Rev. Alexander E. Sharp is executive director of Clergy for a New Drug Policy, which mobilizes clergy nationally to end the War on Drugs. He served for fifteen years as the founding executive director of Protestants for the Common Good, an Illinois-based faith advocacy organization. He was vice president for business and finance of the University of Chicago from 1980 through 1993 and graduated from the University’s Divinity School in 1996. He became an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ in 2007.
Rev. Dr. Sonia Waters , Ph.D
Waters and a Professor
Rev. Dr. Sonia Waters , Ph.D. Sonia Waters is an Episcopal priest and a Professor of Pastoral Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. She holds a Ph.D. from Princeton Seminary, an M. Div. from The General Theological Seminary in New York City, and her B.A. from Wheaton College in Illinois. She has served in parish ministry in New York and New Jersey. Her current research and teaching focuses on addictions with her book, Addiction and Pastoral Care. She has a growing fascination with embodiment, spiritual practices, and the Incarnation in response to our ever-growing addictive culture. Her broader teaching interests include attachment and family systems theories, relational perspectives on the self, and feminist and womanist pastoral theologies.
Timothy McMahan King
Author of Addiction Nation
Timothy McMahan King Author of Addiction Nation. Timothy McMahan King is a writer, nonprofit professional, and the owner of Vagabond Strategies. He has worked as a community organizer in Chicago, a chief strategy officer with Sojourners, and as a consultant for the Center for Action and Contemplation. Kings work has been published in Christianity Today, Sojourners, the Wall Street Journal and CNN. A graduate of North Park University with degrees in theology and philosophy, King lives with his wife, Hannah, in New Hampshire.
Rev. Brian C. Herron
ordained and Pastor
Rev. Brian C. Herron was ordained in 2006 and currently serves as Pastor at Zion Baptist Church in Minneapolis. Pastor Brian Herron is a former Minneapolis City Council-member is active in the community and is an advocate for justice and increasing the peace in our city. He has worked in partnership with the Minneapolis Pastor Brian is also a Mental Health First Aide Instructor for Youth and Adults and a Trauma Trainer for Sidran Institute Risking Connection Program.
Rev. Thomas Scornavacchi
ordained and Pastor
Rev. Thomas Scornavacchi was ordained in 2010 and is a pastor and mission developer for Common Ground Recovery Communities in Wyomissing, Reading, and Douglassville, PA. Tom is passionate about creating authentic faith communities that welcome diversity, foster intimacy, embrace vulnerability, and celebrate God’s love for all of creation. Tom holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Behavioral Health and Addiction Studies from Alvernia University and a Master of Divinity from The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.
Drew Brooks
Executive Director
Drew Brooks Drew Brooks is the Executive Director of Faith Partners, a non-profit organization providing leadership, administration, and training for a congregational addiction team ministry model. Drew has worked in the prevention, treatment, and public health fields for over thirty-four years with Hazelden, Johnson Institute, and other organizations providing training and consultation to faith communities, schools, and community organizations across the country.