Marliz Arteaga, Church Engagement Coordinator
Dr. Marliz Arteaga cultivates our Hispanic church network to advance our Urban Tree Planting Initiative in Central Texas, Florida, and Tennessee. She builds relationships, provides resources, and empowers churches to live out their faith through tangible care for God’s creation.
Originally from the Bolivian Amazon, Marliz holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering, a master’s in Sustainable Development and Practice, and a PhD in Interdisciplinary Ecology from the University of Florida. As an environmental and social scientist, educator, and sustainable development practitioner, she has taught at universities across Latin America and the U.S.
Rooted in her Christian faith, Marliz sees her vocation as a calling to steward the earth and serve vulnerable communities. In her free time, she enjoys reading and traveling with her husband and two boys—and baking bread and cooking traditional dishes from their home country.
Verónica Godoy, Texas Conservation Project Director
Dr. Verónica Godoy directs our Conservation Project in Central Texas. She leads community partnerships to restore the Bull Creek Watershed and to offer programs to the Spanish-speaking community to in the Austin area.
Originally from Argentina, Veronica worked as a scientist and college instructor in plant molecular and cellular biology and conservation biology before moving to Austin, Texas in 2015, where she lives with her husband and twins. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree and PhD in Biological Sciences from The National University of Mar del Plata in Argentina. Veronica finds plants fascinating and enjoys the diversity and beauty of Texas native trees and wildflowers on her daily walks with her dog, Nacho.
Read Veronica’s staff Q&A here.
Noah Guthrie, Nashville Conservation Coordinator
Jenna Henderson, Director of Community Engagement
Jenna directs our communications activities and programs to connect individuals and churches to our work. Whether developing our online platform or cultivating our church program and resources, Jenna loves inviting people into the joyful work of caring for creation as part of the life of faith.
Jenna earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Wake Forest University and a Masters degree from Regent College in Vancouver, Canada, where she first learned about A Rocha’s work. She has worked with a number of nonprofits including Habitat for Humanity, Northern Ireland and Saint Thomas Health Services in Nashville, Tennessee, where she lives. Jenna loves spending time in Tennessee’s great outdoors with family and friends and tending to her native plant garden.
Liuan Huska, Director of Communications
Liuan Huska leads the communications team in telling compelling, evidence-based stories that show the beautiful things that can happen when the people of God respond practically and faithfully to creation’s groans. She brings over a decade of journalism and writing experience at the intersection of ecology, embodiment, and faith.
Liuan is the author of My South American Classroom, a picture book for traveling families, and Hurting Yet Whole: Reconciling Body and Spirit in Chronic Pain and Illness, a book weaving memoir, theology, and sociocultural critique. She is a regular columnist for Sojourners magazine.
Read Liuan’s staff Q&A here.
Dave Lamb, Associate Director
Rev. Dave Lamb has followed a vocational path of Christian ministry and outdoor adventure. He has been a pastor, wilderness trip guide, camp managing director, citizen science volunteer, and even a National Park ranger. He holds a B.R.E. from Clarks Summit University, an M.Div. from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, and has served on several nonprofit boards including the Au Sable Institute. Dave has a passion for the Great Lakes and lives with his wife in beautiful Traverse City, Michigan.
Ben Lowe, Executive Director
Since his first encounter with A Rocha as a Wheaton student in 2003, Rev. Dr. Ben Lowe has served on A Rocha staff teams and boards, nationally and internationally, most recently as Deputy Executive Director of A Rocha International. Ben’s training as a scientist and a minister inform his leadership and development of A Rocha USA’s national strategy and team.
Originally from Singapore, Ben was the founding national organizer of Young Evangelicals for Climate Action and has served on the boards of A Rocha USA, A Rocha International, the Au Sable Institute, and Christians for Social Action. He is the author of multiple books and his work has been featured in media outlets including Audubon Magazine, Christianity Today, and The New York Times. He has a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Biology from Wheaton and a PhD from the University of Florida focused on the human, religious, and ethical dimensions of environmental change and conservation. Ben is based in the warm and watery state of Florida, USA, where he can often be found kayaking on the Indian River Lagoon.
Brittany Michalski, Director of Conservation
Brittany works closely with the Associate Director on financial operations, manages the Conservation Internship Program, and helps our Affiliated and Conservation Projects meet their goals. She brings expertise in conservation planning and a passion for loving and serving God into her role.
Previously with Care of Creation as the Outreach Specialist, Brittany has worked extensively with A Rocha International’s climate action program, Climate Stewards, and Marine Conservation program. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Ecology and a Masters degree in Environmental Conservation from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She lives in Sparta, Wisconsin with her husband and two rescue dogs Pippin and Rosie, where she is an avid gardener and vegetable fermenter (think kimchi, sauerkraut, and hot sauce).
Read Brittany’s staff Q&A here.
Jenny Ramirez, Environmental Educator
Jenny leads outdoor adventures for our Austin-based program, Picnics en el Arroyo, bringing families together to explore nature and deepen their understanding of local flora and fauna.
Jenny graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio with a Bachelor of Science in Biology. During her studies, she was fascinated with medicinal plants and plant identification. Post-graduation, her work experiences as part of a microbiology research and development team in Austin, Texas have led her to appreciate the role of microbes in our world. In her free time, Jenny blends her love for nature with Austin’s vibrant city life and enjoys hiking, paddle boarding, and sunsets.
Read Jenny’s staff Q&A here.
Ron Rienstra, Director of Church Partnerships
Rev. Dr. Ron Rienstra leads A Rocha USA’s Churches of Restoration program, along with other initiatives designed to equip congregations that recognize climate change as an existential challenge—one of scope and consequence unlike any humanity has faced before—and that our Christian faith compels us to confront it. He helps resource churches across the country that are eager to bring creation care to the center of their discipleship efforts, offering both theological grounding and practical support for faithful, courageous responses.
Ron is an ordained minister in the Reformed Church in America and is the professor of preaching and worship arts at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan. He holds degrees from the University of Michigan, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Fuller Theological Seminary, and he joined the A Rocha USA board in 2022 before stepping into his current staff role.
He lives in Grand Rapids with his wife Debra, with whom he co-authored Worship Words: Discipling Language for Faithful Ministry. They have three grown children, a tangle of instruments in the living room, and a backyard they are slowly rewilding. Ron’s work is animated by a vision of the church as a refugia community—offering shelter, resilience, and renewal amid ecological disruption.
Read Ron’s staff Q&A here.
Robert Sluka, Lead Scientist, Marine Conservation
After living for extended periods of time in Australia, India, and Great Britain, Dr. Robert Sluka now lives with his family in Titusville, Florida where he directs research at our Florida Conservation Project and serves as Lead Scientist for A Rocha International’s Marine Conservation Programme. Bob’s research focuses on marine biodiversity conservation, plastic pollution, and fisheries, particularly in marine protected areas.
Bob has a PhD in Marine Biology from the University of Miami in coral reef fish ecology and is an associate of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion. His ultimate goal is to glorify God by transforming oceans and communities through holistic marine conservation. Bob’s lifelong passion for the ocean and all its creatures means he spends as much time as possible in or near the water, especially along the Canaveral National Seashore near his home.
Associates
Ed Brown, Senior Associate for Churches and Theology
Rev. Ed Brown joins A Rocha USA after 25 years in the creation care movement, including 20 years as founding director of Care of Creation and 10 as the first Lausanne Catalyst for Creation Care. He is convinced that mobilizing the church is the key to an ongoing and effective movement. To that end, he works with A Rocha USA staff and affiliated churches to encourage creation care mobilization at the congregational level
Ed lives in Madison, WI with his wife Susanna and has four adult children and three grandchildren. He holds a position as a Fellow at the Nelson Institute of Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and works with the University’s Loka Initiative on Creation at the Crossroads, an ongoing outreach to pastors of evangelical churches. Ed has written two books, Our Father’s World: Mobilizing the Church to Care for Creation and When Heaven and Nature Sing: Exploring God’s Goals for his People and His Creation.
Heidy Sumei Chuang, Artist Partner
Heidy is a Taiwanese-American artist specializing in floral design and painted media. She holds a BFA in painting from Washington University, an MFA from Boston University, and graduate studies in Orvieto, Italy. Her work has been exhibited at Blooming Resilience, Waterfall Gallery (NYC), Bergdorf Goodman X Waterfall Gallery (NYC), and Gordon Conwell (Italy). Her solo exhibitions include the Butterfly Project at L’Abri (MA), Butterflies of A Rocha (France), and Diary of Israel’s Beauty (NYC). She has worked as an Artist Resident at A Rocha France, taught at L’Abri, Switzerland, and received the Y. Chang Art Award (Paris, France). Her floral works have been featured in Architectural Digest, Harvard Art Museum, and the Boston Public Library.
Heidy’s work with A Rocha in the USA and internationally has shaped her artistic practice and in her Boston community, where she developed a pollinator project in Somerville, MA, the most densely populated urban neighborhood in New England. What began as a grassroots effort to plant milkweed in the margins, within an abandoned lot, has expanded into a growing network of native plant gardens – a pollinator corridor known as “The Butterfly Project.”
Heidy’s passion as an artist is to create a unique space for the environmental conservation movement, where small things are dignified, death is surpassed by rebirth, and vulnerability reveals an unexpected strength. Heidy’s works invite us to pause and notice the intrinsic artistry and wonder of creation, and the ‘why’ behind our care of creation. Her collections span mountain tops, urban streets, and quiet gardens, capturing the poetry and ineffable beauty that surrounds us, highlighting our planet’s wondrous yet vulnerable habitats and species.
Jeffrey Greenberg, Associate Scientist
Dr. Jeffrey K. Greenberg’s research has been widely focused on tectonic-petrologic and environmental investigations from Egypt, North Carolina, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Kosovo, Virginia, Kentucky, and the Republic of South Africa. He has also supervised student-oriented research and outreach, with many professional articles, maps, guidebooks, and meeting abstracts. Jeff received a Bachelors in Geology from Florida State University, Masters in Geology/Geophysics from the University of Kentucky, and a PhD in Geology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
He then spent eight plus years as a state geologist and Associate Professor of Environmental Resources at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. From 1986 to 2018, he was a professor and 20-year Chair of Earth and Environmental Science at Wheaton College in Illinois. He served as President of the Affiliation of Christian Geologists twice, Issues Chair for the former Christian Environmental Council, Visiting Faculty for YWAM (Youth With A Mission), Director of the Wheaton College Science Station (twice), and currently coordinates the SWIRL (Stormwater Indian River Lagoon ) initiative as Associate Scientist for A Rocha USA.
As long as the Lord allows, Jeff hopes to contribute his experience to training and inspiring younger people in creation stewardship.