TIDAC Staff

Rev. Dr. Daniel Kwaku Nyante was born in Ghana, West Africa. In 1978 he immigrated to the United States to attend New York City Technical College and the Pratt Institute School of Architecture. In February 1991 he established Dan Yant, Inc. a construction management company, which designs, constructs, and installs heating, ventilating, and air conditioning and mechanical systems in the New York metropolitan area.      Reverend Nyante obtained his Master of Divinity Degree from New York Theological Seminary in May 2007 and was ordained a minister in August 2008. He is the Executive Director of the Institute for Diasporan and African Culture (TIDAC), which was established in March 2009 to foster an understanding of the relationships between African traditions and cultures and Christianity, both in Africa and among the African people of the Diaspora. On May 15, 2010, he received his Doctor of Ministry from New York Theological Seminary.

Professor Kofi Asare Opoku is a former chair of the Ghana Institute of African Studies and a retired Professor of African Traditional Religion from Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, USA. He has taught and delivered numerous lectures on African culture and world religions across the globe in the past forty years. Professor Opoku’s grandfather, Theophilus Opoku, was the first African to be ordained in Ghana in 1872. After Professor Opoku graduated from seminary, he became interested in African Traditional Religion, and made the decision not to be ordained. He holds degrees from Yale University Divinity School and the University of Ghana.      Opoku has published several books, including West African Traditional Religion (1978); Healing for God’s World: Remedies from Three Continents, with Kim Yong-Bock and Antoinette C. Wire (1991); Hearing and Keeping: Akan Proverbs (1997); and Speak to the Winds: Proverbs from Africa (1975). Opoku has also authored numerous articles and papers on African culture, spirituality, and religions and their impact on Western ideas. He is currently a farmer at Mampong, Akuapem, in Ghana’s Eastern Region.

Professor Mercy Amba Oduyoye’s ecumenical journey spans the years from 1966 to the present. She has traveled and has been honored all over the world, from Switzerland to Nairobi, by such institutions as the New York Theological Seminary and Yale and Columbia Universities. She has inspired many women. Professor Mercy has been described as a pioneering and wise African woman theologian who has contributed greatly in the area of theology, the study of religion and culture, missiology, and to academic life in general.      Several of Professor Mercy’s books have been published by Orbis Books. Her many publications include The Will to Arise: Women, Tradition, and the Church in Africa, with Musimbi R. A. Kanyoro (1992); Daughters of Anowa: African Women and Patriarchy (1995); One Gospel—Many Cultures: Case Studies and Reflections on Cross-Cultural Theology, with Hendrik M. Vroom (2003), and Beads And Strands: Reflections Of An African Woman On Christianity In Africa (2004). A collection of essays has been pubished to celebrate and honor the life of Professor Oduyoye: African Women, Religion, and Health: Essays in honor of Mercy Amba Ewudziwa Oduyoye, by Isabel Apawo Phiri (2006).

Rev. Dr. Wanda M. Lundy has served as pastor of The Church on the Edge (First Presbyterian) in Edgewater, New Jersey, since 1997. Her passion in ministry lies in personal and communal transformation. It is her belief that God is a God of love and expects, requires and demands that we live as people of love. This belief is reflected in each Sunday worship experience. Dr. Lundy has traveled to Cuba, Brazil, Israel, Ethiopia and Ghana.      In addition to her local church involvement, she served as Moderator for Presbytery of the Palisades–Presbyterian Church (USA) 2007, Moderator of the National Steering Committee for Presbyterian Multicultural Network, trainer for Congregational Transformation Team Ministry, and Vice Moderator for State of New Jersey Church Women United. She was the national Co-Chair of Presbyterian Transformation and Multicultural Connection held at Columbia University in July 2005. She is adjunct faculty at New York Theological Seminary in the Certificate, Master and Doctoral Programs and coordinator for the Doctor of Ministry Program (English Tract). She is completing her first book Creating ACTS Communities—A Way to Congregational Transformation.

Dr. Eva Shaw-Taylor serves as a Contracts Specialist/Contracting Officer for the International Division of the Department of Homeland Security–U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and is the Vice President of the American Association of Grant Professionals, National Chapter. She received her Master of Arts in Administrative Management/Accounting from Bowie State University; a Master of Arts in Government and Comparative Politics from the Georgetown University and a Bachelors from Morgan State University.      She has over 20 years experience in grants, contracts, and financial management; domestic and international administration in the non-profit sector; and project management, monitoring, and evaluation at a variety of organizations. Her past positions in the international affairs field include: International Financial Officer for World Vision, where she managed the finances for field offices in eight West African countries; Management Systems Analyst for a World Bank project focused on Ghana; and Grants Officer for the Center for International Private Enterprise. Ms. Shaw-Taylor is currently is a Commissioner on the Maryland Governor’s Commission on African Affairs and a Mentor at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. On May 21, 2011, she received her Doctor of Ministry from New York Theological Seminary.