Reverend Monica L. Banks, Founder of New Communion, a faith-based community organization with the goal of of enhancing community relationships and diminishing the impacts of hunger and food insecurity. A Nebraska native, with nomadic tendencies, she values hard work, relationships, and family meals. She has two children, Julia and Brennan. Julia is an accomplished dancer and Brennan is an avid gamer with a passion for cooking. They live life in downtown Winston-Salem with their 3 year-old bulldog JoJo.

Rev. Banks believes in the interconnected and liminal spaces that exist between and within the ordinary and the sacred. She is passionate about creation care and knows that sometimes all we need is to take our shoes off and feel the grass, knead the dough of bread amidst creation, or cry with a neighbor.

Rev. Banks is a 2017 Re:Generate Fellow, a published writer/blogger, preacher/chaplain, grant writer, community organizer, foodie, and justice seeker. Rev. Banks spent most of her career as a restaurant manager and corporate trainer, opening restaurants in Kansas City, Omaha, Scottsdale and New York. Rev. Banks currently serves as Senior Pastor, at Hyattstown Christian Church, in Clarksburg, Maryland. She was raised by her baptist grandparents in Eastern Nebraska.  Monica’s grandmother always said, “Leave a seat for Jesus at the table.”  She is passionate about the biblical narrative of “shared abundance” and believes that real reconciliation begins at the Table.