Faith House Staff

Lauralea Banks, Program Coordinator

Lauralea Banks graduated from Columbia University in 2007 with a Masters of International Affairs.  While there, she studied conflict resolution and women's issues in the Middle East.  She worked for the Tanenbaum Center in New York City, helping to launch a new program, the Women's Peace Initiative, which recognizes religiously motivated women in the Middle East who are using interreligious dialogue as a means of peacebuilding.

In 2001, Lauralea made her first trip to Jordan as a part of an archaeology dig.  While there, she connected with culture very strongly and returned to study Arabic in 2004.  Her year there ultimately led to her decision to specialize in women's issues and was largely influential in her interest in interreligious issues.  This interest was also fueled by the time she spent with her physics advisor studying Judaism and the Torah just after her trip to Jordan in 2001.

Lauralea brings with her a global perspective influenced not only by her time in the Middle East but also by the time she has spent living in the Marshall Islands and Austria.  In addition, she helped build an orphanage in Zimbabwe and raise money for AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe.

Samir Selmanovic, Program Coordinator

Personal Mission:  Learning to love well, God, people, and all of life.

Samir Selmanovic grew up in an urban atheist milieu in the capital of Croatia in a European Muslim family. In his youth, he was immersed in existential literature and has produced modern theater projects such as the works of Bertolt Brecht and George Orwell’s Animal Farm.



During an obligatory service in the communist army, his quest for counter-cultural ideas led him to join a Christian church through an underground network of believers. After he returned home from his army service, due to his religious convictions, he was shunned by social circles, disowned by his family and expelled from his home for several years. Through these challenges he found strength in the depths and beauty of faith in God while learning to value the worldviews of the people who opposed it.



After coming to the United States and completing graduate degrees in theology and religious education, Samir pastored a multi-ethnic church in Manhattan for six years. This ministry experience provided him with an understanding of professional urban America, Western attitudes toward Christianity and how monotheistic religions and their opponents can work together for the good of the world.

His experience in Manhattan includes the events of 9/11 and a number of projects helping the city in its aftermath. Aspects of his work were reported in an article in San Francisco Chronicle. In 2002, he was honored by the organization, Muslims Against Terrorism, for his contribution to interfaith understanding and cooperation.



Over the last four years, Samir has been a speaker, seminar presenter and member of the core leadership team of re-church, a supporting network of pastors meeting for a yearly conference for theological exploration (New York 2002 entitled Loving Babylon devoted to postmodernity and urban ministry, Los Angeles 2003 entitled Dancing With God devoted to spiritual practices, Philadelphia 2004 entitled Micah 6:8 devoted to social justice, and Columbus 2007 entitled Mission and Innovation).



Over the last eight years, Samir has published articles about the role of religion and faith in postmodernity and their relationship with culture, spirituality and leadership. He has been a speaker at seminars, conferences and colleges around the country. He has also taught classes about faith development, leadership development, family ministry and spiritual nurture in a theological seminary. He is a contributor to book Emergent Manifesto of Hope (published by Baker in 2007).

Currently, Samir is writing a book for Baker to be published 2007/2008 entitled Better Than Christianity.

Since 2005, Samir serves on the Coordinating Group for Emergent Village and has been appointed as their representative on the Faith and Order Commission of the National Council of Churches in 2006.



For the last four years, Samir has been a teaching pastor at CrossWalk, a fast growing suburban church in Southern California.  In the course of this work, Samir has traveled to Africa and has worked with Roman Catholic and Protestant local congregations both in the United States and in Ethiopia on interfaith relief projects.

With his wife Vesna and their two daughters Ena and Leta, Samir has moved to New York City to be a part of an urban interfaith community called Faith House Manhattan (www.faithhousemanhattan.org).

To request full bio and vita, click samir@faithhousemanhattan.org.

To learn about Selmanovic Family Support Team, click HERE.