Leadership

Reverend Monica L. Banks was raised by Baptist grandparents from the age of ten. She was baptized at the age of 12 and grew up attending youth group at First Baptist Church in Fremont, Nebraska. Rev. Banks was also active in church camp and statewide youth events.

Ms. Banks is a first generation college graduate. She attended business school and pursued a B.S. in Business Leadership and Management. She graduated from College of Saint Mary in Omaha, Nebraska in 2002. Ms. Banks spent much of her early career in the hospitality industry, was a corporate trainer and general manager at chef-owned and farm to table restaurants.

In 2012, Ms. Banks followed her calling to ministry and began the discernment process. She began her theological education at Wake Forest School of Divinity in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 2014. During her time at Wake Forest, she traveled on pilgrimage to Israel/Palestine, Tucson/Nogales, and the Patagonia Region of the Southwest working with migrant farmers. In 2017, Rev. Banks was nominated and received the Re:Generate fellowship for young ministers working in ecology and food insecurity. Reverend Banks continued to have a gospel centered focus of Table/Hospitality, Eucharistic praxis (practice), and focus toward ultimate kinship.

Reverend Banks is the founding Co-Executive Director of New Communion, an interfaith nonprofit focused on Asset Based Community Development and food justice. She is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the North Carolina Commission on Ministry. Reverend Banks is completed a Chaplain Residency at Moses H. Cone Hospital in Greensboro, North Carolina. She has served as Second Year Chaplain Resident to Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Pediatric Intermediate Unit, and Pediatric Emergency Department.

“The experience of the Eucharist outside the walls of the church allows us to truly experience the gospel.”

Pastor Alain Imani Habinamwisho has been an elder at New Disciples since July 2014. God has given him the same vision as New Disciples to become a multi-generational, multi-cultural community of faith that reaches out with the good news of God’s grace. In following the vision God has given him, Alain started our multi-lingual worship service.

Janelle is a professional musician who has been blessed by God to use her musical gifts as her life's work. Janelle is known locally for her work at SPT Theatre Company, Theatre Cedar Rapids and Liars Holographic Radio Theatre. Nationally, she tours as a member of Divapalooza!

Janelle is also the mother of a teenage son and young adult daughter. She enjoys teaching voice lessons and is an entrepreneur who has started more than one company for artists.