K. Edward Copeland serves as the pastor of New Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Rockford, Illinois. He is also an independent consultant for the Bureau of Justice and Michigan State University's College of Criminal Justice and a member of the working group for the DOJ National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice. He attended the University of Illinois (BA), Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (MDiv), and University of California, Berkeley (JD) and is also a former criminal defense attorney. He has authored Riding in the Second Chariot and is a contributing author to Entrusted with the Gospel. He and his wife, Starla, have three children.