Ferrell Foster is director of ethics and justice for the Baptist General Convention of Texas’ Christian Life Commission.

1. Where did you grow up?

The Pleasant Grove section of southeast Dallas.

2. What is your favorite verse, book or story in the Bible? Why?

Luke 10:27.

I keep it on a chain around my neck at all times. It captures the essence of what God expects – to love God with all my being and to love others as much as I love myself. Sometimes, I have more trouble with the last part, loving self, as I do with the first two parts.

3. What is your favorite movie? Why?

“Braveheart.”

I just love the passion for freedom, for life free of injustice.

4. Who are three people you admire?

C.S. Lewis, John Hessell (my youth minister then pastor) and Martin Luther King Jr.

5. What is one little-known fact about yourself?

I grew up very shy and timid, and I prayed one day in college that God would help me come out of my shell so I could do the things in life I thought God desired me to do.