The Team

Sean Dimond is the Executive Director of AT THE THRESHOLD and owner of UNTAMED, an award-winning international documentary film company with work spanning 25 countries across five continents.

Originally trained in philosophy and theology, Sean began his filmmaking journey in 2000 with a digital camera and a flight to a Sudanese refugee camp in Northern Uganda. Since then, his films have illuminated stories of resilience and spiritual longing in places marked by trauma and redemption. His films have been seen by millions around the world, and have been commissioned and used by international humanitarian organizations, academic institutions, and Fortune 100 corporations.

Sean is an avid sailor and lives in Seattle, WA.

Johnny Valencia has served as Director of Photography for the majority of the AT THE THRESHOLD films. He is known for his evocative, naturalistic style, seamlessly blending storytelling with technical precision. His cinematography spans documentary films, narrative features, music videos, and commercials. Johnny has worked extensively with Terence Malick, most recently as 2nd Unit DP on Malick’s forthcoming film The Way of the Wind. His music video work has garnered over 10 billion views, including collaborations with artists such as Elton John, Ed Sheeran, and Imagine Dragons.

A filmmaker, creative director, and editor with extensive global experience, Adam Sjoberg began his career as a photojournalist before founding Loose Luggage Media in 2014. He has since directed and produced four feature films, led major commercial campaigns for clients like Apple, Mini Cooper, and Spotify, and collaborated with artists including Bono, Nas, and Troy Polamalu. His feature work includes Shake the Dust, a breakdancing documentary executive produced by Nas; I Am Sun Mu, which premiered in the Korean DMZ; and The Falconer, the first feature film shot entirely in Oman. Adam splits his time between commercial and creative work from his home base in Lisbon, Portugal.

Hailing from the coast of South Florida, Sebastian Jones is an award winning editor-director. His work has screened everywhere from SXSW to the Cannes Film Festival to Netflix. After studying film at the University of Central Florida, Sebastian moved to Austin, Texas, to work with renowned director Terrence Malick. Sebastian served as an editor on films such as A HIDDEN LIFE, VOYAGE OF TIME, and SONG TO SONG. Sebastian has also edited numerous documentaries and directed one of his own about the life of the late music artist Lil Peep which screened globally and won the top award at the Soundtrack Cologne film festival.

As an original co-creator of AT THE THRESHOLD film series, John has held many roles: Co-Director, Producer, Director of Photography, and Lead Editor.

John’s films have screened in the world’s most prestigious film festivals and won numerous awards, including an Oscar Nomination (KAVI, Best Live-Action Short Film Nominee, 2010) two Student Academy Awards, and jury prizes from SXSW and Tribeca Film Festival.

In 2002 he saw James Longley’s documentary GAZA STRIP and was moved by its remarkable combination of beautiful images and deeply human moments. Since then, his work has been strongly influenced by other great vérité filmmakers, especially the camerawork and filmmaking philosophy of Albert Maysles.

He is a graduate of the University of Southern California’s Film Production Program (MFA) and lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and three children.

You can find John at Blue Sky Hill.

Christopher R. Brewer was a theologian, creator, curator, and friend whose life reflected a rare integration of intellectual courage, aesthetic wonder, and moral depth.

A former Program Officer at Templeton Religion Trust and Principal Advisor in his final years, Christopher led some of Templeton’s most imaginative initiatives, including Art Seeking Understanding and the early development of At the Threshold, a global documentary series on theology. He also served as Editor-in-Chief of GiffordLectures.org, expanding access to over a century of public philosophy and theology.

Holding four degrees in theology, including a Ph.D. in Divinity from the University of St Andrews, Christopher’s scholarly work centered on natural theology, sacramentality, and the arts. He was editor or co-editor of seven academic volumes—Christian Theology and the Transformation of Natural Religion among them—with several more forthcoming. He completed his first authored book, Understanding Natural Theology (Zondervan Academic, 2026) immediately before illness interrupted his work.

Prior to his scholarly and philanthropic endeavors, Christopher worked as a marketing manager for a Fortune 500 company—an early sign of his uniquely interdisciplinary path. His life was as full of questions as it was of devotion, and he brought both rigor and reverence to his work, his family, and his many friendships. Christopher lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with his wife Rachel, their two sons, John and Samuel, and their cheeky poodle, Charley.

Judith Wolfe is Professor of Philosophical Theology at the University of St Andrews. Born and raised in Vienna, and educated in Milwaukee, Jerusalem, and Oxford, Prof. Wolfe has previously taught at Bard College Berlin and St John’s College Oxford. She is interested in the many ways in which theology, philosophy, literature and art extend and challenge each other, and teaches courses in systematic theology, philosophical theology, and theology and the arts. She has written and edited books on Martin Heidegger, C.S. Lewis, and 19th- and 20th-century theology; her most recent monograph, The Theological Imagination, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2024. She is also founding editor of the Journal of Inklings Studies and the Oxford Studies in Philosophical Theology. Prof. Wolfe has spoken on BBC Radio 4’s In Our Time, PBS’s Closer to Truth, and at festivals, museums, and many conferences.

Ali Qadir is Professor of Sociology at Tampere University, where his work focuses on social change, the sociology of religion, and global and transnational sociology. He is the lead researcher of the PRISM project (Progress in the Scientific Study of Mysticism), an international initiative based at Tampere that aims to build a cross-cultural and multidisciplinary foundation for the study of mystical experience. Qadir has published widely on religion, heresy, and epistemic change, and has led numerous research projects funded by the Academy of Finland, Kone Foundation, and Templeton Religion Trust. He is a member of the Steering Committee of Templeton Religion Trust, President of The Westermarck Society (2023–2024), and has over a decade of experience in international nonprofit and policy work. He continues to supervise doctoral and master’s students in sociology and religious studies.