He is the founder of "Faith House Manhattan", an interfaith community of Christians, Muslims, Jews and humanists/atheists. He has served on the Interfaith Relations Commission of the United States National Council of Churches. When the pastor of Church of the Advent Hope in New York City, he was honored by the group Muslims Against Terrorism for his assistance following the September 11, 2001 attacks, which included holding a Christian-Muslim discussion at the peak of tensions. He has been praised by many other religious leaders such as Karen Armstrong, Parker Palmer, and Brian McLaren. Currently, he is Co-chair of Vote Common Good campaign. Selmanovic grew up in the former Yugoslavia (Croatia). While his father was Muslim and mother Christian, he was essentially brought up an atheist. He completed compulsory service in the army, becoming a progressive Christian at age 18. He moved to the United States in 1990, where he completed several graduate degrees. He is a progressive Seventh-day Adventist pastor, and believes no organized religion is perfect, and seeks to affirm other faiths, including humanism. From 2005 to today, Samir has focused on consulting and coaching work in corporate and entrepreneurial context, and has founded Wisdom Workroom. He lives in NYC and works as an Executive Life Coach.