Review of Bible Sisters A Year of Devotions with the Women of the Bible

I prefer to start devotionals at the beginning of the year but Bible Sisters A Year of Devotional with the Women of the Bible met me where I was at. If your going through any daily trails or your faith is being challenged this book is for you! 

The book provided solace, comfort and much needed peace. Bible Sisters offers a breath of fresh air and sheds light on many known and unknown women of the Bible. It's follows the traditional devotional format, a daily scripture about a woman in the Bible, reflection and a prayer. 

Since my encounter with the book it has touched and informed my heart and soul; and has been a daily roadmap on my spiritual journey. I love this devotional and I highly recommend it to my friends and family. 

I look forward to meeting The Rev. Dr. Gennifer Benjamin Brooks to let her know that she created a true gem with this book. A gem that will be used for bible studies and women's groups.  A gem that will forever provide wisdom and hope. But will forever embody the true spirit of a women. 

Review of Bible Sisters A Year of Devotions with the Women of the Bible

I prefer to start devotionals at the beginning of the year but Bible Sisters A Year of Devotional with the Women of the Bible met me where I was at. If your going through any daily trails or your faith is being challenged this book is for you! 

The book provided solace, comfort and much needed peace. Bible Sisters offers a breath of fresh air and sheds light on many known and unknown women of the Bible. It's follows the traditional devotional format, a daily scripture about a woman in the Bible, reflection and a prayer. 

Since my encounter with the book it has touched and informed my heart and soul; and has been a daily roadmap on my spiritual journey. I love this devotional and I highly recommend it to my friends and family. 

I look forward to meeting The Rev. Dr. Gennifer Benjamin Brooks to let her know that she created a true gem with this book. A gem that will be used for bible studies and women's groups.  A gem that will forever provide wisdom and hope. But will forever embody the true spirit of a women. 

Can anything good come out of Compton?

My Straight Outta Compton review 

Ok let's get straight to it. ( lol, you see what I did there) My high school allowed me a great education, independence and freedom to think, question and challenge the world. I was protesting and learning about feminism at the age of 15! My high school set the foundation but college really formed my thinking and my views of the world. I like to call 1985-1994 my formative years. The years were social justice became relative to me. During this time rap music was being made and I loved it! It was speaking to the issues of the black community at that time. The east coast was dominating it all. KRS One, Eric B and Rakim, GrandMaster Flash! I thought The Message was everything! Even girls was dope like MC Lyte talking about her no good dude and her love for coffee (cappuccino) all those Roxannes with their diamonds and fur coats. Salt and Pepa, Monie Love and the Queen herself Latifah. Public Enemy was dropping knowledge left and right and keeping me informed on black life! But in 1988 on a Sunday evening in the campus library my friend got a care package from her uncle and it was a bunch of homemade tapes from some dudes on the west coast and the rap game changed for me.

 In my mind when I think of LA it's orange juice and Hollywood. I never knew about the issues out west. I learned about the Watts riots but I didn't know about the injustice, discrimination, harassment that was going on with the LAPD! Even though this gang banger, pimp, drug dealer name Ice T was talking about it all the time and I saw the movie Colors but I still didn't give it much concern. Until I heard these tapes and I realized that black people got it hard everywhere. LAPD did constant gang sweeps and for good reason cause the gangs and drugs were growing in LA. But the methods of the LAPD and their treatment towards blacks were an issue. N.W.A. spoke to those issues. I love rap music but rap is very problematic when it comes to the treatment of women. I'm not condoning that treatment but I'm shedding light on the political and social impact that NWA had at that time. So finally to the movie......it was great! The soundtrack is tight of course! I went back into time and was in 1986 all over again. Dr. Dre was the visionary, Ice Cube was the writer and Eazy E supplied his dope money to make albums and get studio time. Ren and Yella was just along for the ride. Dr. Dre called the music Reality Rap but white America called it Gangsta Rap.  The film depicted the time and the mood well. It was end of the Reagan era and the beginning of Bush 1! So if you can remember what the black community looked like then well... I remember watching Rodney King getting his ass beat down by the police.  I remember being in ECon class and having my professor dismiss class early due to the LA Riots after the not guilty verdict! I remember the Crips and Bloods coming together during the riots. I remember that hurt, anger and pain! 

I thought it was funny how the film showed the coining of the phrase: Bye Felicia! Which Ice Cube later used again in the movie Friday. The music was dope and showed Ice Cube as the real lyricist! ( the dis records). The film also showed Suge Knight in his rare form.....always around and lurking. Just waiting for the right opportunity to get the boys away from Jerry Heller. Suge took D.O.C. first and then Dre. I also liked how the film introduced Warren G and Snoop as two skinny high as hell teenagers from Long Beach who didn't know who the hell Suge was! Lol and tears came to my eyes to see Tupac in the studio recording one of my favorites Hail Mary! Eazy's death from HIV was sad to watch but very well written into the film. 

So many people came from the N.W.A. Dynasty....Eazy had Michel'le, Bone Thugs n Harmony. Ice Cube acting took off with Boyz in the Hood and Friday! ( Boyz in tha Hood is a classic in our culture) And Dr. Dre had to finally stand up to Suge and get the hell out! Dre was like F the money I need peace of mind! This was a defining moment in the film cause we know Suge could have killed him right then and there. But I love fate! I'm a strong believer in it! Dre left Suge and Death Row with nothing but who knew that a trouble little white boy  (who use phonetics to write his name) on the east side of Detroit, a former drug dealer from South Jamaica, Queens ( 50 Cent) and his protege ( The Game) was waiting on him! Who knew that he would make some colorful headphones and the world's largest technology company would buy them. Wow fate! Never say nothing good can come from Compton! Ruthless, Death Row, AfterMath. The strength of street knowledge! Great job F. Gary Grey! @Brensum #StraightOuttaCompton #BlackLivesMatter 

Rise of The Guardians and The Rise of my Savior

Rise of The Guardians

Rise of my Savior

         During the Christmas holiday I was watching the children’s film: “Rise of the Guardians.” It is the story of Jack Frost, Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, Sandman and the Man on the Moon.  I was filled with nostalgia from my childhood! I remember how the guardians protected me when I was younger. 

I looked forward to the gifts that the guardians would bring me. Jack Frost would make it snow, snow, snow and produce snow days, which meant no school! Santa Claus would bring toys and gifts for Christmas.  When it was time for a baby tooth to come out, the tooth fairy was there to retrieve it and leave some cash! The Easter bunny provided beautiful eggs and candy on Resurrection Sunday morning.  The sandman provided a good night sleep surrounded by sweet, peaceful dreams.

Growing up I was a regular at my church Sunday school.  I looked forward to learning about Jesus the savior.  As I watched the film I was trying to remember when I let go of the guardians and took hold of Jesus.  At the age of 12 I stop believing in the legends of my childhood.  I remember having this feeling of abandonment.  I was thinking my childhood was ending and adulthood is beginning.  I remember thinking who would be my guardian, my protector. I remember thinking who would make it snow? Who would bring me gifts? Who would protect my dreams? Who would fill those requirements? I am grateful that I had a mother and grandmother who promoted church, learning about Jesus and Sunday school.

During that adolescence time it was imperative that I knew Jesus.  Adolescence is an awkward time period. The body is changing and the mind is forming. It was important for me to know that I had someone who would love and protect me in the same manner as my childhood guardians.  Teenage years are delicate, fragile and very vulnerable.  It is a transitions period from childhood to adulthood. It’s a sacred time period in human life.

As my knowledge grew so did my faith. Therefore Jesus became my guardian. The beliefs that I held in my heart as a child transitions to the savior that died for my sins.

There is a scene in the film that the guardians would disappear once a child would stop believing in them.  I totally forgot about the guardians until I saw the film.  That’s the awesome thing about Jesus once you accept him into your life he is imprinted on your heart and mind. You can never forget the goodness, mercy and grace of God. Once Jesus rises in your life, he becomes the protector of your world, the keeper of your heart and the bodyguard of your soul!

Open Letter to the Presiding Bishop-Elect Joseph W. Walker and the "By Invitation Only" Attendees of the Inaugural Meeting of the SHIFT

December 12, 2013

Open Letter to Presiding Bishop-Elect Joseph W. Walker III and the “By Invitation Only” Attendees of the Inaugural Meeting of the SHIFT

Brothers,

How an initiative begins significantly affects how it goes forward.

We read with interest the well-crafted December 9  press release  of the coming “SHIFT,” a new initiative spearheaded by Rev. Joseph W. Walker III, Presiding Bishop-Elect of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship. We paid special attention to the quotations and looked at the pictures. What a curious title: “Rebranding in the body of Christ: The Ultimate Leader Shift.”

As we read the letter, we became increasingly more disturbed and troubled. Although our first response was “no women were in the room,” in fact our concerns are deeper. It was just sinful and wrongheaded for a group of men to gather without active, real participation of women. We want to be clear about what disturbs us in this moment. Generally, we ignore lists of “100 most influential,” “10 best preachers,” etc.—how could we know who are the 10 best preachers, given all the powerful preachers who will never have a stage? So we read “chosen ones” and

“greatest movement” with a grain of salt. But if those gathered intended to communicate an inclusive, progressive, dynamic, forward thinking agenda, your images and rhetoric failed you.

The  post-letter from Bishop Walker—apparently written in response to comments made about the  absence of women—said “a number of women who were invited… many were unable to attend” (though there were NONE present). We are hard-pressed to believe that all those busy men could come to the SHIFT meeting, but not one woman was available at the time. Quite frankly, if scheduling the meeting proved to be that problematic for women only, then one would be forced to rethink its planning strategies and organization. In the interest of being in solidarity with your womanist sister clergy, if this initiative really intended to be “new,” “progressive,” and “bold,” we think our Womanist/Black Feminist allies in the photo ought have refused to meet or release anything without a critical mass of sister leaders present, not as tokens, but as full participants. If there were men in that room who were in fact appalled by the lack of female representation because they did not know beforehand who would attend, we would hope that our brother allies would publicly declare their disappointment that a meeting with no women present was not rescheduled.

That’s what solidarity and ally-ship look like.

We’ve been chastened not to call black male church leaders out in public. We’ve been told that we have misunderstood. The rising bishop responded in his follow-up letter in what he called “a teaching moment” that we should “ask questions” rather than assume, presumably to correct his errant critics. We say that the gathered brotherhood of clergy should make their commitments clearer. What exactly do they hope to accomplish on behalf of the church? Does it matter to anyone other than women that women are invisible in a gathering of putatively this import? The Bishop’s letter read like a justification for  male privilege. The usually “invisible cloak” of arrogance and male-only leadership was visible. All the rhetoric sounded like everything we’ve ever heard from male-dominated meetings.

As Womanists-Feminists-preachers-scholars-activists our responses come from several places. We are not making assumptions. Your press release and its attending images speak volumes. You are not interested in iconoclastically breaking from tradition. You’ve made clear that even if women were invited their insight, input, or wisdom was not considered significant enough for the group to wait. Indeed, the notion that women have to be “included” is itself a male privilege power move. Surely, you are aware that most black churches are comprised of as much as 80% female membership. We also know  that women do the majority of the work of the church, without whose labor the organization and mission would fail. To be crystal clear, women’s gifts and capacities in all aspects of church leadership are as critical to the survival, relevance and progression of the church as men’s. Are women not already included in God’s plans?

You’ve communicated—loudly—that  (male) “Generals” would strategize and tell all the foot soldiers what to do. A clear inference one gets from your invitation to meet is that God only calls “Generals” who are notorious and already “celebrity” preachers, i.e., those considered “important” and “special” people. Only those with thousands of members know anything about impact or leadership. We understand. That presumption makes sense in an entrepreneurial understanding of the church, where faithfulness is measured only in dollars and size. It smacks of religious elitism. What could an inner-city pastor with only a few members who’s faced gangs and helped people who are poor and struggling to thrive possibly have to offer? You’ve communicated that the hierarchical, “Fathers-know-best,” male-centric table works for you and you’ll scoot over and cram in a couple more of some you deem “worthy.” It is presumptuous and ill thought-out.

We will take you at your word that you didn’t intend to communicate most of the above, if you’ll take our word that’s how many people who care equally about the future of the church received it.

Intent and impact are two very different things. Be clear. Images matter. Rhetoric matters.

In this climate in which the black church finds itself on the brink of becoming irrelevant in the public’s eyes and where black preachers are portrayed on TV as money-grubbing pimps in the pulpit, it would seem that preachers serious about redeeming the times and restoring the reputation of the black church would be committed to justice that reflects genuine shared leadership with women. More than 27 years ago, Rev. Prathia Hall challenged the black Baptist Church on its rampant patronizing exclusion of women, and we find ourselves having to do the same. Dr. Renita Weems once asked, “What will it mean in the history of the church if record droves of women experience and accept their call and we go on with business as usual?” By your omission, you dishonor the legacy, ministry and lives of the biblical general Deborah and prophet Huldah; the church house leader Chloe; and deacon Phoebe and co-workers in the gospel Euodia and Syntyche. You dishonor the work and ministry of women such as Jarena Lee, Septima Clark, Ella P. Mitchell, Brenda Piper Little, Shirley Prince, and Bishop Barbara Harris, and countless of notable and unnamed others.

The challenge with critiquing SHIFT and movements that exclude more of God’s people than they include is that onlookers immediately think it's personal. Religious male-centered leadership is "normal" and “sacred” and any attempt to question it is deemed perverse or personal. Our call is not for women to have access to patriarchal power, but that we all work together to create new, healthier, more humane—and therefore more godly—systems. We ask you to consider, not only those at the table you’ve spread, but those who are not present. We believe such consideration is central to the ministry of Christ. Women are invisible at the table, but so are many others, including, self-identified same-gender loving Christians. As you consider what or who has their feet on the necks of those you want to liberate, consider whose necks your feet may be holding down. Self-reflection and self-critique are deeply important in justice work.

In response to your invitation for dialogue, here are a few questions to get the dialogue going: How do leaders who claim to fight for justice not know that sexism—excluding women or only including them as afterthoughts—is just as vile and sinful as racism and that it takes intentionality to transform, if in fact you intend to do so? How do self-proclaimed Womanist allies not include women and men who are Womanists and/or Black Feminists in the shaping of vision? Womanist/Black Feminists are not concerned only with the “inclusion” of women in public religious life. That’s about numbers. As people of faith, committed to the cause of radical inclusion, justice and love, we would be remiss in our integrity and derelict in our respective vocations, if we did not speak to injustices and oppressions as evidenced by this introduction of your initiative. We are interested in vision and shared influence and the building of the Commonwealth of God, beloved communities where everyone is valued, heard, protected, and helped to thrive, even if we disagree with them on a number of fronts. Jesus modeled this expansive community best and thus was persecuted for it by self-styled religious movers and shakers of his day.

One last point. You can understand, can’t you, why talk about “core family values” by a fraternity of male preachers raises concern for many of us? We have seen from this last election cycle what happens to women, poor families, and same-gender loving people when right-wing conservatives draft laws and draw up policies in the name of God and family values. Is SHIFT an initiative of black men merely reflecting the same toxic politics and policies? In other words, who is permitted to sit at the table and to fully participate as self-possessed people? Are single people okay as single, or are they people who need to get married? What about single people who’ve adopted children and built families on the village model—a very African approach to family? Is there room for LGBTQ families already among your ranks, or is yours a movement bent on silencing, demonizing, or maligning them? Is there enough emotional, theological, and intellectual bandwidth within the organization to partner for social change with people with whom you don’t agree? I wonder what would happen if you thought Dream Defenders, New Black Man (in Exile), Moral Monday activists or Black Youth Project members, leaders of The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries, for example, were just as important collaborating partners FROM THE BEGINNING?

Bishop Walker noted that women’s full inclusion is a key priority. If so, one social justice organizer said, “If you say it’s for ‘us,’ don’t do it without us.” A noted activist once said that if you’re comfortable with everyone in the room, you’re not leading a revolution.

Finally, you may ask: “What do you want to happen?”

We want this group to commit that all future SHIFT meetings will include women religious leaders around the table, clergy and lay, pastors and academics—the presence of women whose voices you admit are critical and crucial to participating with male religious leaders in redeeming the times and redeeming the future of the black church.

We want members of the group to publicly acknowledge that, though you may not have intended the slight, this first gathering was sinful and flawed by these exclusions. If this exclusion was not the intended message, take a good faith opportunity to correct that error.

We raise these concerns and questions because it is faithful and just to do so.  As catalyst for this letter, Dr. Valerie Bridgeman, along with any number of the undersigned are willing to be in an open dialogue with Bishop-Elect Walker and any of those in that first meeting.

In the Struggle and in the Spirit,

Rev. Valerie Bridgeman, Ph.D. Biblical and Homiletics Scholar President & CEO of WomanPreach! Inc. Board of Trustees, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference Dr. Iva E. Carruthers General Secretary Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference Rev. Carolyn Ann Knight The Seminary Without Walls Smyrna, Georgia Bishop Yvette Flunder Presiding Prelate, The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries Pastor, City of Refuge San Francisco, CA Rev. Leslie D. Callahan, Ph.D. Pastor, St. Paul's Baptist Church Philadelphia, PA Jaha Zainabu, Poet Rev. Maisha I. K. Handy, Ph.D. Pastor, Rize Community Church Associate Provost Interdenominational  Theological Center Robert Hoggard Founder & President American Baptist College Affiliate of S.C.L.C Matthew Wesley Williams Lithonia, GA Rev. Donna M. Vanhook Burlington, NC Rev. Marsha Foster Boyd, PhD Englewood OH Rev. Cedrick Von Jackson The Rev. Wil Gafney, PhD Chair of the Biblical Area and Associate Professor, Hebrew, Jewish and Christian Scripture The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia Min. Jamie Eaddy Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan-Simpson Executive Pastor The Concord Baptist Church of Christ, Brooklyn, NY Rev. Andrea Clark Assistant Pastor Antioch Baptist Church Tulsa, OK Rev. Quincy James Rineheart, M.Div., S.T.M. Rev. Dawnn M. Brumfield, Associate Pastor Urban Village Church Chicago, IL Ashon Crawley Pastor Michelle E. Freeman, M.Div., Houston, TX Min. L. Proverbs Briggs, Atlanta, GA Rev. Dollie Howell Pankey, MACM, MTS Pastor, St. James Christian Methodist Episcopal Church Jasper, Alabama Rev. Catharine A. Cummings, M.Div. Pastor, Wesley UMC Church, Springfield, MA Rev. Earle J. Fisher, M.Div. Senior Pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church (Memphis) Adjunct Instructor of Contemporary Theology at Rhodes College Rev Dr Mitzi J. Smith, Ph.D Obery M. Hendricks, Jr., Ph.D. Professor, Biblical Interpretation New York Theological Seminary Visiting Scholar of Religion & African American Studies, Columbia University Min. Hazel M. Cherry, Oakland, CA, M.Div. Candidate Howard University School of Divinity Bishop Andre L. Jackson Founding Pastor, New Vision Full Gospel Baptist Church, East Orange, NJ MA in Practical Theology/ M.Ed Candidate Regent University, VA Rev Candace Lewis, United Methodist clergy Rev. JoAnne Marie Terrell, PhD Associate Professor of Ethics, Theology, and the Arts Chicago Theological Seminary Rev. Dianna N. Watkins- Dickerson Chaplain, USAF Larry T. Crudup M.Div. Candidate Perkins School of Theology Rev. Rosalyn R. Nichols, D.Min. Organizing Pastor, Freedom's Chapel Christian Church (DOC) Memphis, TN Min. Guy Sebastian Johnson, Leesburg, VA, M.Div. Candidate Lancaster Theological Seminary EL Kornegay Jr., Ph.D. CEO/Founder The Baldwin~Delaney Institute Chicago, IL Liz S. Alexander, Seminarian Chicago, IL Candice M. Benbow Durham, North Carolina Dr. Irie Lynne Session Senior Pastor The Avenue - Warren Avenue Christian Church | Dallas, Texas MDiv. Black Church Studies Concentration | Brite Divinity School DMin. Transformative Leadership & Prophetic Preaching | Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School Rev. Dionne P. Boissiere, M.Div. Consultant, WomanPreach! Inc. & Director, Women’s Center   New York Theological Seminary Rev. Stephanie A. Duzant, MSW Hollis, Queens NYC Min. Louis J. Mitchell South Congregational Church Springfield, MA Minister Rhonda White-Warner, M.Div., D.Min. Candidate, SF Theological Seminary Founder Alabaster Jar Ministries, Oakland, CA Toby D. Sanders, Pastor Beloved Community Rev. Reginald W. Williams, Jr. Pastor, First Baptist Church of University Park University Park, IL Bishop John Selders Pastor Amistad UCC & Bishop Presider Interdenominational  Conference of Liberation Congregations and Ministries Rev. Marilyn E. Thornton, Director/Campus Minister The Wesley Foundation at Fisk University, Nashville, TN Rev. Wm. Jermaine Richardson Dr. Safiyah Fosua Assistant Professor Congregational Worship Wesley Seminary @ IWU

Brittney C. Cooper, Ph.D. Departments of Women's & Gender Studies & Africana Studies Rutgers University Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright Board of Trustees, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference Myia Williams-Sanders Rev. Martin L. Espinosa Senior Pastor Ray of Hope Community Church, Nashville, TN Rev. Vivian Nixon, Chief Executive Officer College and Community Fellowship and Founder Education Inside Out Coalition J.T. Thomas, Cleveland, OH Rev. Dr. Gary V. Simpson Senior Pastor The Concord Baptist Church of Christ, Brooklyn NY Associate Professor of Homiletics, Drew Theological Seminary Keri Day, PhD Professor of Ethics & Director of Black Church Studies, Brite Divinity School Rev Toni DiPina, Pastor Rockdale Congregational Church Northbridge, MA Rashad D. Grove Rev. Carla A. Jones Jeralyn B. Major Charles Bowie, Ph.D Rev. Carla Patterson Associate Minister Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, Charlotte, NC Rev. Vanessa M. Brown Karlene Griffiths Sekou, MPH, MTS President Dignidad International Cambridge, MA Rev. Felicia Y. Thomas Rev. Carla Patterson Rev. Alisha Lola Jones, M.Div. CEO & Founder InSight Initiative, Inc. Rev. Margaret Aymer, Ph. D. Associate Professor Interdenominational  Theological Center Min. Brenda Summerville, M.Div. Chicago, IL Roger A. Sneed, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Religion Furman University Rev. Andre E. Johnson, PhD. Pastor, Gifts of Life Ministries, Memphis, TN Dr. James L Netters Associate Professor of Rhetoric & Religion and African American Studies, Memphis Theological Seminary Rev. Althea Bailey Rev. Yvette A. Assem, M.Div. Womanist Missionary Language of the Black Woman's Touch Min. Robin P. Sessoms, M.Div. Rev. Dorothy Harris, J.D., Pastor Unity Fellowship Church of Columbia (Maryland) Carla E. Banks Rev. Toni Dunbar, D.Min. Associate Pastor & Dean City of Refuge United Church of Christ, Oakland, CA Executive Director, YA Flunder Foundation Founder & Director, Refuge Leadership Development Institute Rev. Gwen Thomas, M. Ed. Author, LGBT activist, & Huffington Post blogger The Rev. Canon Terence Alexander Lee, Rector St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church, Hollis, NY Rev. W. Jeffrey Campbell, Executive Director Hudson Pride Connections Center, Jersey City, NJ Evan R. Bunch Pastor Genetta Y Hatcher Detroit, Michigan The Rev. Fr. Marcus G. Halley, Associate Priest St. Andrew's Episcopal Church - Kansas City, MO Rev. Dr. MarQuita Carmichael Burton Rev. Don Darius Butler, Pastor Tabernacle Community Baptist Church Milwaukee, WI Rev. Raphael G. Warnock, Ph.D. The Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, GA Dr. Tony McNeill, DWS, Director of Worship & The Arts Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church - Atlanta, GA Min. Davica Williams-Warren, M.Div., Miami, FL Rev. Frank A. Thomas, Ph.D. Director of the Academy of Preaching and Celebration The Nettie Sweeney and Hugh T. Miller Professor of Homelitics Christian Theological Seminary Rev. William I. Spencer Min. Kymberly McNair Social Justice Coordinator Antioch Baptist Church Bedford Hills, NY Dr. Teresa Fry Brown Director Black Church Studies Program And Professor of Homiletics Emory University, Atlanta, GA Rev. Dr. Yolanda Pierce, Director, Black Church Studies Princeton Theological Seminary Dr. Sharon Ellis Davis Director of the Center for African American Ministries & Black Church Studies and Adjunct Professor McCormick Theological Seminary Chicago, IL UCC Pastor Rev. Kimberly G. Walker, Pastor Village of Hope CME Church Stone Mountain, GA Joshua Crutchfield Nashville, TN Rev. Dr. Judy Cummings New Covenant Christian Church Nashville, TN Rev. Dominique C. Atchison, M.Div. Associate Minister Brown Memorial Baptist Church Sacred Conversations on Race Coordinator Connecticut Conference UCC Rev. Chaka S. Holley, MSW, M.Div. Dr. Lynne S. Darden Assistant Professor New Testament Interdenominational Theological Seminary Atlanta, GA Rev. Cassandry Redmond, M.Div. Christian Methodist Episcopal Church Richmond, CA

Renita J. Weems, Ph.D. Biblical Scholar Nashville, TN Pamela R. Lightsey, PhD Boston University School of Theology Rev. Asa J. Lee Arlington, VA Rev. Carolyn Hutchinson Temple Hills, MD Rev. Rashad D. Grove, Pastor First Baptist Church of Wayne Wayne, PA The Rev. Dr. Violet Lee Tamura A. Lomax, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies Virginia Commonwealth University Darnell L. Moore writer and activist Estee Nena Dillard Rev. Cherisna Jean-Marie Atlanta, GA Rev. Tawana Davis Executive Minister Shorter Community AME Church Assistant Coordinator, Rocky Mountain District Women in Ministry Rev. Dr. Alice Hunt, Chicago Theological Seminary Chicago, IL, UCC Jamall Andrew Calloway, S.T.M. Associate Minister Mt. Aery Baptist Church, Bridgeport, CT Rev. Benjamin Ledell Reynolds, PhD student Chicago Theological Seminary Fallon Wilson, M.A., ABD University of Chicago Rev. Karyn Carlo PhD Rev. Dr. Cheryl Townsend Gilkes Assistant Pastor of Special Projects Union Baptist Church Cambridge, Massachusetts John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor Colby College, Waterville, Maine Rev. Charisse R. Tucker, Minister of Administration St. Paul's Baptist Church, Philadelphia, PA Terry T. Hocker, Sr. Pastor/Founder Bound By Truth And Love Ministries, Cincinnati, OH Rev. Jamie D. Hawley, Chaplain University of Michigan Rev. Kendal Brown Dean of Students Lancaster Theological Seminary Rev. Melva L. Sampson M. Brandon McCormack, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Departments of Pan-African Studies and Humanities (Religious Studies) University of Louisville Charlotte Caldwell Rev. Brian Foulks Lexington, SC Lisa Ann Anderson Rev. Osagyefo Sekou Pastor for Formation and Justice The First Baptist Church in Jamaica Plain (Boston, MA) Rev. Dorian Mendez-Vaz, President & Founder Within Her Reach, Inc. Min. Ryan Hawthorne, M.Div. Princeton Theological Seminary Rev. Kimberly Henderson Philadelphia, PA Rev. Raedorah C. Stewart, MA Preacher, Poet, Mother of a Son Rev. T. Renée Crutcher, Founder/President Sankofa Ministries & Tellin' Our Story Publishing, Inc. Atlanta, GA Min. Kamilah Hall Sharp, J.D. M. Div. Candidate Memphis Theological Seminary Bishop Dwayne D. Royster, Senior Pastor, Living Water United Church of Christ General Secretary, Higher Ground Christian Fellowship International Dr. Donique McIntosh Associate Pastor Namaste' United Church of Christ Minister Kelli X, M.Div Madison, TN Rev. Sharon L. Bowers UMC Pastor ITC Alumna Rev. James A. Hardaway, M.Div., MACE Pastor, Mount Gilead AME Church, Columbus, GA Rev. Stephanie Buckhanon Crowder, Ph.D. Keith Crawford, Jr.