Alliance of Baptists’ Annual Gathering April 8-10, 2016

St. Louis, Missouri Kirkwood Baptist Church

Contents

Welcome 3 Schedule 4 Proclaimers 5 Panelists 6 Workshop Presenters 8 Communities 14 Information 15 Exhibits and Bookstore 16

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Dear Alliance Friends,

Welcome

Welcome to the 2016 Annual Gathering! We are honored by your presence this weekend. We have been dreaming, visioning and planning this event, and have been waiting to share this journey with you.

You have traveled to St. Louis with stories of your journeys with God-Sofia in the midst of the complexities of our shared human experience. Please share and receive one another’s stories during this Gathering! In so doing, we might discover how the Spirit is leading us together into the troubled waters of this historical moment.

Our Gathering focuses on the contributions of women in the church, community and theology who, together with feminist male allies, bear courage that is rooted in the Divine hope. Together we have worked and continue to work for justice – to bring life and light.

Friday morning we will hear stories of the deadly effects of the intertwining of sexism, racism, classism and poverty with religion that may challenge your assumptions of the Other, yourself, faith and ministry. In these stories, we will also hear how Divine Wisdom reveals the power of love that is greater than death! We invite you to bear the courage to listen with an open heart. Saturday we invite you to a style of study of our sacred Scripture that beckons us to root ourselves in hope as we imagine with Sofia-God what our collective and individual courageous actions might be.

Join us in a “marathon of Hope” on our Sunday morning celebration! Our prayer is that we may leave the Gathering bearing greater courage, more firmly rooted in hope and ready for the marathon with Sofia-God at our side guiding each humble, dangerous step towards compassion and justice. …Because in this marathon of Hope, there are always others to relieve us in bearing the courage necessary to arrive at the goal which lies beyond death… Accompany us then on this vigil And you will know what it is to dream! You will then know how marvelous it is To live threatened with resurrection! To dream awake, To keep watch asleep To live while dying And to already know oneself resurrected! (Julia Esquivel, Threatened with Resurrection)

Thank you for entrusting us with your Gathering.

Sincerely, The Program Planning Team: Meredith Holladay, Jillian Farmer, Malu Fairley, Beth Jackson-Jordan, Isabel Docampo

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Schedule Friday, April 8 8:30am Registration 9:00am Welcome and Opening Meditation, Great Hall 9:15am Plenary Session with Panelists – Bearing Courage:Rooted n Hope 10:45am Break 11:15am Q & A with panelists 11:30am Small group discussion 12:00pm Lunch 1:00pm Workshops 2:15pm Break 2:30pm Annual Meeting 4:00pm Break 4:15pm Communities Meet 5:30pm Worship – Traci Blackmon, preaching

Saturday, April 9 8:30am Registration 9:00am Welcome 9:15am Plenary Session with Panelists 10:45am Break 11:00am Bible Study 12:00pm Lunch – Communities Meet 1:00pm Workshops 2:15pm Break 2:30pm Annual Meeting 4:00pm Break 4:30pm Worship – Phyllis Trible, preaching

Sunday, April 10 9:15am Bible Study 10:30am Worship – Kyndall Rothaus, preaching

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Proclaimers

Traci BlackmonTraci Blackmon is a prominent community leader, a gifted preacher and a much-loved pastor and teacher She was recently appointed as the acting executive of UCC Justice and Witness Ministries.

She became nationally recognized as a prominent voice for social change when Michael Brown was shot in Ferguson, just miles from her church.She immediately got involved in organizing the Black Lives Matter movement, effectively assisting and collaborating with the people in the community working for justice. Blackmon says it’s very important to figure out the desire, direction and priorities around social issues, and listen to all the voices involved so to not leave

She became nationally recognized as a prominent voice for social change when Michael Brown was shot in Ferguson, just miles from her church.She immediately got involved in organizing the Black Lives Matter movement, effectively assisting and collaborating with the people in the community working for justice. Blackmon says it’s very important to figure out the desire, direction and priorities around social issues, and listen to all the voices involved so to not leave anybody behind. anybody behind.

Phyllis TriblePhyllis Trible has become a leading authority on what is now known as feminist interpretation of biblical texts, as well as literary and rhetorical methods of biblical criticism. Her papers constitute the inaugural collection of the

Archives of Women in Theological Scholarship. Phyllis Trible is the author of what are considered to be two of the groundbreaking works in feminist biblical scholarship: God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality and Texts of Terror.

Archives of Women in Theological Scholarship. Phyllis Trible is the author of what are considered to be two of the groundbreaking works in feminist biblical scholarship: God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality and Texts of Terror.

Kyndall Rae Rothaus

Her book, Preacher Breath, was published by Smyth & Helwys in 2015.

Kyndall Rae Rothaus is pastor at congregational partner, Lake Shore Baptist Church, Waco, Texas. Kyndall describes herself as a pastor-poet, listener-liturgist, lover of nature, and emerging mystic.

Panelists

Odja Barros serves as one of the pastors at Igreja Batista do Pinheiro, Maceio, Brazil. She is enrolled in a doctoral program in the Escola Superior de Teologia at the Lutheran University in Rio Grande do Sul and is continuing her studies in feminist approaches to reaching the Bible.

Kyndra Frazier currently resides in Atlanta, GA, and works as a Lead Therapist at The Imara Center, a behavioral health agency. She works with Kindergarten through fifth graders who have chronic violence issues, mental health disorders, and challenges acquiring life skills. She holds a Master of Divinity from Emory University, Candler School of Theology, as well as a Master of Social work from Columbia University in New York City. Kyndra’s life work lies at the intersection of spirituality and therapy. All of her passions

culminate into one purpose, to support people in living whole, healing, and thriving lives. Kyndra is also a writer and blogger! Her blog posts are at www.kyndandfree.com. Kyndra’s current research interests are Religious Trauma Syndrome and the effects of Christian Fundamentalism on the mental health of the African-American LGBTQ community.

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Allyson Dylan Robinson is believed to be the first openly transgender person ever to be ordained by a Baptist church—a distinction that led MSNBC to speculate she might be “the most radical preacher in America.” She recently served as transitional pastor of Washington, D.C.’s, Calvary Baptist Church, a congregation that has served the nation’s capital for over 150 years. Allyson is senior consultant at Cook Ross, Inc., a D.C., based consulting firm advising clients in management and leadership, organizational development, and diversity and inclusion. Previously, she led diversity initiatives at the Human Rights Campaign and was the first transgender person to lead a national LGBT organization as executive director of OutServe-SLDN. She’s also

served as an Army officer, pastored Baptist congregations on two continents, studied at West Point, Baylor University, and the University of Oxford, and earned degrees in physics and theology. She, her wife of 21 years, and their four children live in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C.

Panelists

Ken Sehested, a deep-water baptist, is the author and editor of prayer&politiks, an online journal at the intersection of spiritual formation and prophetic action. He was the founding director in 1984 of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America and in 2001 the founding co-pastor of Circle of Mercy Congregation in Asheville, N.C. The undeservedly fortunate spouse of Nancy, father of two and grandfather of four, his most recent book is In the Land of the Willing: Litanies, Prayers, Poems and Benedictions.

Nancy Hastings Sehested is co-pastor of the Circle of Mercy Congregation, an ecumenical church in Asheville, N.C. The church is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the Alliance of Baptists. She also serves as a prison chaplain at Swannanoa Correctional Center for Women. Nancy is a pastor, preacher, teacher, and storyteller. She graduated with a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York City in 1978. She received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Union Theological Seminary in 1992. She is an ordained Baptist minister.

She has pastored churches in Atlanta, Memphis and Asheville during the past 30 years. She is married to Ken Sehested, an ordained minister who is a writer, teacher and preacher. They have two daughters, two sons-in-law, four grandchildren, and two grand-dogs.

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Workshop Presenters

Friday and Saturday Workshops

1. Handing on Wisdom: Teaching and Learning in Story Circles with Eileen Campbell-Reed, Room 320. Both workshops will present basic guidance for teaching and learning in story circles, launching the conversation with stories about gender and race shaping church leadership. Friday’s Workshop will use Lectio Divina (read, reflect, respond, rest) and Saturday’s Workshop will use the Ignatian practice of Examen (testing for consolation or desolation) to invite participants into exploring their personal stories and seeking wisdom for church leadership.

Eileen Campbell-Reed is associate professor of practical theology at Central Seminary's Tennessee campus, where she works with the Women's Leadership Initiative. She also co-directs the Learning Pastoral Imagination Project, a national, ecumenical and longitudinal study of ministry.

2. #BlackLivesMatter and/as the Church with Ben Sanders III, Room 323. This workshop will analyze the #BlackLivesMatter movement in social and historical perspective paying particular attention to the ethical and theological challenges the movement poses to the Christian Church in the United States.

Ben Sanders III is committed to transformative, justice-centered theological education and this commitment is at the center of his

academic research, pedagogy, and ministry. He is A.B.D. in the joint Ph.D. program at University of Denver and Iliff School of Theology in Christian Theology and Sociology. The working title of his dissertation is “Traditioning Blackness: Theo-ethical Analysis of Black Identity in Black Theological Discourse.” He is Assistant Professor of Theology & Ethics as Eden Theological Seminary.

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3. Redefining Masculinity with Zach Walker, Room 130. Masculinity is not what is used to be and thank goodness for that. We’ ll talk about what manhood means in contemporary culture and where those changes present challenges. But those changes are also providing opportunities to be a better person, a better partner, and to live into a more expansive, and arguably more Christ centered, view of what it means to be a man.

Zach Walker attended college at Lawrence University in Wisconsin, where he graduated with degrees in psychology and gender studies. He graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary in 2007. He has served in youth ministry for nearly 10 years and currently serves at Village Presbyterian Church, Prairie Village, Kan. Zach enjoys pretty much anything outdoors, reads as much as possible, and married his incredibly awesome and intelligent wife, Meredith, last March.

4. Calling in the Key of She: Bearing Courage in the Local Church with Andrea Clark, Sheila Sholes-Ross and Jann Aldredge-Clanton, Room 132. Explore an innovative project for local churches that was developed to empower local church leaders to address the gap of female leadership in Protestant churches by educating and empowering congregations to become more “female-friendly.” Designed to impact adolescent girls and boys at an early age through education, exposure, and exploration, “Calling in the Key of She” centers on re-examining patriarchal understandings and views of biblical passages, exploring diverse images of God including female and gender-

neutral images, addressing and reducing sexist practices in congregations, and promoting gender equity in every aspect of the church that may prevent females from fully participating in God’s kin-dom.

Andrea Clark Chambers currently serves as the Assistant Pastor of Antioch Baptist Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to her pastoral responsibilities at Antioch, she served as the first female President of the 70-year-old North Tulsa Baptist Minister’s Conference, is a founding member of the Women’s Clergy Fellowship, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Leadership Tulsa Empowerment Program, and serves on various boards including Equity for Women in the Church, WomanPreach! Inc., and the Oklahoma Center for Community Justice.

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Sheila Sholes-Ross was ordained through American Baptists Churches, and called as the 30th pastor of First Baptist Church of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 2013; historic as the church’s first African-American female pastor. She is a former board member of the Alliance of Baptists, and an advocate for women’s issues across cultures and ethnicities; and co-chairs Equity for Women in the Church—a non-profit (formed out of an Alliance of Baptists Community) that became reality after a 2013 conference held at Wake Forest School of Divinity.

Jann Aldredge-Clanton is a feminist theologian, chaplain, and teacher who leads workshops and conferences nationally and internationally, and serves as co-chair of the Equity for Women in the Church Community, adjunct professor at Richland Community College, council member of Christian Feminism Today, and on the Dallas Workers’ Rights Board. She is the author of numerous books, including She Lives! Sophia Wisdom Works in the World andEarth Transformed with Music! Inclusive Songs for Worship, andblogs on her website: jannaldredgeclanton.com.

5. Congregational Song in Today’s Church: Resources for Progressive Congregations with Deborah Carlton Loftis, Jock Lewis and Paul A. Richardson , Room: Music Suite. New hymns and songs that inspire and challenge the congregation in worship and faith formation; locating the resources you need to engage your congregation in lectionary-based worship, especially in the areas of social justice, peace-making, and interfaith understanding.

Deborah Carlton Loftis is Executive Director of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canda, a post she has held since 2009. She is a member of Grace Baptist Church, Richmond, VA.

Jock Lewis is a Christian who has been blessed by God in the Music Ministry as a Saxophonist, Keyboardist/Organist, Bass Guitarist, Drummer and Vocalist. Jock majored in Music at the University of Texas at Arlington; he now serves as Music Director at Harvest United Methodist Church, VanZandt Guinn After School Choir, Fort Worth East Side Montessori School Choir, and several local theatre companies.

Paul A. Richardson is a member of Baptist Church of the Covenant in Birmingham, Ala., and a former member of the Alliance board of directors. He is Professor emeritus of Music at Samford University and a Fellow of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada

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6. Prophetic Preaching with J. Lee Hill Jr. and Deb Conrad, Room 328A. Setting hearts ablaze with creative, imaginative prophetic preaching paradigms for activism, transformation and social change (Luke 24:32).

J. Lee Hill, Jr. is pastor at Christian Fellowship Congregational Church-UCC, San Diego, Calif., and a former board member of the Alliance of Baptists. He is currently pursuing his Doctor of Ministry degree at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology in biblical interpretation and proclamation.

Deb Conrad is pastor at congregational partner Woodside Church, Flint, Mich. She has degrees in journalism and divinity, a doctorate in education, with additional study in ministry supervision, organizational leadership, family and congregational systems, conflict mediation, photography and graphic design. She loves preaching, antiquing and cycling, and is still a pretty good bowler.

7. Doing Justice with Carol Blythe, Isabel Docampo, Sarah Macias, Susan Sevier, Room 34. How to do advocacy on issues on which the Alliance has taken a stand. Learn more about two of the four issues and how you can make a difference by joining your voice with other progressive ecumenical and interfaith partners. Friday session: Immigration & Syrian Refugees/Islamaphobia and Preventing Gun Violence; Saturday session: Mass Incarceration and Climate Change & the Environment.

8. Saying Yes: Conversations on Alliance Identity with Robin Bolen Anderson, John Ballenger, Leah Grundset Davis, Keith Menhinick, Daniel Pryfogle, Sally Sarratt and Mimi Walker, Room 158. As we approach our 30th anniversary in 2017, we are committed to examining Alliance identity so we are able to communicate it well in our fourth decade and beyond. We want to know your dreams and hopes for our beloved Alliance.

Robin Bolen Anderson, John Ballenger, Leah Grundset Davis, Keith Menhinick, Daniel Pryfogle, Sally Sarratt and Mimi Walker make up the Alliance Identity Discernment Group commissioned by the Board of Directors to ask questions surrounding Alliance identity.

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Friday Only Workshops

1. Curious Theology: Creating Worship Beyond Borders with Micah Bucey , Friday only, Room 43. The church and the arts have always maintained an interesting relationship and Judson Memorial Church has, for decades, dissolved the boundary between worship service and arts event, believing something in-between might push us beautifully out of our comfort zones. Come to share your own experiences and learn how we might co-create vibrant and invigorating gatherings that delight in failure, question-asking, and foolishness.

Micah Bucey currently serves as Associate Minister at New York City's Judson Memorial Church, where he facilitates Judson Arts, including their Judson Arts Wednesdays program (JAW), a free food-and-art series that has nurtured and developed the work of hundreds of artists and fed the stomachs and souls of thousands of audience members since 2009.

2. A Queer Call: Reveling in the Gift of LGBTQ Minister with Cody Sanders (facilitator), Keith Menhinick, Sally Sarratt, Maria Swearingen and Cathy Tamsberg (panelists), Friday only, Room 55. Beyond welcoming and affirming LGBTQ people, many churches are gifted by the ministry of LGBTQ people in their midst - both lay and ordained. This workshop will draw on the wisdom of panelists to develop practices of supporting LGBTQ people in(to) ministry and will cultivate an imagination for

the ways that churches are gifted in a special way by the queer theological perspectives of LGBTQ ministers in their midst.

Cody Sanders is pastor of Old Cambridge Baptist Church in Harvard Square, Mass. He is author of Queer Lessons for Churches on the Straight and Narrow and coauthor of Microaggressions in Ministry: Confronting the Hidden Violence of Everyday Church.

Saturday Only Workshops

1. Grounded – does Diana Butler Bass go too far (or far enough) in her new book with Ken Meyers, Saturday only, Room 43. Diana Butler Bass asks, “Where is God?”. She moves the conversation away from why folks are leaving the church and focuses on their spirituality. See if you agree. (having read the book is not require. Ken Meyers is faith formation specialist for the Alliance of Baptists.

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2. Anti-racism and the price of hope with Tammerie Day, Saturday only, Room 55. Committed to anti-racism and wondering what’s next? Let’s move beyond awareness to responsibility: how power, money and love must be rooted in the work for justice.

Tammerie Day is the author of Constructing Solidarity, an ethic for white Christians working in coalitions against racism. She is an Alliance-endorsed chaplain educator, and lives with her spouse Mary in Hillsborough, NC.

3. Contextual Bible Study- South African Model with Meredith Holladay, Saturday only, Room 328B. Explore the Saturday morning session material in detail.

Meredith Holladay is an ordained Baptist minister and holds a Ph.D. in religion & society from Baylor University. She spends too much time watching HGTV with her husband Zach and half-blind cockapoo, Bernie.

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Communities

Alliance communities will be meeting during the Annual Gathering on Saturday at 4:15pm and over lunch on Sunday.

• Peace and Justice (Friday only), Room 328A (upper level), contact: Carol Blythe

• Peace and Justice in Palestine and Israel (both days), Room 323 (upper level), contact: Leslie Withers

• Brazil (both days), Room 320 (upper level), contact: David Gooch

• Cuba (both days), Room 128 (main level), contact Susan Aldrich, Wayne Grinstead

• Eco-justice (Friday night dinner out and Saturday) Room 34 (lower level), contact: Sarah Macias, Genny Rowley, Friday night 7pm at The Crushed Red Restaurant.

• Equity for Women in the Church, Room 132 (main level), contacts Jann Aldredge-Clanton or Sheila Sholes-Ross

• Community for Justice for the Homeless, Room 43 (lower level), contact: Mary Bradley

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InformationMap A map of Kirkwood Baptist Church is available at the registration table.

Shuttles from the hotels and Eden Seminary will run throughout the morning and evening. Please look for the times at the registration table and on social media.

Nursery Care – Rooms 21 and 19 (lower level). This will also be the space for any nursing mothers as the rooms connect through a bathroom in between.

Children and Youth Programming Youth and elementary-age children will meet together to explore images of God that are inclusive of the diversity and variety of God's creation. We will learn through activities such as art, music, and maybe even cooking. We will also play together - inside and outside (plans are even in the works for a field trip). We will gather Friday and Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. Parents should pick children and youth up for meals and worship services.

The activities for children and youth will be supervised by Libby Stephens. Libby is Minister with Children and Their Families at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, Raleigh, N.C. She is excited to work with the children and youth this year and help them learn about and connect with the global Church through the work of the Alliance.

Friday and Saturday Box Lunches will be available to all registered. Pick up your lunch in the great hall.

Social Media #AOBgathering This year, the Alliance will be making good use of social media applications like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to share about the gathering with friends old and new. So, we’d like to encourage you to use your cellphones and mobile devices to tweet and share during the gathering—except during worship.

Follow us on twitter: @alliancebaptist Follow us on facebook: facebook.com/alliancebaptists Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/allianceofbaptists #AOBgathering

WIFI availability WIFI throughout the building may be accessed using: Network: KBC Free Wifi Follow the directions on the screen to connect.

Recordings of Services Order forms for CDs of the three worship services and Sunday morning Bible study will be available at the registration desk. They will also be available on the Kirkwood website.

15Thank You to Kirkwood Baptist Church for your hospitality as host for the gathering. We especially thank Jillian Farmer who served on the annual gathering planning committee and handled all logistics. We are grateful to Kathy Manis Findley for her creative, artistic gifts as she put together our registration booklet.

Exhibits and Bookstore

Exhibitors Rooms 304 and 330

Baptist Joint Committee Baptist Peace Fellowship Creation Justice Ministries Equity for Women in the Church SMU/Perkins School of Theology Memphis Theological Seminary Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond Hymn Society Central Baptist Theological Seminary Lexington Theological Seminary Educational Center Upper Room Rauschenbush/Metro Baptist Church Woodside Church, Flint, Michigan JourneyPartners The Baptist Home Presbyterian Association of Musicians

Book Store Room 134 Eden

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Alliance of Baptists 3939 LaVista Road, Suite E-122 Atlanta, GA 30084 866.745.7609

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