Two top-notch preachers will be with us on June 23 and August 4:
Rev. Naomi Washington-Leapheart will preach Sunday, June 23. She will lead a conversation with Taylor Branch—Brown Memorial member and civil rights historian— on race, community organizing and team building in the Assembly Room, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., after the 10 a.m. service.
Naomi, a daughter of Detroit, is the Faith Work Director for the National LGBTQ Task Force, the country’s oldest national LGBTQ justice and equality group. In that role, she coordinates the Task Force’s public faith messaging and advocacy and leadership development work in faith communities. Naomi is also an adjunct professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Villanova University.
Before joining the Task Force, Naomi was a faith organizer for POWER, a multi-faith, multi-racial network of congregations in metro Philadelphia. She also served as Co-Pastor and Minister of Music at the Wisdom’s Table at St. Peter’s United Church of Christ. An ordained minister, she earned the Master of Divinity degree from Lancaster Theological Seminary in 2016 and is proudly affiliated with the Fellowship of Affirming Ministries.
Naomi delights in singing with the Philadelphia Threshold Singers, a choir whose mission is to bring audible comfort and kindness at the bedsides of people living in hospice care. She also serves on the Mayor’s Commission on LGBT Affairs and the Mayor’s Commission on Interfaith Civic Affairs in Philadelphia.
Naomi shares her life with her wife, Kentina, a chaplain and religious educator. Together, they are raising a curious, energetic, future Oscar-winning middle-schooler.
Dr. Ken Evers-Hood will preach on Sunday, August 4. He will lead a book talk immediately following worship in the Assembly Room from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on his newest release, The Irrational Jesus: Leading the Fully Human Church.
Tualatin Presbyterian Church (suburb of Portland, Oregon) called Ken in September 2004. He earned his Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and his Doctorate from Duke University where he studied the intersection of behavioral economics, game theory and theology.
Ken serves the larger denomination in various roles, and when he’s not doing all of this, enjoys hanging out with his three children, reading, backpacking, running and eating great food all around Portland.