Speaking Truth to Power
October 10th -11th
Equipping Church Leaders and Community
Activists To Fight For Social Justice
2019 Movement - Building For Social Justice
October 10th -11th
Equipping Church Leaders and Community
Activists To Fight For Social Justice
2019 Movement - Building For Social Justice
Register Now
Speaking Truth to Power: Movement-Building for Social JusticeSixty years ago, The Quakers originated the phrase in a political document entitled “Speak Truth to Power: A Quaker Search for an Alternative to Violence.” Today, with the names of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile and tragically too many others to name etched into consciousness that systemic injustices are relevant and important.
We convene in their memories, with a vital two-day forum we call Speaking Truth to Power: Movement-Building for Social Justice. Marginalized communities are plagued by violence and poverty and desperately seek an alternative to violence and social injustice as the norm. Their memories are driving us to advance justice by mobilizing, educating and empowering our every segment of our communities. We gather in this moment in time to build a movement ever so mindful of Dr. King’s words that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” As we strive for Justice, we are committed to empower and advocate for those who are, in the words of Fannie Lou Hamer, “sick and tired of being sick and tired.” PurposeSpeaking Truth to Power is a forum designed to create an open dialogue about social issues that plague the world we live in and seeks to advance Social Justice by educating and preparing congregations and community organizations to work for social justice. We convene members from the community involved in producing solutions and best practices that can be carried back to and implemented in their communities.
Speaking Truth to Power will create a conversation about critical social issues that plague our communities and the world at large. STTP will advance the cause of social justice by equipping and empowering congregations and community organizations to fight gentrification, develop our communities, revive the church and provide a moral framework for reparations. Conference Strands
Plenary Session
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Host
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Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, III
Senior Pastor, Friendship-West Baptist Church, Author, Activist Dr. Haynes is an Author, Community Activist and foremost a Pastor. For 35 years, Dr. Haynes has served as a visionary and innovative Senior Pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. Under his servant leadership, the ministry and membership has grown from less than 100 members in 1983 to over 12,000. Dr. Haynes serves in numerous leadership capacities for organizations championing social change. He is the Co-Chair of the Board of the Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference and serves on the Board of Directors of the National Action Network and Conference of National Black Churches. Dr. Haynes is a Trustee of Paul Quinn College where he has also serves as Adjunct Professor. Dr. Haynes is a committed community activist who has formed alliances with local community leaders and Dallas city officials to fight domestic violence and poverty by organizing a Faith Summit on Poverty. He has worked with the Center for Responsible Lending in order to fight predatory lending in Texas and across the nation. Dr. Haynes is frequently invited to the White House in order to address issues ranging from the economy to voting and civil rights. He was publicly applauded by President Barack Obama for the THR!VE Intern and Leadership Program that began in the summer of 2014, employing nearly 100 young black males between the ages of 16-19. Possessing a commitment to education he has a Bachelor’s Degree from Bishop College, a Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry from the Graduate Theological Foundation where he studied at Christ Church, University of Oxford. His dissertation reflects his commitment to faith based social activism, "To Turn The World Upside Down: Church Growth In A Church Committed to Social Justice." Dr. Haynes is married to Debra Peek-Haynes, founder and president of Quorum Commercial, a Dallas commercial real estate firm. They are the parents of one beautiful daughter, Abeni Jewel Haynes. |
Conference Speakers
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Rev. Damien Durr
Executive Pastor, Friendship-West Baptist Church Rev. Durr is a minister, educator, and teacher that inspires, galvanizes, and promotes hope across the county from churches to barber shops to public schools. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, he attended American Baptist College (B.A.), and Vanderbilt University (M.DIV). As a Presidential Scholar at ABC, and Kelly Miller Smith Fellow at Vanderbilt, he helped facilitate various initiatives and discussions involving childhood education, juvenile justice, the prison industrial complex, Black Church Studies, and cultural criticism. As a preacher, presenter, and lecturer, he has shared in different academic and ecclesial settings, as well as in the Juvenile Justice Center and Riverbend Maximum Security Prison with wide-ranging messages including: The church at a crossword between despair, desire, and deliverance:intergenerational ministry in the 21st century Black church; The Life and times of JC:(Jesus Christ) Chronicles of a God chaser, Finding God in an unexpected place, and Confessions of a slumdog Messiah; The messages, images, and influences of hip hop on the Black experience in America; and, Am I a problem: racial profiling, vigilante-ism and social transformation. He serves as the Executive Pastor of Community Development at Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. |
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Minister Danielle Ayers
Minister of Justice, Friendship-West Baptist Church Minister Ayers is the co-author of To Serve This Present Age: Social Justice Ministers in the Black Church. Minister Ayers also serves as the Co-convener of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, a delegate of the Transatlantic Roundtable on Religion and Race and on President Jimmy Carter’s New Baptist Covenant Advisory team. Minister Ayers provides leadership to the Village Co-op which consists of a community garden, a Fair Trade Justice program and a supply chain support for farmers. She holds a B.B.A. in Marketing from The University of Memphis and is currently pursuing a Master of Divinity at Brite Divinity School. |
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Rev. Dr. Keri Day
Associate Professor of Constructive Theology and African American Religion Dr. Day received her PhD in religion from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. She earned an MA in religion and ethics from Yale University Divinity School in New Haven, Connecticut, and a Bachelor of Science degree from Tennessee State University in Nashville. Her teaching and research interests are in womanist/feminist theologies, social critical theory, cultural studies, economics, and Afro-Pentecostalism. Her published work includes the book Unfinished Business: Black Women, the Black Church and the Struggle to Thrive in America (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2012). |
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Pastor Jeffrey A. Johnson, Sr.
Senior Pastor of Eastern Star Church Senior Pastor of Eastern Star Church in Indianapolis, Indiana since 1988. Under his leadership, the “One Church in Three Locations” has grown to over 17,000 members and has planted three churches in Indianapolis. Under Dr. Johnson’s leadership, the Financial Freedom Institute (FFI) at Eastern Star Church established to ‘provide a practical Biblical approach to managing the financial resources God has entrusted to us.’ Through his Kingdom Word Ministries, he has written three books, Song of Solomon, Love, Sex and Relationships; Making a Comeback: Reclaiming Our Lives in Christ; Life Illustrated: Daily Thoughts for Your Daily Walk; and Dialogue with My Daughters. His latest book, Dialogue with My Sons was released in 2013. |
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Rev. Dr. Kevin W. Cosby
Senior Pastor of St. Stephen Church Rev. Dr. Kevin W. Cosby is the Senior Pastor, St. Stephen Church; President, Simmons College of Kentucky; Author, Lecturer and Senior Pastor of St. Stephen Church in Louisville, Kentucky. Due greatly to his practical and dynamic Bible teachings, the congregation has grown from 500 to approximately 14,000 members, and has been recognized by Outreach magazine as one of the 100 largest churches in America (2010) and Emerge magazine as one of six “super churches” of the South. During his tenure at St. Stephen, the church has transformed from the “little church on the corner” to a multi-faceted institution that includes a 1,700-seat worship center, a cutting-edge $4 million inner-city family life center and a 1,000-seat worship facility in Jeffersonville, Indiana. In October 2013, Dr. Cosby began a satellite church in Hardin County, Kentucky. During the first Sunday’s service, seventy people united with the church. The thread of God’s hand is interwoven into the tapestry of Dr. Cosby’s life and ministry. The providence of God is seen most clearly in Dr. Cosby’s ministry in the resurgence of Simmons College of Kentucky (SCKY). In 1997, the Lord led Dr. Cosby to encourage the church to purchase the original four-acre campus of Simmons University (now Simmons College of KY) and convert the property into a lifestyle enrichment campus. |
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Mercedes Fulbright
Texas State Director, Local Progress Mercedes Fulbright is the Special Assistant to the President at Paul Quinn College, where she has assisted in launching the African American Leadership Institute in 2016, a Dallas-based think tank for the study and advancement of public policy, economic & leadership development, civic engagement and education. Before relocating to Dallas, she previously worked for Young People For (YP4), in Washington, DC, developing curriculum for youth leadership training and oversaw their national civic engagement and voter mobilization campaigns. Most recently she co-created R.E.A.L. City, a racial equity fellowship program designed to prepare young leaders from locally-based impact organizations with the tools to address racial disparities in the city of Dallas. She is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Mercedes received her Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Texas at Arlington and a Bachelors of Arts & Political Science from the University of North Texas. |
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Rev. David Malcolm McGruder
Youth Pastor, Friendship-West Baptist Church David Malcolm McGruder is a minister, educator, and organizer hailing from Kansas City, Kansas. His ministry, professional, and community service experience includes work with the Brisbane Institute of Political Science & Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College, the Project for Peace & Progress Inc., the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, the Black Church Center for Justice & Equality, Mt. Ennon Baptist Church in Clinton, Maryland, the Office of U.S. Senator Jerry Moran, and the Office of U.S. Senator Pat Roberts. Most recently, David served as Associate Director for Youth Development and Outreach at the Princeton Family YMCA in Princeton, NJ, where he focused on creating and sustaining educational enrichment programming designed to engage minority students and their families, and close the achievement gap in Mercer County. David is a graduate of Morehouse College (B.A., Political Science and Philosophy) in Atlanta, GA where he was awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship & Prize, and Princeton Theological Seminary (M.Div, Theology, Politics, & Ethics) where he was awarded the Aaron E. Gast Prize in Urban Ministry. He is currently pursuing a post-graduate qualification in History, Religion, and International Relations from Wolfson College at the University of Cambridge in the U.K. His publications include "The Finished Work" in A Beautiful Thing: Sermons from Young Preachers (Chalice Press, 2010), “Locked Up: Theological Reflections on Prisons, Repression, and Resistance,” inThe African American Lectionary(October, 2011), et al. His broader research interests include postmodern theology, political philosophy, and Africana studies. Today, David has the honor and privilege of serving as Pastor of Youth and Collegiate Ministries at Friendship West Baptist Church in Dallas, TX, a ministry with global impact, led by Rev. Dr. Frederick Douglass Haynes III. David is the son of Marvin and Anne McGruder and the elder brother of Marlayna & Phillip. |
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Dr. Melanie Harris
Associate Professor of Religion, Texas Christian University Dr. Melanie is Associate Professor of Religion at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX where she teaches and conducts research in the areas of Religious Social Ethics, Environmental Justice, Womanist Ethics, and African American Religious Thought. Dr. Harris is the author of numerous articles and several books including Gifts of Virtue: Alice Walker and Womanist Ethics and co-editor of the volume Faith, Feminism, and Scholarship: The Next Generation. Her books engaging ecowomanism and the intersections between environmental justice and African American Women’s Religious Life and Spirituality are scheduled to be published by Orbis Books in 2016. Dr. Harris offers academic leadership in administration at TCU and has experience serving on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Religion, The Society of Christian Ethics and KERA-TV/Radio. She also leads retreats with her mother, Rev. Dr. Naomi O. Harris and co-facilitates teaching workshops with The Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion. |
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Jennifer Jones Austin, Esq.
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA) Jennifer Jones Austin has more than 20 years of leadership, management and advocacy experience working for the advancement of underserved children, individuals and families. Prior to joining FPWA, Ms. Jones Austin served as Senior Vice President of United Way of New York City, the City of New York’s first Family Services Coordinator appointed by Mayor Bloomberg, Deputy Commissioner for the City’s Administration for Children’s Services, Civil Rights Deputy Bureau Chief for New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, and Vice President for LearnNow/Edison Schools Inc. Throughout her career, Jennifer Jones Austin has chaired and served on several influential boards, commissions and task forces. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed her as Co-Chair of his mayoral transition in 2013, a leader of his UPK Workgroup that designed the full day Universal Pre-Kindergarten Initiative, and a leader of his Jobs for New Yorkers Task Force. She was the Co-Chair of the NYC Department of Education Capacity Framework Advisory, and a member of the PlaNYC Advisory Board. She served as Chair of the City of New York Procurement Policy Board and Co-Chair of the New York State Supermarket Commission. Presently, Ms. Jones Austin serves as Board Member and Spokesperson for The National Marrow Donor Program, and Board Member of the NYC Board of Correction, the New York Blood Center, and the Fund for Public Housing. She also serves on the Human Services Council. Previous Board service includes the New York Women’s Bar Association Foundation, Children for Children, Citizens’ Committee for Children, the Icla da Silva Foundation, and the Bethany Baptist Church Child Development Center. Ms. Jones Austin earned her law degree from Fordham University School of Law, a Master’s degree in Management and Policy from New York University Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and a Bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University. |
Hotel Options
Hilton Garden Inn
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The Adolphus Hotel
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The Joule Hotel
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