Dietra Wise Baker, Aaron Rogers, and Traci Blackmon will be serving as our keynote leaders and conference preachers during the our 2025 ecumenical gathering June 24-27, 2025. (Their biographies are below.) We are excited that they will be leadings us and that we will also get to engage in workshops, listen to stories from panel speakers, worship together, and enjoy each other’s company while being inspired to bring both “Justice and Joy” back to our contexts.
Registration deadline is April 30th, so there is still time to register! For more information, contact Rev. Gini Norris-Lane at [email protected].
Rev. Dr. Dietra Wise Baker is a social entrepreneur and quadruple threat. She is an organizer, preacher, trainer, and professor. Currently she is an Assistant Professor of Contextual Education and Community Engagement at Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis. In August 2014, she became the clergy caucus co-leader of the Gamaliel Networks’ Metropolitan Congregations United, an organization that resourced clergy and congregations in the early stages of the Ferguson movement. Dietra co-created the “Break the Pipeline” campaign to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline in Missouri. Under her leadership the campaign has launched a chapter of EXPO-MO (EX Incarcerated People Organizing) and the STL Participatory Defense Hub, joining the movement to impact outcomes of cases in the court system; and build the long-term grass-roots power with formerly incarcerated youth, adults and their families.
Aaron Rogers is a passionate priest, pastor, and teacher based in St. Louis, MO. Aaron received his B.S. from Bradley University, his Master of Divinity degree from Eden Theological Seminary, a certificate in Youth and Theology from Princeton Theological Seminary, a certificate in Nonprofit Management from the Institute of Ethical leadership at Rutgers University Business School, an Executive Certificate in Religious Fundraising from the Lake Institute, and a diploma in Anglican Studies from Virginia Theological Seminary. Aaron serves the community of the St. Louis Metropolitan area by serving as the board chair for East Side Aligned, a collective impact organization for children and youth in East Saint Louis and for Faith for Justice, a coalition of Christian activists in the St. Louis area. He has also been a member of the Community Governance Board for Forward Through Ferguson’s Racial Healing and Justice Fund for the last three years.
Rev. Traci Blackmon, RN, M.Div, was ordained in both the African Methodist Episcopal Church and United Church of Christ, and believes there is an intersection between ministry and activism. As a pastor she sought to address and assist those marginalized and worked to promote justice for all humanity. Blackmon served as a voice of reason, courage and wisdom to the distraught young activists who were in pain and in search of healing after the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO in 2014. Blackmon took the Black Church to the streets of Ferguson, advocating for social justice as she and other spiritual leaders sought to address police brutality and racial conflict through her appointments to the Ferguson Commission and President Barack Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based Neighborhood Partnerships for the White House. Blackmon said working for social justice isn’t a dimension of our faith, it is our faith. “Justice is the same as discipleship,” she said. “I don’t call myself an activist. I’m a disciple of Jesus Christ.”