Each year, Christian Community Development (CCD) practitioners look forward to the renewal and reenergizing that happens at CCDA’s National Conference. CCDA calls on speakers from all areas of CCD ministry, hailing from all across the country. Attend the 2024 National Conference in Portland, OR to be inspired and challenged by other Christians who are fully engaged in the process of community transformation.
The most up to date list of speakers is located on the Conference app which Conference attendees received via email.
Here are the 2024 National Conference Speakers
Rasool Berry
Rasool Berry serves as Teaching Pastor at The Bridge Church in Brooklyn, New York, and is Director of Partnerships & Content Development at Our Daily Bread Ministries. He is the host of the Where Ya From? podcast, is featured in the award-winning Juneteenth: Faith & Freedom documentary, and also in the docuseries, In Pursuit of Jesus. He is the general editor of the book and video series called The Whole Man, which focuses on spiritual development for African American men.
Rasool graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree in Africana Studies and Sociology.
Rasool’s work often examines the intersection of faith and culture and has had his work featured in Christianity Today, Relevant Magazine, The Witness, and the book Keeping The Faith: Reflections on Politics & Christianity. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Tamica, and their daughter.
Soong-Chan Rah
Rev. Dr. Soong-Chan Rah is Robert Munger Professor of Evangelism and Church Renewal at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA and the author of Prophetic Lament (A Commentary on the book of Lamentations from IVP Books, 2015); The Next Evangelicalism (IVP Books, 2009); Many Colors (Moody, 2010); and co-author of Return to Justice (Brazos, 2016), Forgive Us (Zondervan, 2014), and Unsettling Truths (IVP Books, 2019). Soong-Chan received his B.A. in Political Science and History/Sociology from Columbia University, his M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, his Th.M. from Harvard University, his D.Min. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and his Th.D. from Duke University.
Rah is formerly the founding Senior Pastor of the Cambridge Community Fellowship Church (CCFC), a multi-ethnic, urban ministry-focused church committed to living out the values of racial reconciliation and social justice in the urban context.
Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil
When you hear the name Brenda Salter McNeil, three words immediately come to mind: Passionate, Powerful, and Prophetic. She is a woman of God who is gifted as a teacher and preacher and is a leader in the international movement for peace and reconciliation. Her mission is to inspire, equip, and empower emerging Christian leaders to be practitioners of reconciliation in their various spheres of influence. She is an Associate Professor of reconciliation studies in the School of Theology at Seattle Pacific University, where she also directs the Reconciliation Studies program. She also serves on the pastoral staff of Quest Church in Seattle, WA. Dr. Brenda is recognized internationally as one of the foremost leaders of reconciliation and was featured as one of the 50 most influential women to watch by Christianity Today. She is the author of Roadmap to Reconciliation 2.0; A Credible Witness: Reflections on Power, Evangelism and Race (2008); The Heart of Racial Justice: How Soul Change Leads to Social Change (2005), coauthored with Rick Richardson; Becoming Brave: Finding the Courage to Pursue Racial Justice Now (2020); and her newest book recently released Empowered To Repair (2024).
Dr. Mark E Strong
Dr. Mark E. Strong has served as the Lead Pastor of Life Change Church since 1988. A dynamic and diverse church located in the heart of the city of Portland, Oregon. He is a gifted communicator who has preached and taught the Bible throughout the United States and the world. His passion is to build the church, and help people find freedom and grow in their relationship with Christ. He has also labored in his city to address social issues and the needs of the marginalized.
He serves on the Board of Regents at Portland Seminary. He is the author of Church for the Fatherless, The Divine Merger, and Who Moved My Neighborhood (IVP). Mark and his wife Marla have been married for thirty-six years and have four children. They reside in Portland, Oregon.
Lenore Three Stars
Lenore is Oglala Lakota, born on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, where her father, also Oglala, was born. Her mother is Minnecoujou Lakota from the Cheyenne River Reservation, S.D.
Lenore earned her BA from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, raised a son, and completed a federal civil rights career in Seattle, Washington. After she retired, she accepted a gubernatorial appointment to the Washington State Human Rights Commission. After relocating to Spokane, WA to be near her two takojas (grandkids), Lenore earned an M.A. from Portland Seminary/George Fox University in Oregon.
Lenore speaks, writes, and teaches from a Native perspective on decolonizing theology and racial reconciliation. In 2021, she was instrumental in achieving a denominational vote to repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery. She enjoys being a cohort leader for “Decolonizing with Badass Indigenous Grandmas”, and has contributed to various publications, including The Covenant Companion Magazine, the Covenant Quarterly, and a chapter in the book, “Reimagining Short-term Missions. She currently serves on boards related to her interests in justice, Indigenous issues, and creation care.
Amy Williams
A 30 year youth ministry veteran, AMY L. WILLIAMS follows her passion to minister to teens involved in gangs, youth on probation/parole, and those lost in the criminal justice system – at the core of which life-on-life mentoring is her key strategy. Amy is currently the Project Coordinator for the Illinois Youth Center (IYC) for New Life Centers. Her role coordinates and brings restorative justice programming and peace circles into the St Charles, Warrenville, and Chicago juvenile prisons. Amy just released her first book “Worth Seeing: Viewing Others Through God’s Eyes” with InterVarsity Press. She speaks and trains internationally sharing her passion to reach as many youth with the message of HOPE.
Maya Moore
Maya Moore Irons is a basketball icon―a two-time NCAA champion, two-time Olympic gold medalist, four-time WNBA champion, and WNBA MVP. After capturing back-to-back undefeated national championships in 2009 and 2010 at the University of Connecticut and captaining the team that set the NCAA record for most games won in a row (90), Maya was the NCAA Academic All-American of the Year and drafted #1 by the Minnesota Lynx in the 2011 WNBA Draft. As 2011 WNBA Rookie of the Year and an All-Star starter, Maya helped her team capture the franchise’s first WNBA Championship only five months after graduating from college. That spring, she added EuroLeague Champion and Spanish League Champion to her resumé, and in the summer of 2012, she captured Olympic gold with Team USA. In 2016, after winning her third WNBA title and being named MVP of the WNBA All-Star Game, Maya became the first pro athlete (man or woman) to ever notch three titles―ROY, All-Star MVP, and League MVP―in only five seasons of play. In 2017, she was again named All-Star MVP and led her Minnesota Lynx team to another WNBA Championship, their fourth in seven years. She followed that in 2018 with her third consecutive All-Star MVP award and shocked the world after that season when she walked away from the game. In February of 2019, Maya revealed that she would miss the upcoming season to focus on family and ministry dreams. Later that year, in a New York Times feature, Maya first went into detail about Jonathan Irons and his wrongful imprisonment. She later opted to miss the 2020 season to continue focusing on Jonathan’s case and was ultimately successful when his conviction was vacated in March 2020, and he walked free that July. Maya has since come to be recognized as one of sport and culture’s most important social justice icons.
Jonathan Irons
Jonathan Irons was just eighteen-years-old when he was wrongly convicted by an all-white jury for a crime that occurred when he was sixteen. With no physical evidence tying him to the crime, Jonathan was handed a fifty-year prison sentence, of which he served twenty-three years. After a winding, yearlong effort by Maya Moore, her family, and other supporters, Jonathan was finally released in July of 2020. The next day, Jonathan proposed to Maya, and weeks later, they were married. Together, Jonathan and Maya are dedicated to using their now shared platform and social action nonprofit, Win With Justice, to raise awareness and advocate for issues surrounding criminal justice reform, the important role district attorneys play in the judicial system, and the power of each individual to live out their purpose and impact change. To learn more about Maya and Jonathan’s efforts, visit www.winwithjustice.org.
Kevin Burns
Rev. Kevin Burns has been wrongfully incarcerated on Tennessee’s death row since 1995. While incarcerated, Rev. Burns has been a model inmate and has gained the respect of fellow inmates, guards, and prison administrators. On January 29, 2018, inside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution’s death row, Rev. Burns was ordained into the gospel ministry by Rev. Dr. Kevin Riggs and Franklin Community Church.
George Kevin Riggs
Kevin Riggs has been the pastor of Franklin Community Church for more than thirty years. He is also the founder and executive director of Franklin Community Development and Williamson County Homeless Alliance. He and his wife, Misty, live in Franklin, TN.
Rev. Dr. Randy Woodley
Dr. Woodley addresses a variety of issues concerning American culture, faith, justice, race, and our relationship with the earth and Indigenous realities. He currently serves as Distinguished Professor of Faith and Culture and Director of Intercultural and Indigenous Studies at George Fox University/Portland Seminary. His expertise has been sought in national venues as diverse as Time Magazine, Christianity Today, The Huffington Post and Planet Drum: A Voice for Bioregional, Sustainability, Education and Culture. Randy identifies strongly with issues of eco-justice, diversity and racial justice. Randy has found the sweet spot of sharing difficult truths, in the spirit of love and acceptance through his teaching. His authentic and timely messages dig to the root of our own imbalanced and unjust systems.
Edith L. Woodley
Edith Woodley is a mentor/speaker on issues concerning Indigenous Spirituality and Creation. A full-time mother, grandmother and farmer, she has developed a unique relationship with the land and insights concerning how to raise a family on a small farm. Edith is an Eastern Shoshone tribal member raised on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming. She co-founded several organizations with Randy. Edith enjoys carrying on the tradition in her family of Native American beadwork with her jewelry. Many women across the continent now adorn themselves with the bracelets, earrings and necklaces she has gifted to them over the years.
Bethany Rivera Molinar
Bethany Rivera Molinar is a fronteriza Chicana living and working in El Paso, Texas, about a mile from the international border line of the United States and Mexico. She is the Executive Director of Ciudad Nueva Community Outreach, a holistic, asset-based, Christian community development nonprofit organization working alongside their neighbors to empower youth, support families, equip leaders, and strengthen community in the Rio Grande neighborhood. Bethany and her team work primarily with first and second generation Latine immigrants. Bethany is deeply passionate for Ciudad Nueva to be a place where community-led work unfolds and community members from young to older are actively engaged and accessing their gifts, skills, and resources to collectively lead towards a vibrant and thriving community. Along with her team and community, this passion has driven the work that she has done through Ciudad Nueva for over ten years. Bethany also serves as Chair on the national board of the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) as well as on the boards of two local organizations. Bethany earned both Master of Divinity & Master of Social Work degrees at Truett Theological Seminary and the Diana Garland School of Social Work at Baylor University. Bethany also has a demonstrated history of serving with prophetic strength and innovative leadership within local, regional, and national women of color faith circles.
Kevin Wilson
Pastor Kevin Wilson is an international speaker, social media Influencer, entrepreneur, activist & author. Directly prior to his current role as youth and young adult pastor at the Sunnyside Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Portland, Oregon, Kevin was the first Digital/ Social Media Coordinator for the Office of Communications at his alma mater, Andrews University, overseeing all social media communication strategies for the University.
In addition to ministering to his local congregation, Kevin is also known as “Chaplain Chai” to a global online community of around half-a-million “besteas” many of whom are non-Christian. He pastors to them through digital storytelling using chai – the beloved beverage of his south-Asian heritage – as a canvas for sharing thoughts about justice, meaningful living, and contextual theology. His content has been featured in Forbes, The New York Times, Yahoo, Bon Apetit Magazine, the Seventh-Day Adventist World Church and other local and global news networks.
A “Third-Culture Kid” who grew up in multiple countries and the grandson of marginalized tea plantation workers in Sri Lanka, Pr. Kevin is also the co-founder of two companies: “Cross Culture Chai” – an ethically sourced tea enterprise that aims to provide fair wages and create opportunities for tea estate workers across the globe, and “Cross Culture Tours” – a humanitarian tour company that seeks to enhance intercultural education while elevating the lives of marginalized people-groups in Sri Lanka. It is through this initiative, and working with community development entities within the Seventh-day Adventist church that Kevin got connected to CCDA.
Kevin is a published author with Tarcher-Perigee of Penguin Random House with his critically acclaimed first book “The Way of Chai: Recipes for a meaningful Life.” It is a meditation at the intersection of tea, south-Asian culture, and Gospel-flavored existential philosophy.
Pr. Kevin is currently based in Vancouver, Washington with his wife, Elynn and his two fur-children phoebe and Leo.
Trishonda Roberson
Trishonda Roberson serves as the Executive Director of The REACH Center in Rocky Mount, North Carolina which focuses on housing and homelessness, food insecurity, addressing health disparities (physical and mental), and violence against women, in low-income communities. Under her leadership, the organization experienced outstanding revenue growth, showcasing an ability to seize opportunities and drive success. She has been instrumental in building strong partnerships with several local, state, and national organizations such as NC Department of Health and Human Services, NC Coalition to End Homelessness, Rural Opportunity Institute, United Way, Ripple Effects, and many more.
Trishonda worked as a Registered Nurse around mental health and substance abuse for more than 15 years before entering the nonprofit sector. She holds a certificate in Nonprofit Management from Duke University and is a member of the NC Rural Economic Development Institute, and the Christian Community Development Association’s Emerging Leaders Cohort 5 and Board Member. Her passion for leadership and organizational development has afforded her the opportunity to help build the capacity of newly developed churches and organizations. She also continues to utilize her nursing knowledge, having led workshops around trauma healing, recognizing human trafficking in healthcare settings, and holistic development with various agencies.
A graduate of Fruitland Bible College, she received a certificate in Christian Ministry. She now serves as a licensed minister and director for the Center of Community and Capacity at Word Tabernacle Church in Rocky Mount under the leadership of Pastor James D. Gailliard.
Trishonda has done intensive work with the development of programs in Oyugis, Kenya with Ripple Effects, a nonprofit organization with centers in both America and Kenya. Her missionary service includes, but is not limited to, sermon preparation and leadership development of local pastors and leaders, personal development of women, and visiting orphanages.
Trishonda co-authored the book, Unmasked and Unashamed: Real Women, Real Stories, which parallels the stories of nine woman today with women from the Bible. She is the visionary behind the nonprofit, She Empowers, which hosts a yearly virtual women’s conference, Unleashed, and an 8-week coaching cohort, I Am Thirty-One. Her deepest passion is to assist individuals to move from a place of uncertainty and complacency to a life of self-discovery and maximizing their greatest potential.
Mark Charles
“Where common memory is lacking, where people do not share in the same past, there can be no real community. Where community is to be formed, common memory must be created.” – a quote used by Georges Erasmus, Dene Nation, co-chair of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (Canada)
Mark Charles is passionate about creating common memory as he works to build a healthier national community, especially across racial lines. The son of an American woman (of Dutch heritage) and a Navajo man, Mark is a graduate of UCLA (B.A. History) who works as an author, speaker, podcaster, activist, preacher and consultant. He is one of the leading authorities on the 15th-century Doctrine of Discovery and in 2019 co-authored the award winning book “Unsettling Truths – The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery.” Mark co-founded a national conference for Native students called “Would Jesus Eat Frybread” and in 2012 he hosted, in front of the US Capitol, a public reading of the national “Apology to Native Peoples of the United States” that the 112th Congress gave but then buried in the 2010 Department of Defense Appropriations Act. In 2020 Mark ran as an Independent candidate for President of the United States with a platform of building a nation where “we the people” actually means all the people.
Mark is a dual citizen of the United States and the Navajo Nation and works tirelessly to initiate a national dialogue on race, gender and class, a conversation he hopes will be on par with the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions that took place in South Africa, Rwanda, and Canada. Mark is currently writing his second book, Decolonizing Faith; his TEDx talk “The truth behind ‘We the People’ – the three most misunderstood words in US history” has over 300,000 views; and he has been featured on numerous media outlets including PBS NewsHour, CNN, Esquire, The Guardian, Voice of America, the Karen Hunter Show, Native News Online, Indian Country Today and the recently released documentary Bad Indian: Hiding Out in Antelope Canyon. Mark is a gifted communicator who loves a good cup of coffee and he regularly combines these passions as he interviews guests and shares his paradigm shifting perspectives on his podcast My Second Cup of Coffee.
Dr. Vatreisha Nyemba
Dr. Vatreisha Nyemba is currently in year six as the Director of Leader and Community Development at Building Hope in the City (BHITC) in Cleveland, Ohio.
Dr. V is honored to have had the experience of living and serving overseas, advancing projects and initiatives with multiple ministries and organizations throughout the Cleveland area; being on staff for nearly ten years with the Cuyahoga Land Bank. With over 20 years of working with nonprofit organizations, small business development, project and grant management, program coordination and leadership development, Vatreisha is passionate about the work of equipping people of goodwill, city ministry leaders and congregations to be transformational leaders that positively impact individuals, families, and communities.
Committed to being a lifelong learner, Dr. V has received a bachelor’s degree in Business from Kentucky State University, a master’s in Nonprofit Management from Cleveland State’s Levin College of Urban Affairs, and a Doctorate in Transformational Leadership from Bakke Graduate University. Vatreisha currently serves on the boards of the Akron Leadership Foundation and most recently the Christian Community Development Association (www.ccda.org). She lives in Cleveland and attends Bridge City Church with her two daughters Trinity and Shalom.
Dr. Lorenzo A. Watson
Lorenzo A. Watson serves as the CEO/President for the Christian Community Development Association, headquartered in Chicago, IL. He is an experienced community development professional; a leader, teacher and scholar who has long centered his work at the intersections of wholeness, education and Biblical justice.
For nearly two decades, Lorenzo worked in Research, Development and Technology at North Carolina State University (NCSU). While at NCSU, he led the Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering information technology department and provided strategic oversight in information technology to multiple campuses. In addition to supporting world-renowned faculty and staff in their research development, Lorenzo also served actively as a mentor to student leaders. Lorenzo has served as the Director of Communications and Marketing for CCDA, providing a critical communications roadmap for the association. He has been instrumental in planning the CCDA national conference and helped guide the office team through its first virtual conference during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Lorenzo has also directed the vibrant work of Education and Equipping for CCDA.
Lorenzo holds a BS from North Carolina State University in Computer Engineering, an MDiv from Shaw University Divinity School, and is a PhD candidate in Educational Research and Policy Analysis at NCSU. He and his spouse of 18 years, Natarsha P. Sanders, reside and serve as “community pastors” in the Doyle community of Kerrville, Texas. Lorenzo’s proven skills in multi-ethnic organizational leadership, management and coaching, as well as his pastoral giftings and scholarship, have helped create environments of inclusion and belonging in every space to which he has been called.
Scott Overpeck
Scott Overpeck is a creative leader with a heart for contextualizing movements of justice, advocacy and compassion to his surroundings. He previously led a consultancy advising social enterprises and nonprofits on tools and strategies as it relates to operations, marketing, fundraising and commerce. In this capacity he has helped organizations from the startup stage all the way on up to established $50m organizations be more efficient, raise more money, craft better programs and be better communicators. He is now Director of Membership at Christian Community Development Association and sits on the board of Orange County Educational Arts Academy; helped found Laundry Love Santa Ana and has served on other local and national boards and councils. In both his roles as a leader in changemaking organizations and a consultant to changemakers, he is always an outspoken advocate for better communication, design and storytelling as well as always keeping real life humans at the center of every decision making process. By continually immersing himself in all sides of the social change sectors, he is able to bring fresh insights to the table. His work has been featured in such publications as the NY Times, OC Metro, OC Weekly, Orange Coast Magazine, Riviera Magazine, Korean American Journal, OC Register and many others. Scott is a contributing author to Create Culture: thoughts on branding for humans and is the author of the upcoming Create Good: the case for creativity in the social sector.
Mary Beth Meadows
Mary Beth first attended a CCDA conference in 2003 in New Orleans. It was life changing and helped her fuse faith and justice perspectives. She is an alumnus of CCDA National Leadership Cohort 7 and excited to see new iterations of the Emerging Leaders Cohort take shape in the future.
Mary Beth enjoys serving on the steering committee of her @CCDAKnox Local Network, as a Founding Member of the Knoxville Modern Quilt Guild, and a Board Secretary of First Foundations Inc. She holds a Masters of Science in Social Work from Columbia University School of Social Work and identifies as an abolition-centered social worker. She lives in a small community outside of Knoxville, Tennessee with her two daughters.
Christina Foor
Christina Foor is the Director of Engagement & Mobilization at CCDA. She is an Indian-American wife and mother of 2 daughters. She is passionate about empowering others to reach their full potential, and has experience doing this in many contexts: cross-culturally, mentorship, community development, advocacy work, campus ministry, program directing, virtual communication, etc.
Much of her work has been to empower, advocate for, and walk alongside under-represented populations. She is also skilled at being a bridge builder to those who are not from these communities. Following Jesus, hospitality, cooking, DIY projects, adventures with her family/friends, learning from and loving people of different cultures and having them become part of her family, advocacy, community development, and justice bring her a lot of joy.