Tipple Celebration Day

These are unprecedented times in which not only has the line between church and state been obliterated, a rapidly growing new “state” religion—White Christian Nationalism—has hijacked Democracy. In the name of that religion, sexual violence, political assassinations, militarized policing, kidnapping immigrants, economic disparity, racism, homo- and trans-phobia, sexism, and xenophobia are blessed by crooked evangelists for this bigotry. How can the church boldly and bravely re(dis)cover the religion of Jesus of Nazareth and put a fiercely loving faith in our politics? This lecture will take us to the edge of our comfort zone, asking us to be comfortable with the radical gospel needed for such a time as this.

The Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis uses her gifts as author, activist, preacher, and public theologian toward creating an antiracist, just, gun violence free, fully welcoming, gender affirming society in which everyone has enough.

Jacqui is the Senior Minister and Public Theologian at Middle Collegiate Church. She earned her M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary and a M.Phil. and Ph.D. from Drew University in Psychology and Religion. A womanist theologian, Jacqui has preached at the Festival of Homiletics, the Wild Goose Festival, The Children’s Defense Fund’s Haley Farm, The American Church in Paris and was a featured speaker on the Together national tour with best-selling author, Glennon Doyle.

Dr. Lewis’ work has also been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, the front page of The New York Times, New York Times Video, The New York Post, CNN i-report, Essence, Ebony.com, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, The Associated Press, The San Francisco Chronicle, U.S. News, The Public’s Radio, The Houston Chronicle, The Seattle Times, The San Diego Union Tribune, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and The Yakima Herald. She has blogged for The Huffington Post, GLAAD, Patheos, and Believe Out Loud. Her books include The Power of Stories; Ten Essential Strategies (with John Janka); Becoming Like Creoles (with Curtiss de Young, et al), and the children’s book, You Are So Wonderful! Harmony/Penguin Random House published her book, Fierce Love: A Bold Path to Ferocious Courage and Rule-Breaking Kindness That Can Heal the World in 2021. Her next book is the Just Love Story Bible for Children (Beaming Books, 2025). Jacqui’s done television on CBS, ABC, PBS.

Jacqui shares her life with her best friend and spouse, John Janka. Together, they founded the Middle Church annual national justice conference, currently called Freedom Rising; now in its 19th year. Together they also spoil their two grandchildren, just a little bit.

When will the “Black Church” go to war against white Christian nationalism?

BISHOP TOLTON IS CALLING FOR A THIRD CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT THAT IS GLOBAL IN SCALE AND LIVES AT THE INTERSECTION OF RACIAL JUSTICE, ECONOMIC SOVEREIGNTY, LGBTQ DIGNITY AND WOMANIST LIBERATION.

• Christian nationalism is the most dangerous ideological threat facing not only African Americans, but Black people globally.
• Project 2025 is the domestic policy playbook of that movement, but the extremist ideology has been suffocating African culture for decades.
• Authored by the Heritage Foundation, the domestic blueprint outlines a strategy not just for a second Trump administration, but for an enduring fundamentalist takeover of American government that sets the tone for the next 250 years. At its core, it
  seeks to dismantle what remains of the civil rights infrastructure and silence the voices who dared to dream of justice.
• This movement’s worldview rejects racial equity, pluralism, and liberation theology. It weaponizes faith, not as a force for compassion or collective uplift, but as a tool to justify exclusion, hierarchy, and control.

Bishop Joseph William Tolton is the President of Interconnected Justice which was established in 2020. Interconnected Justice is a transnational network connecting, uniting, and mobilizing people of African descent in Africa with those in the diaspora. The organization’s strategic intent is to align and harvest the resources of people of African descent globally while confronting their most pressing and intertwined political, economic, spiritual and social threats.

Bishop Tolton has built the organization’s core program, The Affirming Elders Council, a faith–led alliance of over 30 highly influential grass top African pro-democracy and pro-LGBTQ rights clergy, academics, civil society advocates, lawyers, political strategists and a coalition of LGBTQ, womanist, and economic reform youth activists from 12 African countries and the United States. This movement promotes Black Internationalism as the ideological force that can successfully challenge the
international “white Christian nationalist” crusade threatening Black bodies, resources and indigenous spirituality globally.

Bishop has recruited 25 youth activists who are the first transnational cohort of the Interconnected Justice Leadership Academy. These accomplished activists take the action plan and messaging of The Affirming Elders Council to the public square by (1) convening quarterly convocations bringing together over 300 youth of African descent globally and (2) producing The Tolton Brief, an online web series that amplifies the voice of The Affirming Elders Council by connecting the dots between issues from across the pan African footprint.

Bishop Joseph Tolton graduated from Vassar College with a BA in religion, and also earned an MBA from Columbia University Business School.

The Rev. Dr. Gary V. Simpson is the Senior Pastor of The Concord Baptist Church of Christ, Brooklyn, New York. The son of the late Rev. Rufus N. Simpson and Mrs. Mary H. Simpson Price, he responded to God’s call on his life while he was still a teenager. He preached his first sermon at the age of 15 at the Southfield Missionary Baptist Church in Columbus, Ohio, and was ordained at the age of 20 by the Eastern Union Missionary Baptist Association.

He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Denison University with a B.A. in Religion and Black Studies; earned his Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in NYC; and his Doctor of Ministry degree from United Theological Seminary.

Pastor Simpson was called as the Senior Pastor of Concord Church in 1990 and has served as the congregation’s Chief Disciple, pouring out his heart in Concord’s community life. He is an accomplished musician and teacher with a heart for pastoring God’s people. In 2002, he was sought by the Lilly Endowment to create a formal Pastoral Residency program at Concord Church, aiding young seminary graduates with their transition into full-time pastoral ministry. Under Pastor Simpson’s leadership, Concord is one of a handful of churches across the country that served as a teaching congregation for young pastors.

He has achieved tenure at Drew Theological Seminary and is currently an Associate Professor of Preaching and Pastoral Formation. He has served as Visiting Professor of Preaching, Worship and the Arts at Union Theological Seminary. He has taught and lectured at New Brunswick Theological Seminary, Harvard Divinity School, Yale Divinity School, Princeton Theological Seminary and Candler School of Theology. He is one of eight featured preachers on the Future of Great Preaching website, a web resource for the Andover Newton Theological School, and his video is being used in theological schools to teach the art of preaching.

Dr. Mark A. Miller has a passion for building community through music and believes that everyone is a child of God. He adheres to Cornel West’s belief that “Justice is what love looks like in public.”

A graduate of Yale and Juilliard, Mark is Professor of Church Music, Director of Chapel, and Composer-in-Residence at Drew University. He is also a Lecturer in Sacred Music at Yale University’s Institute of Sacred Music and Divinity School, and Minister of Music of Christ Church in Summit, New Jersey. Previously, he provided musical leadership for Marble Collegiate Church and The Riverside Church (both in New York City).
His sacred music is widely published and sung by communities of faith around the world. Mark’s Let Justice Roll (for chorus and orchestra) was performed for “Juneteenth Celebration: All American Freedom Day” in 2019 at Carnegie Hall. His album, Imagine the People of God, is available on iTunes.
Mark has led choirs and performed in Sweden, South Africa, Austria, Russia, and the Baltic states. He spends part of the year traveling around the United States (often with his band, Subject to Change), lecturing, preaching, and presenting concerts focused on creating community and advocating for social justice for all people, especially the LGBTQIA+ community. His music has been called the soundtrack for a new generation to express and celebrate hospitality, equity, and justice.

Mark resides in Plainfield, New Jersey, with his husband, Michael Murden. They have two adult children, Alyse and Keith, and a cat named Oscar.