Photo by Willie & Kim Photography (www.willieandkim.com)
Ecumenical Advocacy Days is glad to welcome Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie as our opening worship preacher for the 2023 conference.
Bishop McKenzie is currently the Interim President and General Secretary at the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA. She will preach on Tuesday, April 25, 2023.
Bishop McKenzie was elected and consecrated as the 117th bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 2000. She was the first female elected to episcopal office in the more than two-century-old AME Church and is the first female to serve as President of the Council of Bishops and President of the General Board. She has served as presiding bishop in Southern Africa – Botswana, Swaziland, Mozambique and Lesotho and in the United States in Tennessee, Kentucky and Texas.
She no stranger to ecumenical ministry. She has been a delegate, preacher and/or presenter to ecumenical bodies including the World Methodist Council and the World Council of Churches.
Bishop McKenzie is a graduate of the University of Maryland College Park, Howard University School of Religion and has an earned doctorate from United Theological Seminary.
Bishop McKenzie has been active in social justice issues for more than three decades. She was appointed in 2009 by President Barack Obama to be on the inaugural White House Commission of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnership. This group worked on behalf of Americans committed to improving their communities, no matter their religious or political beliefs. She was named by Huffington Post in 2014 as one of the 50 Most Powerful Women Around the World.
She is the author of six books including Not Without a Struggle and Journey to the Well. Her newest book is The Big Deal of Taking Small Steps to Move Closer to God. The book shows how to develop a stronger relationship with God with a more effective Christian lifestyle by taking small steps that lead to big changes.
Come hear Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie share a message during our EAD opening worship at 10am ET on Tuesday, April 25. All worship, plenaries, and workshops will be recorded for later viewing.