Three alumnae named Beatitudes Society fellows
Neichelle Guidry Jones ’10MDiv, Emily Scott ’06MDiv, and Kaji Spellman ’06MDiv have been named Beatitudes Society fellows, described by the society as “the face of the new church” who embody the church as “a force for good, and a sign of inclusive welcome and healing love.” Jones is associate pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago, and founder of shepreaches.com, an online magazine for young African American women in ministry. Scott is founding pastor of St. Lydia’s, a “dinner church” in Brooklyn, New York, where the congregation gathers together around a sacred meal during which, Scott explains, they seek “an experience of the Holy that is strong enough to lean on, deep enough to question, and challenging enough to change us.” In September, Spellman assumes the role of senior minister of United Church of Christ La Mesa in California. She plans to use her Beatitudes year to strengthen her congregation’s ethnic and economic diversity, “injecting hope in places where the shadows have overcome.” The Beatitudes Society is a national Christian leadership development organization that helps emerging faith leaders to “grow progressive faith communities for the sake of justice and the common good.”
Civil rights crusader dies at 88
Acclaimed author and civil rights activist Will D. Campbell ’52BD died on June 3 following a lengthy illness. Campbell called himself a “bootleg preacher,” and over time a number of other labels were attached to him, including “renegade preacher,” “civil rights legend,” “iconoclastic storyteller,” and “anti-institutional crusader.” Ray Waddle, a friend of Campbell and editor of Reflections, YDS’s magazine of theological and ethical inquiry, described Campbell as “mentor, chaplain, a kind of spiritual guerrilla strategist against all sorts of conventional wisdom about faith and culture.” Honored in 2007 with the school’s William Sloane Coffin ’56 Award for Peace and Justice, Campbell was the author of 17 books and numerous articles. His 1977 book Brother to a Dragonfly, which chronicles the civil rights movement, was a National Book Award finalist. Brought up poor in Mississippi, Campbell was among only four white ministers to escort nine African American students through angry mobs during school desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas, and he was the only white person present at the formation of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
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