rev. shanea d. leonard Archives

‘Have you put the leaf in the table of your faith community?’

Posted November 3rd, 2021

As the Rev. Shanea D. Leonard began to talk about radical welcome from Montreat Conference Center, they put on an apron and began to reflect on childhood holidays.

Do the queer community and the church need each other?

Posted October 18th, 2021

Do people in the LGBTQIA+ community need the church? Does the church need people who are LGBTQIA+?

Sign up for last antiracism, gender and inclusion workshops of 2021

Posted September 22nd, 2021

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s final antiracism and gender-and-inclusion workshops of 2021 will be presented in the next few weeks.

Be a presence to those you might consider a stranger

Posted September 17th, 2021

When it comes to church, the Rev. Shanea B. Leonard knows what it’s like to feel like an outsider looking in. But Leonard also knows what it’s like to sit in a place of welcome and inclusion.

Try this: Pull over, get out of the car and dance to the music

Posted August 28th, 2021

Next time you see someone pull their car over, get out and start dancing to a favorite song on their radio or phone, give Makani Themba some credit. It was her idea, as expressed Saturday during the Presbyterian Week of Action’s webinar on Black Lives Matter entitled “Liberation Now!” Watch the 69-minute webinar here.

REvangelism Conference designed to help PC(USA) see evangelism holistically

Posted July 28th, 2021

Registration for the digital REvangelism Conference at Montreat Conference Center to be held Nov. 1-3 is now open.

Presbyterian inclusive language guide updated

Posted June 30th, 2021

When the last edition of the “Well Chosen Words” guide to inclusive language came out in 2010, “brothers and sisters” were listed as “Words that include,” and preferable to the commonly used “brothers” and “brotherhood,” which were listed as “Words that exclude.”

Refugee and LGBTQIA+ lives intersect every day

Posted June 17th, 2021

When the Rev. Victor H. Floyd traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border with a group from Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, he was prepared to encounter a lot of pain in refugees they would meet in U.S. detention facilities and migrant shelters in Tijuana. He wasn’t prepared for Petter.

Pro-noun equals pro-identity

Posted June 1st, 2021

Not one day goes by that I am not misgendered in some way. Sometimes it is intentional. Most often it is just a mistake. Either way, it is a micro-aggression that I have learned will probably be a part of my journey for the rest of my life.

Being antiracist means being like Jesus

Posted March 26th, 2021

Deep into the second hour of Tuesday’s virtual antiracism training session with the Presbyterian Office of Gender, Racial & Intercultural Justice, facilitator Natarsha P. Sanders put the focus squarely on Jesus.