A Hearty Welcome — Sister Souurce, Inc. Board of Directors
President
Rev. Kimberly Quinn Johnson
Rev. Kimberly Quinn Johnson serves as minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Fork, on Long Island, in Bridgehampton, New York. She has passion and expertise for racial justice work and ministry with youth. Before ministry, Kimberly worked as a union organizer with the United Auto Workers. She also taught Women’s and Gender Studies at New Jersey City University.
The core of Kimberly’s ministry is faith formation—creating spaces and experiences for people to connect to the sacred, and to express that connection in the world. In her teaching, Kimberly employs the theory and practice of popular education, facilitating the exchange and exploration of our knowledge and experiences to encourage deeper understanding and grounding for action.
Kimberly serves on the Organizing Collective Board for BLUU (Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism). Kimberly also serves as a member of the Steering Committee for UU Class Conversations, and the Board of Trustees of the UU Women’s Federation. She is co-chair of the Unitarian Universalist Association Appointments Committee and vice-president of the St. Lawrence Foundation for Theological Education. She gets to work at the nexus of faith formation, youth ministry, and racial justice as a Program Leader with the UU College of Social Justice. And she’s likely to be spending her summer working with youth through UU Summer Seminary, Faithlab or Thrive, leadership experiences for youth of color.
Vice President
Dr. Leon Edward Spencer
Leon Edward Spencer, EDD, provides counseling and therapy services for individuals, couples and families in and around Statesboro, Georgia, where he resides.
Religious pluralism has always been a part of Leon’s life. “Churches provided places where I could grow and be social and political and be in community. Church has always been a way of political action for me,” he states.
A Unitarian Universalist since the 1960s, when he was stationed in the military in Germany, Leon helped co-found the European UU Conference. He served on the Black Concerns Working Group and the UUA’s Racial & Cultural Diversity Task Force. Leon knows his way around the board room, having served eight years on the UUA Board of Trustees and President of the Board of the Southeast Region (formerly known as the Thomas Jefferson District). His service on the Board of Meadville Lombard Theological School, one of two UU seminaries in the country, reflects his commitment to anti-racism work and the critical role of ministry in dismantling white supremacy.
Leon Spencer’s work on behalf of anti-racism and anti-oppression efforts for Unitarian Universalist congregations began in 1985, when he helped establish the Black Concerns Working Group. He has participated in the Jubilee Working Group, the Journey Toward Wholeness Transformation Team, and the Diverse and Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multicultural Ministries, known as DRUUMM.
In 2017, Leon served as Interim Co-President of the UUA along with Rev. Sofia Betancourt and Rev. William G. Sinkford. Leon collaborates well with others as demonstrated in his co︅-authorship of the publication, The Arc of the Universe is Long: UUs, Anti-Racism and the Journey from Calgary. This masterful collection chronicles the history of the UUA’s journey toward becoming an anti-racist, anti-oppression and multicultural movement.
Leon is a member of the UU Fellowship of Statesboro, Georgia, along with his wife, Inge.
Secretary
Carol Carter Walker
Carol Carter Walker (she, her, hers) has been a Unitarian Universalist (UU) since 1987 when she became a charter member of the now-closed Sojourner Truth Congregation1 in Washington, DC. Carol has been a member of Paint Branch UU Church in Adelphi, Maryland since 2002. She also belongs to Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU), Church of the Larger Fellowship, and Diverse and Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multicultural Ministries (DRUUMM).
Carol has been a leader at both her former and current congregations. At Paint Branch, she currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees, Leadership Advisory Council of the Diversity/Anti-Racism Transformation Team, member of the Transitional Ministry and Church Administrator Search Teams, and member of the Denominational Affairs Committee, and Membership Team. She is a co-chair of a church committee establishing a county-wide faith-based community organization.
She is currently a co-chair of the Central East Region’s Chalice Lighters Program Committee, a regional grantmaking body. She is also serving on the Committee on Ministry for a local community minister in preliminary fellowship. At the denominational level, Carol is currently a Beyond Categorical Thinking facilitator and a member of the BLUU Council of Elders.
Carol is a native of and currently lives in Washington, DC. She has been an active volunteer in church and civic associations since her 2006 retirement as a senior manager at the US Department of Health and Human Services. She has a daughter, son-in-law, and three grandchildren who live in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC; and a sister, Carmelita, who is also an active UU.
Spiritual Director/Chaplain
Rev. Chris Long
Rev. Chris Long (he/him/his) is currently the Assistant Minister at Community Church of New York. He is a graduate of Starr King School for the Ministry (Berkeley, California) and ordained by the First Unitarian Church of Oakland (California – both in 2009). Chris aspires to live into and embody his calling of educating and countering oppressions (Starr King’s educational philosophy) through ancestral wisdom, challenge and love while growing more of the Beloved Community.
Member-at-Large
Vivian Pollard
Vivian Pollard resides in Stonecrest, Georgia where she devotes most of her time volunteering. She has a particular passion for helping and engaging with incarcerated women and girls. She started the first “Rites of Passage” for girls ages 12-16 in Lithonia, Georgia. Her passion led her to the Department of Juvenile Justice to teach “Life Skills” to girls aging out of the juvenile system preparing for employment. Her recognition of the intersection of politics and social justice inspired her service on the advisory board for newly elected Representative Angela Moore. Her sense of community and her spirit of volunteerism make her a perfect match for the community development project, Seniors of Stonecrest (SOS).
In her spare time Vivian enjoys music, a good game of chess and astrology. Born on Friday the 13th, Vivian has always questioned WHY? Growing up under the watchful eye of her evangelical grandmother provided a religious foundation that she later challenged. She came to UUism after several invitations from friends. She eventually became a charter member of Thurman Hamer Ellington (THE) UU Church, an intentionally diverse startup. Having developed an interest in theology while working at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, she took courses and began to pursue ministry. She served as the ministerial intern at THE. She sometimes entertains the thought of completing her studies.
Among her many pursuits not yet achieved is a fencing class. She is merely awaiting the right time and the right teacher.
1Sojourner Truth Congregation was one of three extension congregations founded in the late 1980s and underwritten by the Veatch Fund through the UUA. These congregations were freestanding congregations begun with ministers in place with the thought that this would attract African-Americans to the denomination. Sojourner Truth existed from 1989 to 2001 when it closed its doors because it was not able to grow enough to become financially self-sufficient.