Board of Directors
Leon 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.
Chris Long
Rev. Chris Long (he/him/his) 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.
Incoming Directors: Fall 2025
Rev. Viola Abbitt
Rev. Viola joined Coastal Virginia Unitarian Universalist in August of 2020. She entered professional ministry after working for over twenty-five years as an attorney in New York State.
She was previously the minister at the First Unitarian Society of Westchester and the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Poughkeepsie, and has served in various voluntary and paid positions in congregations in the Hudson-Mohawk cluster of UU congregations in New York State. In addition, Rev. Viola has had the honor to preach at congregations in Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Ohio. She is currently a member of the Nominating Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Board of the Meadville Lombard Theological School Alum.
In her spare time, Rev. Viola likes to be in nature, and she is especially fond of the beach. She enjoys music and dance of all kinds, biographical books and science fiction movies. She also likes to think of herself as an amateur photographer.
Rev. Viola was awarded a BA in economics from the State University of New York at Binghamton, an MS in library science from Long Island University, a JD from the Fordham University School of Law, and an MDiv from Meadville Lombard Theological School.
She has one adult son, who is a classical musician living in New York, and two rescue cats named Cricket and Fluffy, who reside with her in Hampton Roads.
Rev. Margalie Belazaire
Rev. Margalie Belizaire is a soul-stirrer and spirit-mender — a Unitarian Universalist minister with the heart of a poet and the courage of a prophet. She weaves justice, grief, hope, and ancestral gratitude into rituals, sermons, and blessings that matter. Rev. Margalie honors struggle without glorifying it, and she doesn’t flinch from hard truths — about race, identity, or addiction. She is as comfortable invoking Maya Angelou and John O’Donohue as she is quoting from the movie “Encanto,” and somehow, she makes all feel sacred.
Rev. Belizaire walks tenderly with those she accompanies spiritually through endings and beginnings, grief and grace. And in all of it, her voice says: “The worst thing is never the last thing.”
Honorable mention!!! - Rev. Kimberly
We honor Rev. Kimberly, Sister Souurce's former President of the Board. We are grateful for her service and we look forward to her continued support to Sister Souurce. She pursued her dream as Co-Moderator of General Assembly and won, alongside Bill Young! We are so proud of her fierce leadership and the work she has accomplished with Sister Souurce. And thank you Rev. Kimberly for continuing to be a faithful supporter of Sister Souurce.
Staff
Note: We have undergone an exciting transition with the appointment of Rev. Crystal as our ED and Rev.Qiyamah moving into emeritus! We hope you will join us for our ceremony in October to honor this evolution. Learn more about each of them in their "corners" of the website.
Emeritus Elder Director (EED)
Rev. Dr. Qiyamah A. Rahman, prior to ministry, served as the first Black female district executive with the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Southeast Region, formerly known as the Thomas Jefferson District.
She was ordained and fellowshipped in 2007 and is an alumna of Meadville Lombard Theological School, where she served as the Director of Contextual Ministry and Senior Lecturer from 2008–2012. She transitioned to parish ministry, serving the UU Fellowship of St. Croix in the Virgin Islands from 2012–2018.
After Hurricane Maria struck...
