Our Story
In late spring of 2020, as protests and riots spread across the nation with renewed outrage about racist violence, especially the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, President Donald Trump touted himself as the “law and order” president and looked for a way to assert his strength.
On June 1, 2020, President Donald Trump marched from the White House to St. John’s Episcopal Church with a military entourage for a photo op in front of the church sign holding a Bible. He was not invited to the church, nor did he ask permission to visit. He deployed armed law enforcement officers and National Guard officers to clear the church steps of clergy and volunteers who were caring for peaceful protesters. The officers shot tear gas and rubber bullets at unarmed persons who were exercising their Constitutional rights. The crowd was engaged in public lamentation for the deaths of countless unarmed people of color killed by uniformed officers. They were protesting systemic racism and militarized violence.
Why Was This A Problem?
Trump could have chosen any number of places to stage his show of strength. But he chose a church. It was intentional – this stunt was intended to send a message to the church and all houses of worship. We interpreted that message from Trump as such:
I have the power to invade your church. And now I have done it. I will desecrate your holy book and your holy spaces. I will use you for my political purposes. If you try to stand in my way, I will unleash my forces against you as I did against those peaceful protesters.
Like the Babylonians and then the Romans desecrating the Temple in Jerusalem; like Hitler sending his troops to unfurl swastika flags in the German churches, Trump has defiled a holy place. He did it again the following day, this time posing in front of the St. John Paul II National Shrine. In both cases, he was fiercely denounced by the Episcopal and Roman Catholic clergy who oversee these sacred sites.
Trump is using Christianity to justify a version of “law and order” that is based on white supremacy. He is co-opting religious symbols to claim an authority he does not have. Cloaked under the guise of Christianity, he is pushing this country to the brink of authoritarian dictatorship and martial law.
Because of this escalation and acceleration of incursions against the church, Christians must not remain silent, but must speak out and resist.
Why Are We Called the
“Clergy Emergency League”?
We are calling clergy to unite in a way similar to what the pastors of the Confessing Church did in Nazi Germany. They banded together to form the Pastors’ Emergency League and resisted the Third Reich until it was finally brought down. People of faith, especially Christians – and specifically the clergy – have a specific responsibility to stand up to violent authoritarianism that uses the church and the Bible as a staging ground for terror. If we do not speak out, then we are truly lost. There can be no sitting out and staying silent. To do so is to be complicit with evil. We encourage Christian clergy to find their voice, step into their calling, and carry out the compassionate, bold, and justice-seeking ministry to which God is calling us.
We slightly altered the original name to be “clergy” so as to be inclusive of different denominations that do not use the term “pastor” for their faith leaders.
CEL Steering Committee
Rev. Dr. Leah Schade (ELCA)
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Lexington Theological Seminary
Lexington, Kentucky
Role: Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship
About: As one of the co-founders of the Clergy Emergency League, I am committed to help clergy and faith leaders find and exercise their prophetic-pastoral voice to resist systemic evil and bring about justice. An ordained minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for twenty years, I have pastored congregations in suburban, urban, and rural contexts. My book, Preaching in the Purple Zone: Ministry in the Red-Blue Divide (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019), explores how clergy and churches can address controversial social issues using biblically-centered approaches and deliberative dialogue. I’m also the author of Creation-Crisis Preaching: Ecology, Theology, and the Pulpit (Chalice Press, 2015), and co-editor with Margaret Bullitt-Jonas of Rooted and Rising: Voices of Courage in a Time of Climate Crisis (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019). Preaching, teaching, writing, and public theology are areas where I strive to empower and equip students and clergy for ministry.
Rev. Stephen M. Fearing (PCUSA)
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Guilford Park Presbyterian Church
Greensboro, North Carolina
Role: Pastor & Head of Staff
About: I’m a millennial pastor navigating the difficult waters of being a clergy person in these times. A native of Georgia, I’m a 2010 graduate of Presbyterian College and a 2014 graduate of Columbia Theological Seminary where I received my Masters of Divinity and a Masters of Arts in Practical Theology with an emphasis in worship, music, and liturgy. After pastoring to and with the people who are Shelter Island Presbyterian Church in Shelter Island, NY, and Beaumont Presbyterian Church in Lexington, KY, my family moved to Greensboro where I’m the head of staff of Guilford Park Presbyterian Church. I’m an aspiring hymn writer and have authored more than 65 hymns that are available and free for use at my website: www.stephenmfearing.com
The Rev. Robert A. Franek (ELCA)
Pronouns: He/Him/His
St. Mark Lutheran Church
Rockford, Illinois
Role: Interim Associate Pastor
About: I have a passion for the gospel in proclamation and prayer lived doxologically. This living born in the waters of baptism and embodied in the Eucharistic meal necessitates connecting faith and politics for the common good. I am energized by the baptismal call to work for justice and peace in all the earth. I thrive on philosophical questions and argument and naturally gravitate towards thinking in terms of systems, structure, and scale. I find it especially exciting to promote public policy that addresses the great injustices of our day with a particular interest in economics and constitutional law. Additionally, I am interested in how the news media tells the story of our politics and of the faith that shapes policy. Rooted in the Lutheran tradition of liturgical-sacramental worship and theological scholarship that leads to a Spirit sent neighbor-love ethic, I seek to connect this prophetic faith with the issues present in the public square. As a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America I served a small rural congregation for ten years before beginning interim ministry in 2018. I began writing for PoliticusUSA in 2016 and am currently a contributing editor, with a column drawing connections between real lives and public policy.
Rev. Dr. Carolyn Smith Goings
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Dyersburg, Tennessee
Carolyn is a graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (MDiv), Antioch University (PhD), and Goddard College (BA and MFA). She has served in various chaplaincy roles in different parts of the United States: in prisons, on a college campus, in long-term care facilities, in critical-care hospitals, and in hospices. Dr. Goings is a Board-Certified Chaplain and Board-Certified CPE Supervisor/Educator. She has also pastored several churches in New England and the Midwest and has taught college courses in several institutions in New England and Tennessee. After providing counseling to congregants for more than thirty years, Rev. Dr. Goings has recently begun a private counseling practice, Grateful Hearts @ The Well, and she is pursuing another doctorate in Mental Health Counseling (Advanced Clinical Practices) at Belmont University. Feel free to contact her at DrGoings@GratefulHeartsCounseling.org
Rev. Nelson H. Rabell Gonzàlez (ELCA)
Pronouns: He/Him/His
Stockton, California
Role: Pastor & Mission Developer for the Greater Stockton Area
About: The Rev. Nelson H. Rabell González was born in Puerto Rico (1972). He is an ordained minister of Word and Sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (2002). He has a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering (1996). He worked as a Manufacturing Process Engineer at Motorola in Puerto Rico (1996-1998). He also holds a Master in Divinity (2002), and a Sacred Theology Master in Bible and Lutheran Studies (2007) from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (now United Lutheran Seminary). He is currently in the process of obtaining a Doctor in Ministry Degree from Garrett Evangelical Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. He currently serves the immigrant community of Stockton, California as Pastor and Mission Developer for Misión Latina Luterana (MLL). MLL is a new ELCA mission start in the Sierra Pacific Synod. After the death of George Floy and Brianna Taylor, Rev. Rabell co-founded A New Lodi, and anti racist 501 C3 non for profit organization, which mission is to amplify the voices of marginalized communities in the city of Lodi, CA. As chair of a A New Lodi, Rev Rabell was part of the planning with members of the migrant community of the first event celebrating the legacy of Cesar Chavez, and the first Pride Fest in the city of Lodi. He is married to Dr. Fabiola Ramos, who is both a dentist and an epidemiologist. They have two children; Hiram (21), and Sofía (19). Their dog’s name is Lucas, a rescue dog.
Rev. Joelle Henneman (UMC)
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Columbus, Ohio
Joelle serves as the Senior Pastor of the United Methodist Church for All People in Columbus, Ohio. Her passion for ministry comes in widening the circle of God’s love to include all people. After a 20-year career in the Air Force, Joelle attended Brite Divinity School and served as a pastor in the Central Texas Conference. After graduation, she served as associate pastor of Central United Methodist Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and founded Community of Hope, an outdoor worshipping community of housed and homeless people. Joelle moved to Columbus in 2015 in order to live into a second calling of ministry with the poor. Initially, she served as Director of the Healthy Eating and Living program at Community Development for All People, and has served on the pastoral staff since 2018. The United Methodist Church for All People grew out of the message of unconditional love and is an intentionally cross-class and multi-racial church. The church affirms that people of all ages, all races, all classes, all genders, all sexualities, and all abilities are loved by God just the way they are, and that God is not finished with any of us yet.
LaVinnia Pierson (ELCA)
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
San Jose, California
LaVinnia has been engaged in ministry for her entire adult life, serving in ELCA congregations in the San Jose, Calif. and surrounding Bay Area. She has an MA in Biblical Studies and Theology from Fuller Seminary and an MDiv degree from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary. She has served as an intentional interim pastor in the Sierra Pacific Synod and most recently served as an Associate of Care and Outreach. Her experience and training allow her to bring insight, energy, and passion to ministry, especially in areas of worship, preaching, teaching, care, and outreach. Love of neighbor and justice for the marginalized is central to all she does. Over the years she has written and led Bible studies, planned creative worship, and served in almost every aspect of congregational life as a lay person or in a synodically authorized pastoral position. She is excited to be part of the CEL Steering Committee working for justice in our churches, communities, and our country.
Rev. Pamela Griffith Pond (ELCA)
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
San Francisco Bay Area
Role: Interim Pastor (currently between interims)
About: I am excited to collaborate with colleagues in advocating passionately for God’s justice in a time when the loudest “Christian” voices are mouthpieces of Empire. I have served a variety of Northern California congregations as both settled and interim pastor over 24 years, speaking prophetically, and helping them to live more fully into the baptismal promise to “work for peace and justice in all the earth.” I have also served as executive director of Marin Interfaith Worker Justice, one of more than 60 affiliated faith-based organizations across the country that educate congregations and people of faith about economic justice and mobilize them to support low-wage workers in their struggle for justice in the workplace. My advocacy for marginalized people has included night ministry in Seattle and San Francisco, helping secure prenatal care for poor Latinas in Orange County, California, and advocating for full inclusion of LGBTQIA+ people in the life and ministry of the ELCA. I am a co-founder of Stand Up for Neighborly Novato, an affordable housing advocacy group in the town where I live. I have served on the Elder Care Alliance Board of Directors (a joint ministry of the Sierra Pacific Synod and the Sisters of Mercy) and the Marin Interfaith Council Justice Advocacy Team. I serve under judicatory call to interim ministry in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I have just completed my 6th interim assignment.
The Rev. Lauren Grubaugh Thomas (The Episcopal Church)
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Centennial, Colorado
Role: Associate Rector for Discipleship and Formation -
St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church
About: In my ministry, I have been called and am committed to the integration of transformative spirituality and strategic change. During my training at Fuller Theological Seminary, I emphasized studies in Christian Ethics, which helped me root my work for justice in the Gospel vision of Beloved Community. Working toward this vision has led me to several contexts, urban and suburban, in Los Angeles, Indianapolis, and Denver, with English and Spanish-speaking communities. In 2020 I co-founded the Resistance School with my friend Andre Henry to equip people with hope and tools for social change. Since then, alongside activists and faith leaders, I have taught the spirituality and strategy of nonviolent struggle to people from around the world. I also believe trust and truth-telling are necessary to transform conflict and injustice, and as a certified Kaleidoscope Institute Facilitator, I facilitate dialogue on topics such as gun violence prevention and antiracism. The revolution will be joyful, and I find freedom in dancing my prayers and in biking the beautiful trails of South Denver with my spouse. Learn more about me on my Web site: www.laurengrubaugh.com