Rev. Roger
Scott Powers
The Rev. Roger Scott Powers began serving the congregation on June
1, 2004.
Roger splits his time between the Light Street congregation and
the First and Franklin Street Presbyterian Church, where he is the
associate pastor.
"I'm thrilled to be working with these two wonderful
churches in the heart of downtown Baltimore," Roger says. "Both
churches are theologically progressive and committed to social justice
and peacemaking. Both churches are actively involved in urban ministry.
And both churches practice the radically inclusive love of Jesus
Christ, which means we welcome all people - young and old, rich
and poor, black and white, gay and straight!" |
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Roger
came to Baltimore from Oakland, California, where he was associate
pastor of Montclair Presbyterian Church for four years. While there,
he chaired the Clergy Caucus of the Oakland Coalition of Congregations,
an interfaith community organization of 32 congregations. He was
also a leader in the East Bay Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice
and California Interfaith Power & Light. He chaired the planning
team for the Presbyterian Peacemaking Conference, "A Force More
Powerful: Embracing Jesus' Way of Nonviolence," held in Montreat,
NC, in July 2003. He served on the Peacemaking Task Force of San
Francisco Presbytery, and he is currently on the National Committee
of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship.
Peacemaking has been Roger's vocation in one way
or another for more than twenty years. From 1982 to 1984, he was
Peacemaking Intern of the Synod of the Northeast. He served on the
national staff of Clergy and Laity Concerned, an interfaith, multiracial
peace and justice organization, from 1985 to 1988. From 1989 until
he began seminary in 1995, he was on the staff of the Albert Einstein
Institution, a nonprofit organization founded by Gene Sharp to advance
the study and use of strategic nonviolent action in conflicts throughout
the world. There he co-edited a 640-page encyclopedia of nonviolent
action entitled Protest, Power, and Change (Garland, 1997).
Roger holds a B. S. in Mechanical Engineering
from Cornell University, an M. A. in International Politics from
the University of Denver, and an M. Div. from Andover Newton Theological
School. He is married to Susan Quass, his partner for nineteen years,
who is pursuing graduate studies at Wesley Theological Seminary
in Washington, D.C. |
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