Naomi Washington Leapheart to Speak At General Assembly GLAD Banquet

Naomi Washington Leapheart, Faith Work Director for the National LGBTQ Task Force, will be the speaker at the GLAD Alliance General Assembly Banquet on Sunday July 9.

Naomi, a daughter of Detroit, is a minister, educator, organizer, and organizational consultant. She earned the Master of Divinity degree from Lancaster Theological Seminary in 2016. While at Lancaster, Naomi was a Presidential Scholar and received awards for preaching and worship. She was also honored to receive the United Church of Christ’s Joseph H. Evans Scholarship for her justice advocacy and proven leadership abilities in the church and world.

Naomi is the Faith Work Director for the National LGBTQ Task Force, the country’s oldest national LGBTQ justice and equality group. She also is a member of the adjunct faculty of the Theology and Religious Studies department at Villanova University. She delights in singing with the Philly Threshold Choir, a group whose mission is to bring comfort to people in transition from life to death.

Before joining the Task Force, Naomi was the suburban community organizer for POWER, a multi-faith, multi-racial network of congregations working to shift power, change public policy, and do justice for the most vulnerable in Metro Philadelphia. She also served as Co-Pastor and Minister of Music at the Wisdom’s Table at St. Peter’s United Church of Christ. She is proudly affiliated with The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries, an ecumenical group of predominantly-Black religious leaders and laity who are invested in a theology of radical inclusivity.

Naomi’s work is included in the volume, “From Generation to Generation: A Commemorative Collection of African American Millennial Sermons from the Festival of Preachers 2010-2015,” a rare and unique compilation of what the nation’s most promising young African-American ministers are thinking and proclaiming about the Christian faith (Chalice Press, 2015).

Naomi shares her life with her spouse and partner in ministry, Kentina, a chaplain and religious educator. Together, they are raising a curious, energetic, future Oscar-winning tween, Sophia.