Under the spiritual leadership of Rev. Dr. Reginald Thomas, Sr. at the Greater Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church, Rev. Wright accepted his call to the preaching ministry and in December of 2014 was ordained into gospel ministry. In 2018, Wright was elected to serve as the fifth pastor of the Gethsemane Baptist Church in West Baltimore.
As a public servant, Rev. Wright is active in the church and his community. He is the former Chair of the Baltimore City Youth Commission and a member of the 2009 transition team for The Honorable Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake of Baltimore City. In 2018, Rev. Wright led the Baltimore City Souls to Polls Campaign, mobilizing local Baltimore City church congregations to vote. God has blessed Rev. Wright to be active in several organizations including the Baptist Ministers Conference of Baltimore & Vicinity, the Kingdom Association of Covenant Pastors (KACP) and the United Baptist Missionary Convention.
Dr. Whipple is the eighth pastor of the Historic Mount Hebron Baptist Church in Baltimore City. Educationally, he is a graduate of Morehouse College where he earned a Bachelors Degree in Religion and Wake Forest University Divinity School where he earned the Masters Degree in Divinity. He also holds the Masters of Science Degree in Church Management from Villanova University School of Business. In addition he has an earned Doctor of Ministry in Church Leadership Excellence at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC. Pastor Whipple is also an active member of the Baltimore Morehouse Alumni Association.
Other accomplishments include holding the position of Chapel Assistant within The Martin Luther King, Jr. International Chapel, where he first was introduced to many foundations in ministry, being named an Oprah Winfrey Scholar, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholar and Rev. Dr. Thomas Kilgore Scholar at Morehouse College. He is also an inductee of the esteemed Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers at Morehouse College. Recently, he has been recognized as a rising legend by the Morehouse College Alumni Association. In addition, because of his outstanding leadership achievements as a young clergyperson, Dr. Whipple was selected as a Lewis Fellow by the Lewis Center for Church Leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary.
He is a third generation preacher and the youngest son of the late Rev. Norman Munroe Whipple, Sr. and Rev. Dr. Barbara Jean Whipple. His older brothers are the late Norman Monroe Jr. and Jacinth Norman.
Daniel Cotzin Burg has been rabbi of Beth Am Synagogue since July of 2010. Rav Daniel is a senior fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and served on the Maryland Task Force on Reconciliation and Equity.
He is a contributing author to Keeping Faith in Rabbis: A Community Conversation about Rabbinical Education (Ed. Herring and Roscher) and Celebrating the Jewish Year: The Spring and Summer Holidays (Ed. Steinberg). He blogs at www.theUrbanRabbi.org.
Rabbi Burg has helped to articulate a congregational mission and vision for Beth Am’s community engagement initiative (See New Jewish Neighborhood Project) and “In, For Of, Inc.” a 501(c)3 organization affiliated with Beth Am. He serves on the board of the Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies (ICJS) and IFO, and, from 2014-2018, on the Board of Jews United for Justice. He has been a vocal supporter in Annapolis and Baltimore of marriage equality, police reform, environmental justice, legislation to curtail gun violence and other important social and societal issues affecting Beth Am’s city and state.