The Eastern PA Conference’s Congregational Development Team (CDT) and Commission on Religion & Race (CORR) will collaborate again in October on a second conference-wide book study that focuses on racism in America. The weekly study, via Zoom, will gather readers for lively discussion on Wednesdays, Oct. 6, 13, 20 and 27, from 11 AM to 12 noon, to explore the racially conscious 2018 book Plantation Jesus .
In a remarkable example of shared authorship, writer Andi Cumbo-Floyd co-wrote the book with Skot Welch, founder of Global Bridgebuilders, a consulting firm focusing on cultural transformation and inclusion. Welch had begun work on the book with his close friend Rick Wilson, an Emmy Award-winning media producer and writer who died in 2014. Wilson and Welch had co-hosted the popular radio program Radio in Black and White.
Cumbo-Floyd is “a historian and author who finds her passion in researching enslaved communities in Virginia and helping to recover the stories of those amazing people for their descendants and the wider community. She can be found at www.andilit.com.”
Cumbo-Floyd will lead sessions of the study, which, like the book, will cover challenging topics related to race, ethnicity, American Christianity and cultural competence. Recruited by CORR member the Rev. Bev Andrews, Cumbo-Floyd led CORR members in a deeply insightful, candid study and discussion of Plantation Jesus this summer, leading the commission to recommend it to the entire conference.
CORR members will facilitate the study, which will include breakout rooms for small-group discussion. CORR and CDT together again offered free e-books to thefirst 50 study registrants.
The book is available for purchase in paperback, Kindle and Audible formats.