Join Abundant Love on Sunday, September 1, 2019, at 10:30 a.m. for inspiring services celebrating Black Gay Pride. This special service will be led by visiting Rabbi Sandra Lawson and Bishop-Elect Rev. Troy Sanders at the historic Hammonds House Museum, 503 Peeples Street, Atlanta, GA 30310.
About Pastor Troy Sanders:
Pastor Troy Sanders’ relationship with the divine started when he was a toddler, preaching on the front porch of his home in Denmark, South Carolina, and has served as the bedrock of his faith and ministry. As he grew so did his yearning and zeal for spiritual things, resulting in a life-long ministry designed to affect the lives of youth and adults.
In addition, as he has grown in age, he has also grown personally and spiritually, owning a personal mandate to walk in truth. It is this journey that has prepared him for the calling to minister words of healing and inspiration, being fully aware of the Pauline experience of once being a persecutor now joining the honorable ranks of those persecuted for the sake of true liberation.
About Rabbi Sandra Lawson
Rabbi Sandra Lawson received ordination from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in June 2018. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri and grew up in a military family. She graduated magna cum laude from Saint Leo University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology, and also holds a Master of Arts degree in sociology from Clark Atlanta University. Rabbi Sandra has served in the United States Army with the military police, specializing in investigations involving child abuse and domestic violence. Subsequently she has worked as an adjunct instructor of sociology at local community colleges, and she has also served as the investigative researcher for the Anti-Defamation League’s Southeast Region, becoming the go-to person for Southern law enforcement agencies seeking information on hate groups. She hosts a podcast titled “Hineni” (“Here I Am”), a podcast on Torah, Jewish prayer and Jewish music, and she writes for the Jewish publication The Forward.
Rabbi Sandra’s vision as a Rabbi is to help build a more inclusive Jewish community where all who want to come are welcomed, diversity is embraced and we can come together to learn and to pray. Rabbi Sandra is currently serving as the Associate Chaplain for Jewish Life and the Senior Jewish Educator at Hillel at Elon University, in Elon North Carolina.