The Christian Community and Leadership Home Area of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America welcomes Rev. Derrick Rice as the new director of the Lutheran Theological Center in Atlanta (LTCA). Rev. Rice will be part of the CCL Education for Leadership team and will begin in his role on September 13, 2021. A native Chicagoan, Rev. Rice has been a long-time pastor, activist, civic leader, and organizer in Atlanta.

Rev. Rice is senior pastor of Sankofa United Church of Christ Atlanta, GA, and recently worked with the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. He has experience in policy and legislative procedures and has developed various social justice programs and networks. Rev. Rice is co-founder of Let us Make Man Atlanta, an organization that trains and empowers Black men to transform the Black family and community, and worked in the Westcare Foundation of Chicago, lL., an organization that developed re-entry programs for incarcerated males preparing to re-enter family and community realities. He has experience in creating and implementing programs aimed to equip and improve the lives of the African-American community.

As director of the Lutheran Theological Center in Atlanta, Rev. Rice will lead and recruit participants for non-degree and degree programs in theological education and spiritual growth among rostered leaders, candidates for rostered ministry, and lay leaders with an intentional focus on African Descent pedagogies and in the development of African Descent leaders and communities. He will work closely with the Center’s Board of Directors, Bishops and ELCA theological institutions of the region, and the CCL Education for Leadership team.

Rev. Rice has a Masters in Divinity, with concentrations in homiletics and world religions, from the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta where he graduated in 2004 with honors.