Micah Institute at New York Theological Seminary announces 2011 Fellows
Morningside Heights, New York – February 9, 2011 – New York Theological Seminary (NYTS) proudly announces its 2011 fellows to the Micah Institute: Revs. Anita Burson and Edison Bond, as Ella Baker fellows and, Reinaldo Daniel Diaz, the Cesar Chavez Fellow.
About Rev. Anita Burson, Ella Baker Fellow
Rev. Burson serves as the Pastor of the Elpida Community Church of Christ (Baptist) in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. A native of Henderson, North Carolina, she is a fifth generation clergy member and has a vivid recall of her father, the late Dr. O. B. J., Burson leading civil rights demonstrations during her childhood.
Ella Baker was raised in a nearby town and Rev. Burson shares her commitment to fighting for justice.
Rev. Burson has a long history of working with religious leaders and organizations and laity across denominational lines and faith traditions. In addition to serving at Elpida, she actively works with the Interfaith Center of New York. She is the Vice President of the Brooklyn Chapter of the NAACP, and a member of the NAACP National Religious Leaders Summit. Rev. Burson holds membership in various denominational, social and fraternal organizations.
About Rev. Edison Bond, Ella Baker Fellow
Rev. Bond pastors at Citadel of Praise in Queens, NY. A seasoned leader on the Micah Institute’s growing team of clergy liaisons, Bond brings a wealth of experience from both the labor movement and the faith-rooted organizing movement as an officer within his labor organization. He is currently a student in the Micah Doctor of Ministry Degree in Transformational Leadership and Organizing at New York Theological Seminary.
About Reinaldo Daniel Diaz, Cesar Chavez Fellow
Reinaldo Diaz is a worship leader from Love Gospel Assembly Church in the Bronx, pursuing a Master’s of Divinity from New York Theological Seminary and a Master’s of Social Work from Fordham University. He is President of Lifecause, an organization committed to work to reduce HIV/AIDS and STD infections within high risk Latino and African American communities. He is an active, credentialed missionary. “I am proud to have been chosen as the Cesar Chavez Fellow for the purpose of reaching the Latino Pastoral community. Working with all of these wonderful people on behalf of the working poor of this city gives me hope.”
About New York Theological Seminary
NYTS is a non-denominational center for theological education with more than 600 students, offering certificates, graduate and post-graduate degrees. The Seminary works in close partnership with churches throughout the metropolitan area and around the world. Its student body is one of the most diverse in the nation today, and its programs are offered at a variety of academic levels in order to provide rich resources for ministry. NYTS prepares men and women for effective service in church and society in parish ministry and other vital ministries such as chaplaincy, social policy advocacy, community organizing and leadership in the corporate sector. NYTS offers programs in several languages and as multiple locations throughout the New York area as well as online. For more information about NYTS, visit the Seminary’s website at www.nyts.edu/.
About the Micah Institute at NYTS
The Micah Institute at NYTS partners with the Micah Challenge USA Campaign, housed at NYTS. Both endeavors are part of the larger global Micah Challenge, a movement of churches, universities, organizations and individuals in forty countries, committed to empowering churches to do their part in achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, which aim to cut extreme global poverty in half by the year 2015.
The various efforts of the Micah Institute at NYTS will be designed to educate religious leaders and congregations from Mainline, Evangelical, and Pentecostal traditions in the greater New York metropolitan region about poverty and justice. Emphasizing biblical teachings regarding compassion of heart and quickness of hands and feet, and guided by the prophet Micah’s imperative to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God, the Institute will seek to sensitize and engage Christians in practical ways to end poverty. Religious leaders and congregations will be especially encouraged to hold elected leaders accountable for the needs of the poor in an effort to realize the United Nations Millennium Development Goals by 2015. The Director of the Micah Institute at NYTS is Peter G. Heltzel, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, while the Executive Director is Jason Fileta, coordinator of the Micah Challenge USA Campaign. For more information about the Micah Institute at NYTS, visit the website at
https://www.nyts.edu/programs/
Contact person:
Dr. Peter G. Heltzel
Associate Professor of Systematic Theology
New York Theological Seminary
475 Riverside Drive, Suite 500
New York, New York 10115
(212) 870-1252
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