Michael-Ray Mathews is an ordained American Baptist minister and a leading pastor in the multi-faith movement for justice. He brings over 30 years of ministry leadership experience - as a senior pastor, grassroots leader, psalmist and community organizer - to his work as the Director of Clergy Organizing for Faith in Action (formerly PICO National Network).
Since 2014, Michael-Ray’s leadership has centered on the Theology of Resistance. Developed in the aftermath of the killing of unarmed teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, Theology of Resistance is a prophetic, multi-faith discourse and is intended to ignite conversations and spark faith leaders to fight injustice and dehumanization and cultivate Beloved Community. Michael-Ray engages these conversations as the host of the Prophetic Resistance Podcast.
Rev. Mathews is president of the Alliance of Baptists, a progressive Baptist movement for justice and healing. The founding convener of the Racial Justice Community of the Alliance of Baptists, he, along with Drs. Marie Onwubuariri and Cody J. Sanders, is the co-editor of Trouble the Waters: A Christian Resource for the Work of Racial Justice, a project of the Alliance of Baptists.
A native of Compton, California, Michael-Ray earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Sciences and Communications from the University of Southern California and a Master of Divinity degree from the American Baptist Seminary of the West and the Graduate Theological Union.
Michael-Ray and Dené, his wife of 25 years, live in San José, California and are the proud parents of one son, Kenan, a rising senior at The Ohio State University.
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