Date: Thursday, April 1, 2027
Time: 10:00AM-3:00PM
Modality: Online and In Person
Instructors: Rev. Dr. Irie Session and Rev. Dr. Justin Lester
This workshop begins by helping faith-based organizations, including congregations, nonprofits, and ministries, hold the full truth about artificial intelligence. That truth includes grief over what this technology costs the earth and the most vulnerable among us, and it includes real gifts, the creativity and resourcefulness that marginalized communities have always brought to new tools. It also means groundwork, the willingness to ask hard questions and hold developers and systems accountable rather than settling for critique alone. The workshop closes with practical guidance, specific platforms, and prompting approaches that ease the load on staff and volunteers, not to replace people but to free them up for the creative, relational, and justice work only people can do.
Rev. Dr. Irie Session
Dr. Irie Lynne Session is an award-winning minister, pastor, author, TEDx presenter, spiritual entrepreneur, transformation strategist, and Womanist practitioner. Raised in the South Bronx and in the New York City Housing Projects, she began her service to humanity by ministering to person’s marginalized in society due to incarceration, addiction, commercial sexual exploitation, prostitution, and HIV/AIDS histories. She holds an undergraduate degree in Social Work from Oklahoma Christian University; a Master of Divinity with Certificate in Black Church Studies from Brite Divinity School; and a Doctor of Ministry in Transformative Leadership and Prophetic Preaching from Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, in Rochester, New York.
Her first career was in Social Work with employment as a Parole Officer with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, an Investigator with the Texas Department of Protective & Regulatory Services (CPS), an Adolescent Services Director for Bryan’s House - a Dallas nonprofit serving children and families impacted by HIV/AIDS, and Director of Spiritual Support and Training for New Friends New Life, a non-profit providing services to women seeking out of prostitution and other forms of commercial sexual exploitation.
As an ordained clergywoman with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) she’s held the following leadership roles: Associate Area Minister of the North Texas Area in the Southwest from 2006-2012; Vice-President and President of the National Convocation Board; and President of both the Black Ministers Fellowship and the Fellowship of Black Disciples Clergywomen.
Currently, Dr. Irie is one of the organizing Co-Pastors leading The Gathering, A Womanist Church of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Dallas, Texas; CEO of DreamBIG Coaching & Consulting Services where she strategizes with Black women to transcend barriers to flourishing by leveraging their professional expertise and experience to transform ideas into income, live their dreams, achieve economic autonomy; and creator and curator of Sistarhood Retreats.
Dr. Irie has educated and mentored countless students as a visiting professor at Perkins School of Theology, Eden Theological Seminary, Memphis Theological Seminary, and Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University. She is a Certified CEU instructor for The School for Global 2 Citizenry where her online course, Holy Disruptors: Igniting Social Change Through Spiritual Entrepreneurship receives rave reviews. Her messages of liberation and transformation using a womanist lens have been globally impactful.
In partnership with Chicago Theological Seminary and NSP (Nevertheless, She Preached) Dr. Irie and Dr. Kamilah Hall Sharp, Co-Pastors of The Gathering, are the recipients of a $1.18M five-year Compelling Preaching Initiative Grant from the Lilly Foundation (Building New Tables: Queering Womanist Preaching). Dr. Irie also received a $50,000 Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal Grant (2022-2023) from Christian Theological Seminary and in 2019 a $15,000 Pastoral Study Project Grant from the Louisville Institute. Her Clergy Renewal Grant was themed, Reclaiming Joy as My Birthright, and her Pastoral Study Project research was titled, Womanist Ecclesiologies: Black Women Resisting White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy. Also, in 2019 Dr. Irie was inducted into the 2020 Board of Preachers in the Martin Luther King Jr. International College of Ministers and Laity at Morehouse College.
She enjoys travel abroad as the Resident Reverend for DDT-CSI, a Black owned travel company serving over 500 travelers. In that capacity she preaches an annual Sermon on the Beach. Dr. Irie has preached on beaches in St. Maarten, Aruba, Jamaica, Panama, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Turks & Caicos, and Costa Rica.
Dr. Irie is co-author of, The Gathering, A Womanist Church: Origins, Stories, Sermons, & Litanies. She is also author of Badass Women of the Bible and, Murdered Souls, Resurrected Lives. All are available on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. Her latest Journal article with Luther Seminary’s Word & World is titled, “Sawubona in a Pandemic: Black Women, Embodied Ecclesiology, and Sacred Spaces in Cyberspace.”
Dr. Irie is the single mother to one daughter, 31-year-old India Liana.
Motto: When Black Women Flourish, So Can Everyone Else.
Social Media Handles:
Facebook: @revdririe
IG: Revdririe
BlueSky: @thedreamstrategist
Rev. Dr. Justin Lester
Rev. Dr. Justin R. Lester is a pastor, author, educator, and strategist committed to building joyful, justice-driven communities. He serves as the Senior Pastor of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Vallejo, California, where he is leading a multigenerational, tech-forward congregation into deeper discipleship and civic impact. A graduate of Marquette University (B.A., M.A.), Vanderbilt Divinity School (M.Div.), and Boston University School of Theology (D.Min.) His doctoral work focused on gamification in the Black Church, rethinking how spiritual engagement can be revived through play, design, and innovation.
Known online as @ThatTechPastor, Dr. Lester is an International voice at the intersection of faith and AI. He is the creator of PastorGPT, an AI platform built to serve pastors and churches, and the founder of TheoXTech, a national conference exploring theology, innovation, and emerging technology. He also develops AI tools, masterclasses, and digital resources that equip leaders, families, and congregations to engage technology ethically and creatively.
A proud husband to Courtney and father to Camden, Justin is also the author of The Agentic Church , and the Brown Dad, Brown Boy children’s series.
