Members of the Religious Liberty Council have elected a full slate of RLC officers in addition to representatives to the board of directors of Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.
The council is one of many supporting groups for BJC and is comprised of donors who contributed to the Washington, D.C.-based religious rights organization during the previous three years. The election was held during a virtual meeting June 2.
Jamie Washam
Andy Klingenstein
RLC members elected to their first three-year terms on the BJC board are Jamie Washam, pastor of First Baptist Church of America in Providence, R.I., and Andy Klingenstein, CEO of Kingenstein Philanthropies, a family foundation based in the nation’s capital.
Re-elected to second three-year terms on the BJC board are Leslie Copeland, chief operating officer with the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA and chair of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, and Keisha McKenzie, a strategist who interprets communication, religion, spirituality and politics as social-change technologies.
Newly elected as RLC secretary-treasurer is John Weber, a real estate attorney with Holland and Knight in Nashville, Tenn., and general counsel for the Kentucky Democratic Party.
Kari Baumann
Amethyst Holmes
Re-elected as RLC officers are co-chairs Amethyst Holmes, a product and technology fellow with The 19th News, and Kari Baumann, pastor to children and families at College Park Baptist Church in Greensboro, N.C.
BJC Executive Director Amanda Tyler praised the council for providing a “wonderful leadership pipeline” for the religious liberties organization. She also thanked outgoing board members and RLC members Alyssa Aldape and Lauren Reliford for their advocacy and leadership.
BJC Director of Development Katie Callaway added that the commission is much more than a group of donors.
“You all are one of our greatest assets because you are the people who care about religious liberty and you are poised to do so throughout the country. You are BJC for your local communities,” she said.