Historians often discuss watershed moments—critical turning points in history that fundamentally change how people think about and do life. The past 1 ½ years has been a quintessential watershed moment in which many communities have experienced multiple painful crises simultaneously. Just as God raised up and equipped Esther to respond to the crisis in her day, God is calling today’s Christian women leaders to step up with conviction, step out on faith and step forward with courage.

Rev. Gloria White-Hammond, M.D. is co-pastor of Bethel AME Church in Boston and a pediatrician who long practiced at the South End Community Health Center. She also co-directs the Harvard Medical School and Harvard Divinity School course, “Medicine and Spirituality in Healing.” Rev. Gloria is a longtime champion of health equity and publicly speaks about COVID-19 vaccination as a pastor and a physician, especially in communities of color. Rev. Gloria’s innovative ministries include Do The Write Thing, a creative writing mentoring ministry for high-risk adolescent girls; My Sister’s Keeper,  www.mskeeper.org , a humanitarian and human rights organization that champions social justice for women and girls in conflict zones; and Shatter the Silence, a ministry that addresses sexual victimization in communities of faith.