Today, the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, Inc. (SDPC), a leading faith-based justice organization serving Black churches and communities nationwide, announced that Rev. Damien Durr will assume leadership as General Secretary, effective December 1, 2025. Rev. Dr. Iva E. Carruthers, who has served with distinction as founding General Secretary and trustee, will become general secretary emerita. As trustee, she will focus on strengthening strategic partnerships and increasing philanthropy.

Lift Every Voice and Sing – 2025 SDPC Conference Closing Worship

At the closing of the Monday morning worship service—the final day of the 2025 Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference—attendees were led in a powerful and spirit-filled rendition of Lift Every Voice and Sing.

This year’s conference theme is both a summons and a safeguard. Sacred Fire is the divine imperative to sustain the flame of faith, justice and people power in the face of escalating threats to Black life and liberation.

SDPC General Secretary, Rev. Dr. Iva Carruthers speaks on the sacredness of African humanity in the face of artificial intelligence, especially the collection and de-aggregation of data. She asks that we (in the diaspora) embody an Afrofuturist Imagination. One where humanity is defined through a lens of African spirituality and notions of “the Divine.” at the Fourth Session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD) at the UN on April 16, 2025.

The Dr. David D. Daniels III Scholarship and Fellowship Fund establishes a sustainable legacy fund (endowment) to support students’ matriculation in their commitments to ministry as they engage in religious and theological study and research in the tradition of Dr. David Daniels. As a global Christian Historian, his interdisciplinary scholarship, as well as his humility and servant leadership as minister and mentor, has left a legendary path for others to build upon and emulate.