Bishop John L. Selders

Vice President

The Right Reverend Doctor John L. Selders, Jr. is an ordained minister serving in the United Church of Christ, the Organizing Pastor of Amistad United Church of Christ, Hartford, CT, former Associate College Chaplain and currently Assistant Dean of Students and Coordinator of Community Standards, Trinity College, Hartford, CT and one of the leaders of Moral Monday CT. For 15 years, he served Executive Director of Zezzo House (an 18-unit housing project) in Hartford, CT.

He is the loving spouse of Pamela and father of two, Alisia (daughter), Jay (son) and grand parent of one, Makenzie (granddaughter). Bishop Selders has done his academic and theological reflection attending Life Christian Bible College, Webster University, Eden Theological Seminary and The Anglican Divinity School. In addition to being a talented award-winning songwriter, musician, and performer with local, national, and international credits, he is also the Bishop Presider of The Inter-Denominational Conference of Liberation Congregations and Ministries (ICLCM), one the Senior Bishops of the Fellowship of Affirming Ministries (TFAM) and is the Vice President and 1st Administrative Presiding Prelate of the Freedom Assemblies Worldwide. Bishop Selders is co-founder of Moral Monday CT, a grassroots statewide organization committed to a wide range of social justice issues.

Bishop Selders has exhibited extraordinary commitment and dedication to a number of efforts that have afforded him the opportunity to travel across the country speaking, lecturing, and conducting workshops in the areas of race, oppression, and reproductive justice. He is a teacher, lecturer, workshop leader, an HIV/AIDS educator and activist with numerous citations for his work. +John worked for 12 years as a Lecturer at Yale Divinity School in New Haven, CT., was an Adjunct Faculty Member in the Field Education Department of Andover Newton Theological School, was the Dean of Urban Ministry Track for The Anglican Divinity School and was an adjunct faculty member for The Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education. Bishop serves as an Adjunct Faculty Member of Seattle University School of Theology and Ministry currently and is a faculty fellow for the Center for Hartford Engagement and Research at Trinity College. He serves on a number of boards currently serving as member of the board, an executive leadership team of the board and former national Vice President of the Religious Coalition of Reproductive Choice while working with several organizations both locally and nationally whose work is ultimately concerned with the healing of humanity.

Minister Shannon P. Radford, MDiv

Executive Administrator

Reverend Cedric Harmon

Board Member

Harmon began preaching in his church as a child. After attending seminary, he spent 13 years working for Americans United for Separation of Church and State as Associate Field Director for Religious Outreach, recruiting and training clergy willing to provide legislative testimony about issues of religion and government to legislative bodies.

In 2008, he began as a volunteer organizer of clergy working to gain marriage equality in Washington, D.C., serving as a steering committee member, simultaneously founding an inclusive church congregation and serving as Associate Pastor. He then co-founded Many Voices with Ann Thompson Cook, taking up the post of Minister of Welcoming Resources, later transitioning to co-director, then Executive Director.

In 2011, Harmon presented the lecture "Sexuality as a Gift or Problem: Re-educating the Black Church about LGBT Issues" at the Metropolitan Community Church of Corpus Christi's People of African Descent, Friends & Advocates Conference.

In 2012, Harmon was a presenter at the LGBTQ Victory Institute's annual OUT On the Hill conference.

In 2013, Harmon lectured at the University of Maryland on the topic of the Civil War and civil rights with his presentation "Creating a More Perfect Union."

In 2014, Harmon was a presenter for the workshop "Advancing Equitable Outcomes for Black LBGTQ Communities" at the Association of Black Foundation Executives' annual conference. He also joined dozens of faith and government leaders, including then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, in petitioning San Francisco Archbishop Cordileone to cancel his appearance at the anti-LGBT extremist National Organization for Marriage’s rally and march. He also became involved with SAGE Story, a national digital storytelling and anti-isolation program for LGBT community elders.

In 2015, Harmon and his Many Voices co-founder Ann Thompson Cook published And God Loves Each One: A Black Church Guide to Sexual Orientation. The same year, he offered testimony before Washington, D.C. City Councilmember Yvette M. Alexander and the Committee on Health and Human Services in support of the Death with Dignity Act of 2015.

In 2016, Harmon was a panelist at Fordham University's LGBTQ panel discussion on race, religion, and sexuality. He was also a panelist at the Portland, Oregon's PFLAG Black Chapter screening of Holler If You Hear Me, a BET documentary about LGBTQ youth who are alienated from their families and churches. In addition, as part of Reconciling Ministries Network, Harmon traveled to Liberia as a trainer for the organization's African Christian Community and Theology Training. There, he led workshops on "human sexuality as it relates to the church and [the] community."

In 2017, Harmon spoke on the panels "Widening Our Circle Among Communities of Color" and "Into the Third Millennium" at the annual Rolling the Stone Away conference, a congress of LGBTQ+ Christian leaders. Also in 2017, he was named as one of "12 Faith Leaders to Watch in 2017" by the Center for American Progress, was selected for an Arcus Leadership Fellowship, and received the Distinguished Service Award from the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, D.C.

In 2018, Harmon co-led "Bridging Divides," a faith leader social justice training workshop at the Radically Rooted: Summit for Change. He also presented at Souls A' Fire 6, a national conference on black queer theology, and led the workshop "Being in Relationship" at the Wild Goose Festival, a festival of "Spirit, Justice, Music, and Arts." The same year, as part of the Union of Affirming Christians, Harmon and dozens of other members condemned the Trump Administration for dismantling LGBT-friendly policies. Also in 2018, Harmon lectured at the Metropolitan Community Church of Washington, D.C. on "Becoming a Spiritual Force." In March 2018, the Metropolitan Community Church of New York honored Harmon at their Easter Awards Banquet and Celebration.

In 2019, Harmon acted as a trainer at the Unitarian Universalist Association's "Our Whole Lives Matter" facilitator training, a part of their faith leader development workshops.

In 2020 at the University of Redlands Graduate School of Theology's Applied Wisdom Institute, Harmon acted as a seminar facilitator for the Certificate in LGBTQ Leadership program.

Elder-Elect Willie Heard IV

Board Member

A native of Seattle, Wa, Minister Heard is third generation Classical Pentecostal. From a legacy of Bishops and Pastors in the Pacific Northwest, he brings fresh energy to the ancient tradition. He serves the Mother Church in various capacities and is the curator of www.faww.org. With a BS in Aviation (Minor in Religious Studies) from Central Washington University and a MA in Transformational Leadership from the School of Theology and Ministry at Seattle University, Minister Armani continually pursues excellence in infiltrating the marketplace with the counterculture of the Kin-dom. Always pursuing 1 John 4:7 “Beloved, Let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God,” Minister Armani pushes Freedom Assemblies Worldwide to build a more just and humane world.