Proctor Conference 2023: A Family Affair

Post Author: Porsha Williams Gates

We knew we were in for a ride when the Reverend Neichelle R. Guidry, PhD, Dean of Chapel and Director of the WISDOM Center at Spelman College, concluded the reading of Judges 11 by naming it “God’s complicated and terroristic word for God’s complicated trying to get free people of God. Thanks be to God.” As people of faith, we have a responsibility to preach a whole, free, and true Gospel, even if that means opening up to passages that causes us to lay down the rose-colored glasses and readjust our vision. Guidry preached a whole, free, and true Gospel that reminds us that the text is complicated. Her sermon was a powerful moment of the 2023 Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference (SDPC), in the spirit of cultivating prophetic beloved community and leadership. 

Guidry Preaching at The Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference

The late Reverend Dr. Samuel DeWitt Proctor, for whom the conference is named, was Pastor Emeritus of the Abyssinian Baptist Church of New York City and Professor Emeritus at Rutgers University. Dr. Proctor was a great preacher, and the flame of his legacy vibrantly burns through the ongoing work of the conference leaders: Rev. Drs. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., Iva E. Carruthers, Frederick D. Haynes III, and Bishop Leah Daughtry. The mission of the SDPC “is to nurture, support and mobilize African American faith, civic, corporate and philanthropic leaders to address critical needs of human and social justice within local, national and global communities.”¹ The 1100 attendees range in age from the Silent Generation to Gen Z.

While there were several moments of intellectual and spiritual transformation, and a number of breakout sessions, it was the Tuesday evening worship service that was on the tongues of attendees post conference. Like any worship service liturgy, there was the reading of scripture, communal singing, an offering, and a welcome. But then there was the sermon. The rustling sound of pages turning to Judges 11 with a text title, “Choose Life,” would forever change the way that would read this passage.

“Didn’t my Lord Deliver Daniel?” Standing ten toes down in with the mic in her hand, Dean Guidry asked this question within her sermonic examination of Jephthah’s vow that led to the sacrifice of his daughter. Dean Guidry points out that God never asked Jephthah to make this vow and yet still decides to keep it once he sees his daughter coming out of the house. He could have made a different choice, but his vow kept him from seeing the humanity of his own daughter. Engaging a womanist hermeneutic, Guidry displayed impeccable prophetic exegesis for what Phyllis Tribble names as a text of terror. 

Dean Guidry named that men need to engage the practice of going to therapy. Jephthah’s own trauma is the reason why he carried out the vow to sacrifice his daughter. Oftentimes people make decisions and choices out of their own trauma and it is the women around them who are disposed of as a result of the unhealed wounds. Jephthah could have created an opportunity to spare the life of his daughter by seeing her instead of overcompensating for a vow that God never required. 

Dean Guidry named that Jephthah’s daughter teaches us a few things that we, as womxn, can use as tools of survival when death sentences have been placed upon us. The first is to always resist. She negotiated for two more months of life to dwell among the hills. We have the right to negotiate and we have to be the ones who have our own backs with our moral agency. We have the right to create options for ourselves for our safety. We don’t have to go back to places that make us feel unsafe. We don’t have to go back to places that don’t mean us well. These spaces can be home, church, a school, a pulpit, a marriage, a friendship, etc. She went to the hills to wander and the hills provided safety. Dean Guidry proclaimed that it is better to wander in the hills of safety than it is for us to dance in a dangerous home. 

Dean Guidry closed on the note that we should dance and to choose life. Before the terror, the daughter danced. If she could freeze the frame, she would choose to freeze it on the little girl dancing as a reminder for us to recover our dance. We need to remember the dance that those around us might see us and remember that we are here. We should do the work to get well so that our progeny can have a full life. 

I found myself standing in awe with my hands upon my head as Dean Guidry preached with tongues of holy fire. Preaching like this makes a preacher want to be a better preacher, a pastor want to be a better pastor, and a student want to be a better student. 

When you think about conferences, you might think about networking, opportunities for learning, professional development, and inspiration. While this, too can be said about the SDPC, there is one thing that makes it unique: relationships. The conference is built on relationships between person to person, person to community, and person to God. It is a family reunion and a homecoming experience that can only be found in the breaking of bread. After experiencing the quiet of the pandemic for the past few years, the sounds of laughter, tears, and praise filled singing overwhelmed my heart with joy even as we engaged difficult texts. As a member of the African diaspora, the joy hits differently. Culturally, we never know if this time is the last time, so there’s an ongoing desire to make the moment last for as long as we can. The Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference fosters a beloved community that attendees never want to end.

¹ See more about the conference here: https://sdpconference.info/2023-conference/