Dynamic Leadership: The Pivotal Role Leaders Play in Community, Belonging, and Giving in Faith

Bishop Thomas has served as the pastor of the New Psalmist Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland since 1975. Under his leadership, the church body has grown to over 8,000 active members. On October 16, 2010, a vision was fulfilled, and a testimony of God's faithfulness when the New Psalmist family moved into their new edifice, a 4000-seat state of the art facility, designed to minister to the needs of individuals in the 21st century.

Bishop Thomas has developed programs of evangelism, mission and education. Worship services are held every Wednesday at 12:00pm, and every Sunday morning at 7:15am, 9:30am and 12noon. The church’s television broadcast, "Empowering Disciples”, can be viewed locally and nationally.

Bishop Walter S. Thomas, Sr. is a highly regarded executive and personal coach with over 30 years of experience in working with church leaders, pastors, church staffs, and building effective ministry teams. Bishop Thomas is a Myers Briggs Practitioner certified in MBTI assessments and interpretations. He leads workshops and seminars across the county on preparing leaders for their next level.

Bishop Thomas is the presiding prelate of Kingdom Association of Covenant Pastors, a fellowship that endeavors to encourage, assist, edify, and celebrate Pastors in kingdom work. He has also served as the past president of the Hampton University Minister's Conference 1999-2002. He is also author of the books Spiritual Navigation for the 21st Century and Good Meat Makes its Own Gravy, Hanging on by a Thread, and editor of Outstanding Black Sermons Volume 4 in which he is featured as one of the contributors.

Bishop Thomas received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Maryland in Economics. He earned his Master of Divinity degree from the Howard University School of Religion in Washington, D.C. and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Saint Mary's Seminary & University in Baltimore, Maryland and honorary degrees Virginia Seminary and Bethune Cookman College.

Rev. Dorothy Scott Boulware is a member of the executive team at AFRO News, where she facilitates the publication of news daily on Afro.com, social media platforms, multiple weekly newsletters, and the legacy weekly print edition.

AFRO News is an industry leader in print, digital and social media publishing. Its global reach of over 1.5 million weekly readers has earned AFRO the title of “The Nation’s #1 African American Newspaper.”

Prior to her role at AFRO News, Rev. Boulware served as an urban pastor in Baltimore City, MD for many years where her love of words as a substantial expression of her faith was coupled with a passion for teaching and pastoral care. She is a published author and holds a B.A. in English and a professional degree in ministry, the M.Div., from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.

Melissa Spas is the Managing Director of Education and Engagement for the Lake Institute on Faith & Giving at Indiana University. She joined the staff of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy in 2016, having spent two years developing new initiatives and strategic partnerships for Indiana University’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs in Bloomington. From 2007-2013, Melissa worked for Leadership Education at Duke Divinity, where she contributed to the development, design, and delivery of strategic leadership programs and resources for Christian institutions. A native of Chautauqua, New York, Melissa is a graduate of Allegheny College and Harvard Divinity School, and she is an active lay person in the United Methodist Church.

Wale Mafolasire is the founder and CEO of Givelify, the most loved and trusted online and mobile giving platform. Since launching the company in 2013, more than 1 million donors have made over $3 Billion donations to 55,000 places of worship and nonprofits across the globe.

After his experiences to give proved to be complicated and unsuccessful, Wale was inspired to create the Givelify app. Today, it’s the leading giving app on the App Store and Google Play Store in number of downloads, reviews, and ratings with nearly 80,000 verified reviews with an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars.

Wale’s belief that every individual is innately a good person that wants to do good, continues to fuel his work today. He continues to redefine what a philanthropist looks like by ensuring giving is easy and accessible to all.

He was named one of Indy’s Best & Brightest, and in 2021, was featured on Forbes.com and Givelify made the Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America list. Wale has been involved with a number of humanitarian rights organizations, and as a Nigerian immigrant, supports the Nigerians in Diaspora Organization.

Dr. Tiffani Ng is the Philanthropic Research Scientist at Givelify, where she studies the psychology of how and why people give. Dr. Ng has over a decade of experience conducting experimental behavioral science, having presented her research at both national and international seminars and conferences. She received her PhD in Psychology with a concentration in Brain, Behavior, and Cognition at Northwestern University.