The Diversity Conference seeks to promote open-mindedness, celebrate diversity, and promote awareness of divergent views on our campus and within our communities. The conference also serves as a forum in which to establish or enhance self-awareness in relation to community building endeavors.

This private event showcases just one of the many ways Ben McBride brings transformative value to internal workplace cultures. His message resonates deeply with organizations seeking to elevate their leadership and cultivate inclusive environments that inspire collaboration, innovation, and growth.

Our MLK Series will conclude with a lecture by Rev. Ben McBride, author of this year’s MRC Bookclub selection: “Troubling the Water: The Urgent Work of Radical Belonging”. Ben McBride is a native of San Francisco, a spiritual leader, a practitioner at fostering belonging, and longtime activist for peace and justice in the Bay Area. Ben is the author of this year’s Multicultural Resource Center (MRC) Book Club selection: “Troubling the Water: The Urgent Work of Radical Belonging”. As the Dr. MLK Jr. Keynote speaker, Ben will offer reflections on how radical belonging amplify Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s teachings on inclusion, and its role in fostering bell hooks' Beloved Community.

Can you imagine a future that includes your enemies? If not, what happens next?

From one of the most courageous and visionary leaders of our time comes Troubling the Water, an immersive book about the violence and injustice that threaten to drown us all. Activist Ben McBride recounts how he first waded into the water: from the Kill Zone in Oakland, where he moved with his young family, to the uprising in Ferguson, to the moral impoverishment of the white evangelical church. In the truth-telling tradition of Bryan Stevenson and Bishop William Barber, McBride leads us right into the fury and fragmentation of our moment, and then steadies us once we're there.

What would it take to truly belong to each other? Radical belonging, McBride argues, means looking at our implicit biases, at our faulty understandings of power, and at how we "other"--or "same"--people. Sometimes it even means troubling the waters―speaking hard truths in situations that appear calm but that cloak injustice.

With a blend of provocation and good humor, McBride leads us beyond inaction on the one hand and polemic on the other. What results is an indelible manifesto--a troublemaking reverend's call to the most urgent task of our time. As inequality, racism, and alienation weaken our common life, well-meaning people ask: What do I need to do to create a world where all can belong? But McBride asserts that instead, we need to ask: Who do I need to become?

Building a shared humanity is hella messy. "Peacemaking" sounds cloying and staying apart seems safer. But unless we want violence to intensify, we are running out of options. In this unforgettable book, McBride reminds us that wading into conflict and stirring up truth is the only way to find real healing.

Ben McBride joins the Unity of Sacramento community in a Sunday morning dialogues with Dr. Rev. Kevin Kitrell Ross as we discuss the newly released book, Troubling the Water, and it’s implications for answering the ontological question of “Who do we need to Become?”

In a time where division seems to define our society, Ben McBride, a celebrated advocate for peace and justice, brings a message of hope and unity. Drawing from his profound experiences and insights shared in his latest publication, "Troubling the Water," McBride will take us on a journey exploring the power of transformative relationships to create a world where everyone belongs.

Cultivate is a conference-like regional gathering hosted in San Diego, CA, curated to help us to find and connect with each other, be inspired for the journey ahead and tap into the collective resources for how to faithfully be the church in our neighborhoods.

Can you imagine a future that includes your enemies? If not, what happens next?

Join us at ShotClock Studios in Oakland on October 24th at 5:00PM, this will be an unforgettable and enlightening event!

Join us at First Presbyterian Church of Oakland on October 2nd at 10:00AM, this will be an unforgettable and enlightening event!

Join us at Ciel Creative Studios on October 13th at 10:00AM, this will be an unforgettable and enlightening event!

Join us at City Church San Francisco on October 8th at 10:00AM, this will be an unforgettable and enlightening event!

Join us at the H.E. Butt Foundation in San Antonio on October 5th at 10:00AM, this will be an unforgettable and enlightening event!