Holy Disruption: A Manifesto for the Future of Faith Communities

Pastor Amy Butler believes deeply that courageous communities of people who live with tenacious love can change the world. Much of her career has been spent helping build communities of radical witness in the institutional church. She is currently serving as Designated Pastor at the Community Church of Honolulu in Hawai’i.

Before that, Amy served for for five years as the seventh Senior Minister and first woman at the helm of The Riverside Church in the City of New York. She holds degrees from Baylor University, the International Baptist Theological Seminary, and Wesley Theological Seminary. Pastor Amy’s professional ministry career began as the director of a homeless shelter for women in New Orleans, Louisiana; she later became Associate Pastor of Membership and Mission at St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church in the city of New Orleans. In 2003, Butler was called to the position of Senior Minister of Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, D.C.’s Chinatown, where she was also the first woman to lead that historic congregation. 

Though leading institutions of faith in this moment can be one of the most challenging leadership tasks around, she is optimistic about the impact faith communities have on the world. 

When she’s not busy leading, teaching, preaching or writing, Pastor Amy enjoys the beach (obviously), and hanging out with friends. She is an avid reader and loves to write, recently completing her first memoir, now published by Penguin Random House Books. Pastor Amy is mom to three amazing young adults who are each making their way in the world; they are her favorites. 

She played the cello in high school but that has absolutely no relevance to her current life. Her children would say that her status as a licensed motorcyclist is the direct result of a midlife crisis, but she disagrees. And she hates exercise with a passion, perpetually bitter about a metabolism that requires it. 

Rev. Dr. Dawn Darwin Weaks is co-pastor of Connection Christian Church, a vibrant and trusted community leader in Texas' Permian Basin. She received her undergrad degree from Baylor University, her master's from Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University, and her doctorate from Saint Paul School of Theology. She was ordained in the Southern Baptist church and served as an associate minister in that denomination before becoming a Disciples of Christ minister in 1999. Dawn's husband and co-pastor is the Rev. Dr. Joe Weaks. They have two double-preachers' kids who are fab young adults. Dawn's passion is to see Church connect with Community in such a way that both are changed. The inspiration for Breakthrough: Trusting God for Big Change in Your Church, Connection is the third century-old congregation she has led to discover bold, new purpose in ministry.

Weaks also write the Daring to Connect Advent devotional and coauthored Holy Disruption: A Manifesto for the Future of Faith Communities (2025). She is also a contributor to the Unbinding the Gospel series, a popular church transformation resource. 

Author's website: dawn.weaks.org/