Rev. Dr. Valerie Miles-Tribble
Dr. Valerie is Professor of Ministerial Leadership and Practical Theology at BST. Valerie engages liberation theology as a womanist scholar, practical theologian, and community activist pastor to raise critical awareness of systemic oppressions. As the 2021 GTU Distinguished Faculty Lecturer, Valerie holds dual GTU department alignment in Theology & Ethics and Religion & Practice to integrate theoethics with intersections of social justice praxis in church and society for restorative public approaches. In addition to several journal publications and book chapter contributions, she authored the monograph, Change Agent Church in Black Lives Matter Times: Urgency for Action. Valerie is the Interim Pastor at Faith Church in Oakland, California.
Doctor of Ministry, 2021
Rev. Dr. Hakizimana “Appolo” Appolinaire
Rev. Dr. Hakizimana “Appolo” Appolinaire is BST’s 2024-25 Alum of the Year! Dr. Appolinaire serves as a Country Director of Scripture Union Rwanda, and Pastor in the Anglican Church of Rwanda, Diocese of Karongi. From 2019- 2020, he served as Professional Chaplain, in University of California, San Francisco’s hospital. From 2019- 2022, he was a deputy Regal Representative of the Anglican Church, Gahini Diocese. From 2003 – 2010, Dr. Appolinaire served as Executive Secretary of World mission frontiers in Tanzania, Africa, and as a Pastor of Rukara Parish in the Anglican Church from (2000 – 2003). He holds a Doctor of Ministry from Berkeley School of Theology, two Masters’ degrees, one from Wyclif University, and the other from Berkeley School of Theology, and a Bachelor’s degree in Theology from Tanga, Tanzania. Appolinaire is married to Mukarwego Esperance, with three sons. He received vision to build East Africa Community Healing when he was working in the UCSF hospital where he was working as a professional Chaplain, after understanding how much people are suffering in the hospital physical, mental, and spiritual disease. He wishes to see no one suffering alone, He hopes that through the Community Healing Center project, people will learn how to support each other during someone’s suffering.
Honorary Doctorate, 2007
Rev. Dr. H. James “Jim” Hopkins
Rev. Dr. H. James “Jim” Hopkins is retiring after serving as Senior Pastor at Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church since 1989! Rev. Dr. Hopkins earned his Master of Divinity in 1983 and received an honorary doctorate in 2007 from Berkeley School of Theology.
Additionally, he served on BST’s Board of Trustees from 2007 – 2015. For 37 years, Pastor Jim served LABC as a preacher, teacher, and writer, offering pastoral care and leadership. Pastor Jim also serves as Pastor of LABC’s partner church, Oakland First Baptist Church. His dedication to his congregation and the wider community is a core part of his calling. In addition to his pastoral duties, he has held several key leadership positions, including President of the Lakeshore Avenue Business Improvement District, President of the American Baptist Ministers Council of Northern California, Co-Chair of the Faith In Action East Bay Board, Vice President of the Interfaith Council of Alameda County, faith leader in the Oakland Ceasefire Partnership, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. Before his tenure at LABC, Pastor Jim served as the Associate Pastor of The First Baptist Church of Los Angeles. Please join us in celebrating Pastor Jim’s retirement and his decades of dedicated service and leadership!
Rev. Dr. Marjorie B. Lewis
Dr. Lewis’s 35-year tenure both in Oakland, California and Denver, Colorado features service in three arenas: religion, academia, and behavioral health. She combines academic and applied orientations informed as an Ordained Minister (D. Min.), a Public Policy Analyst (Ph.D.), and a Colorado State Licensed Mental and Behavioral Health Professional (trainer, evaluator, and direct services provider). Dr. Lewis has utilized these skills in military and prison reentry, psychotherapy, counseling, and psychoeducation. She has served in several faith communities, including but not limited to Assistant to the Pastor (Rev. Dr. J. Alfred Smith, Sr.) at the Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland. In the academic realm, she is a PhD. Graduate of the Heinze School of Public Policy, was a Post Doctoral Fellow at the Goldman School of Public Policy, taught in higher education as a tenured track Professor at the University of Colorado, Denver’s Graduate School of Public Affairs and the Hubert Humphrey School of Public Affairs. In the mental and behavioral health venues, she has served as a member of the Colorado Board of Parole and is currently on the WellPower Mental Health Community Center’s Board of Directors, serving as chairperson of their Governance Committee. She is the author of two books, Singing Songs in a Strange Land: Anecdotes on Resilience, and First Aid for the Soul: Resilience, Rehabilitation and Recovery. Dr. Lewis received her Master of Arts in Religion from Berkeley School of Theology in 1991.
Doctor of Ministry, 2017
Rev. Dr. Marie Onwubuariri
Marie is director of Intercultural Ministries for American Baptist Home Mission Societies (ABHMS) in Pennsylvania and also affiliate faculty at BST. She edited the book Trouble the Water: A Christian Resource for the Work of Racial Justice and authored the article “Reframing tension for transformation: Bridge-crossing | bridge-making | bridge-being“.
Master of Community Leadership, 2011
Doctor of Ministry, 2024
Rev. Dr. Michael A. Smith
Michael has been Pastor of the McGee Avenue Baptist Church in Berkeley California for 18 years. In 2014, he became the founding Executive Director of The Center for Food, Faith & Justice which serves as a faith-based non-profit arm of the church as a lead organization dedicated to the issues of environmental and food justice, health equity and economic development. His DMin dissertation topic was The Black Earth Theology Project: Toward Reconciliation and Care of God’s Creation.
