REFRESH Clergy Experience

Dr. Blocker is a spiritual director, retreat leader, educator, and consultant dedicated to empowering individuals and organizations (particularly clergy and congregations) to move toward wholeness and actualize their potential as agents of shalom in the world. She is the Founder and President of the Center for Clergy & Congregational Wellness, a nonprofit organization that empowers ministry leaders to facilitate health and wholeness in themselves, their ministry contexts, and their adjacent communities. In addition, she serves as Affiliate Professor in Leadership & Formation at Palmer Theological Seminary of Eastern University, where she teaches in the Seminary’s Masters and Doctoral programs, as well as in the University's Marriage and Family Therapy Doctoral program. She is also a adjunct professor at Northern Theological Seminary.

Her 20-plus years of pastoral ministry experience includes leadership in both large and small congregations, and she has more than 30 years’ experience in management, community relations, communications and marketing, as well as program, leadership and organizational development. Dr. Blocker earned a Master of Divinity from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now Palmer), a Doctor of Ministry from Northern Theological Seminary, and has done clinical training in marriage and family therapy at the Council for Relationships. Her most recent professional affiliations have included serving on the boards of the Transforming Center, Grace & Race Ministries, Inc., and Black Faith Rising, and Cranalieth Spiritual Center. She is also a member of Spiritual Directors International, Spiritual Directors of Color Network, Ltd., the Spiritual Caregivers Network of American Baptist Home Mission Society, and the Steering Committee for the Inter-Seminary Initiative of Interfaith Philadelphia. 

Dr. Stewart serves as Director of Healing & Transforming Communities for American Baptist Home Mission Societies. A licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, she dedicated to helping clergy, couples, and families experience healing, hope, and wholeness. Her mission is to guide those who are feeling disconnected and wounded back to a place of restored relationships—emotionally, spiritually, and relationally. With a holistic approach, she addresses the complex intersections of emotional well-being, spiritual health, and the unique challenges that Christian families face today.

Dr. Stewart has also served as a consultant in organizational development, working with local churches, as well as denominations. Formerly an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Public Health at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, her work as a nurse, educator and researcher included a commitment to reducing the staggering rates of HIV and AIDS among African Americans through engaging the African American church, a pivotal community-based organization in the African American community. 

As a crucial partner in development and implementation of HIV risk reduction interventions, Dr. Stewart worked alongside African American churches, implementing innovative programs to reduce rates of HIV and increase HIV testing among men and women of all ages, their families and their friends.