Our Staff Team

Rev. Dr. Stephen G. Ray Jr. is currently the Crump Visiting Professor and BRSG Scholar-in-Residence at the Seminary of the Southwest. He was the 13th President of Chicago Theological Seminary (a seminary related to the United Church of Christ). He is the Immediate Past President of the Society for the Study of Black Religion. An ordained minister of the United Church of Christ, Ray has served as assistant minister at Faith Congregational Church in Hartford, CT., pastor of The Black Church at Yale in New Haven, CT., interim pastor at Imani Fellowship Community Church (UCC) in Hartford, CT., and Plymouth Congregational Church (UCC) in Louisville, KY.

In his academic career Ray held appointments as the Neal F. and Ila A. Fisher Chair of Theology and is Professor of Systematic Theology at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary; Associate Professor of African-American Studies and Director of the Urban Theological Institute at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, Associate Professor of Theology and Philosophy at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and lectured at Yale Divinity School and the Hartford Seminary. 

Dr. Ray received his Ph.D. in Theology and African-American Studies from Yale University and his M.Div. (summa cum laude) from the Yale Divinity School. Among his awards are the Hooker Fellowship for Excellence in Theological Studies; Charter Oak State College Distinguished Alumni Award; Kentuckiana Metroversity, Distinguished Teacher of Adult Learners, 2006 Associated Church Press Award of Excellence for Column, and the 2018 Alumni Award for Distinction in Theological Education from Yale Divinity School. 

A prolific author, his works include: A Struggle from the Start: The Black Community of Hartford, 1639-1960 and Do No Harm: Social Sin and Christian Responsibility. In addition to his own monographs, he is co-author of Black Church Studies: An Introduction; editor of the 20th Anniversary Edition of We Have Been Believers: An African-American Systematic Theology; co-editor of Awake to the Moment: Introduction to Theology; and a contributor to several other books, academic journals, and church publications.

Caesar is a life-long New Haven native and musician. He studied music at the Neighborhood Music School and then at Yale College and the Yale School of Music, where he earned his M.M. in Oboe with secondary study of Organ.  Caesar loves being a church music director and has continued this work (more of a calling) along with his administrative duties at Yale as the University's Chief Financial Aid Officer.

Jack manages our business operations including our facilities, technology, personnel, financial operations, rental client groups and all the many other (non-pastoral) organizational issues for the church. He began his career as a visual artist and musician. He holds a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and a MFA from Syracuse University. His management expertise derives from more than 30 years working as an Executive Director and consultant for nonprofit arts organizations. Jack brings a wealth of organizational, management, design and planning skills to the UCG team.