Richie Butler
| Richie Butler | |
|---|---|
| File:Richie Butler, 2019.pngFile:Richie Butler, 2019.png | |
| Born | 1971 |
| 🏫 Education | Southern Methodist University, Harvard Divinity School |
| 💼 Occupation | |
| Known for | Founder, Project Unity |
Richie Butler is Senior Pastor of St. Luke “Community” United Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas, and a prominent social unity advocate and community leader as founder of Project Unity.[1][2]
Early Life and Education
Richie Butler grew up on the east side of Austin, Texas, in a single-parent household. He attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, on a football scholarship. After graduating in 1993, he attended Harvard Divinity School while also taking urban planning and finance courses.[3][4]
He is married to Neisha Strambler-Butler.[5]
Ministry and Professional Life
Butler served as a bi-vocational pastor for many years, serving as a preaching pastor and working in the professional real estate business in Dallas as Senior Advisor at Prescott Group. He has overseen nearly $1 billion in real estate investment activity.[3][4][6]
As a businessman focused on revitalizing urban areas, Butler began his real estate development career in South Dallas with a planned community called Unity Estates sponsored by the African-American Pastors’ Coalition.[5][7]
He founded the interdenominational Union Cathedral Church in 2002, and in 2014 he merged Union with the historic St. Paul United Methodist Church and became the church’s senior pastor. The struggling church tripled in attendance overnight.[7][8][9]
In 2020, Butler became Senior Pastor of St. Luke “Community” United Methodist Church, and began preaching from the same pulpit as Dallas icon Zan Holmes.
Activism
Butler was one of the leading voices of peace and advocates for unity in the wake of the 2016 Dallas police shooting when five law enforcement officers were killed by a lone gunman. Through his non-profit organization, Project Unity, Butler convened Dallas citizens and city leaders from all sectors of the city for community-building programs to help heal relationships, especially those between law enforcement and the people of Dallas.[10][11]
Butler hosted a community forum on policing and race relations at St. Paul UMC with former Dallas Police Chief David Brown who had garnered national attention for his own work in improving policing and community relations.[12][13]
Following the shooting, Butler called for a “year of unity,” officially establishing Year of Unity in 2017 with former President George W. Bush serving as honorary chair. The movement became one of the driving forces behind Project Unity’s important cross-cultural conversations and programs, such as Together We Heal, Together We Dine, and Together We Can, which included a partnership with the Dallas Mavericks.[5][14][15][16]
In 2019, Project Unity's efforts were highlighted in a police-community relations exhibit at the National Museum of Law Enforcement.[17]
Butler was instrumental in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and formed the Together We Test program to address the lack of testing in communities of color, giving underserved areas of Dallas grassroots tools to fight the virus.[18][19][20]
In April 2021, Butler launched the Together We Vaccinate program in Southern Dallas neighborhoods to vaccinate residents for COVID-19 living in under resourced neighborhoods who lack access to transportation to larger vaccination hubs.[21][22][23]
Recognition
Butler is the recipient of the Dallas Bar’s 2017 Martin Luther King, Jr. Justice Award.
He was named a 2018 Minority Business Leader honoree by the Dallas Business Journal.
He is a recipient of the National Bar Association’s 2019 Herman M. Sweatt Award.
He is a 2019 SMU Letterman Association Silver Anniversary Mustang Award honoree.
He was awarded the SMU Distinguished Alumni Emerging Leader Award.[24]
He is the recipient of the Dallas Business Journal’s 2021 Leaders in Diversity Award.[25]
References
- ↑ "Since I can't sing Kumbaya, I'll sing praises for a Dallas pastor's plan for a Year of Unity". Dallas News. 2017-01-25. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
- ↑ The Ones To Know: Pastor Richie Butler, retrieved 2021-04-01
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Hodges, Sam (February 16, 2017). "Historic black church determined to look forward". UM News. Retrieved April 1, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Richie Butler Named 2018 Silver Anniversary Mustang Honoree". SMU Athletics. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 White, Susan (October 2020). "Pastor Richie Butler '93 creates opportunities for crucial conversations about race". SMU Magazine. Retrieved April 1, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Prescott Group Team". Prescott Group. 2021. Retrieved April 1, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 7.0 7.1 "At pivotal moment, Richie Butler takes the pulpit at black Dallas church once led by the iconic Zan Holmes". Dallas News. 2020-06-12. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
- ↑ "The Ones To Know: Pastor Richie Butler". 2017-03-03. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
- ↑ "St. Paul United Methodist Church Installed New Pastor – Dallas Post Tribune". Retrieved 2021-04-01.
- ↑ "Why Project Unity?". Project Unity. 2021. Retrieved April 1, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Progress and its discontents". The Economist. July 14, 2016. Retrieved April 1, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Goldstein, Joseph (July 8, 2016). "Dallas Police Chief David Brown, a Reformer, Becomes Face of Nation's Shock". The New York Times. Retrieved April 1, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Dallas Chief David Brown Led Efforts To Improve Policing". NPR.org. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
- ↑ "Remembering July 7: How North Texas Will Mark The Day 5 Officers Died". KERA News. 2017-06-30. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
- ↑ "Dallas group launches initiative to address race and social justice". kvue.com. Retrieved 2021-04-01.
- ↑ Xavier, Diane (September 10, 2020). "Together We Heal". The Dallas Examiner. Retrieved April 1, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "The Cash-Strapped National Law Enforcement Museum, Embraced By Cops and Corporations". www.vice.com. Retrieved 2021-05-20.
- ↑ "To Combat Disparities, Black Churches In Dallas Offer Coronavirus Testing". NPR.org. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
- ↑ "Dallas Mavericks Advisory Council". Dallas Mavericks. Retrieved April 5, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Project Unity's 'Together We Test' Program Extends City-Wide Testing to Dallas Neighborhoods Amid COVID-19 Spike". NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
- ↑ Harris, Jake (April 1, 2021). "Project Unity hosts 'Together We Vaccinate' event Friday". Dallas Business Journal. Retrieved April 5, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "COVID-19 Live Updates: Opening Schools Is Only The First Step In The Game Of Educational Catch-Up". KERA. April 5, 2021. Retrieved April 5, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Together We Vaccinate". Project Unity. Retrieved April 5, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Together We Heal". The Real Estate Council. June 2020. Retrieved April 5, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Here are the Leaders in Diversity of North Texas business". wfaa.com. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
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