Joe Phelps is a minister in greater Louisville — for 22 years as pastor of Louisville’s Highland Baptist Church, and since 2018 as Justice Coordinator for the Earth & Spirit Center. Joe helps lead “Listen, Learn, Act,” a movement of white allies for racial justice who listen and learn from Black leaders in Louisville, then discern appropriate ways to act.
Joe came to Louisville in 1997 after 18 years as a minister in Austin, Texas, where he founded the Capital Area Food Bank, now called the Central Texas Food Bank. He served on Kentucky Refugee Ministries’ board; founded No Murders Metro, an interracial group that met weekly at murder sites in Louisville; founded the Black/white clergy coalition EmpowerWest, which elevated the discussion of race in our city; and began Friday Church, a lively gathering bent toward recovery and restoration. Joe’s views have been carried regularly by TV and print media, and he has been recognized by groups including the Center for Women and Families’ 2019 Joan E. Thompson Lifetime Award for Peacemaking, Interfaith Paths to Peace’s 2018 Peacemaker of the Year award, and the Jewish Federation of Louisville’s 2020 Oppenheimer Award. Louisville Magazine featured Joe in an article titled, “The Heretic.”
