41. Rev. Craig Robinson

As the senior pastor at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Bay Shore and the spiritual leader of this community, Rev. Craig Robinson inspires hope and strength among his congregation. The former pastoral resident at the historic Charles Street AME in Roxbury, Mass. and a graduate of Yale Divinity School, he’s also been an outspoken advocate for the importance and role of the AME in the wake of the 2015 Charleston, South Carolina mass slayings, highlighting the church’s function as a place of refuge and acceptance and spiritual healing throughout more than 100 years of racial strife and other challenges. He’s also shared his supreme anguish about such “heart-wrenching” and “truly unthinkable” violence against African Americans and black institutions with local and national media outlets. He personally knew Rev. Clementa Pinckney, the South Carolina state senator and head spiritual leader of the historic Emanuel AME Church in Charleston—one of nine who were killed that day. Rev. Robinson remains a shining beacon of light, and hope, within an all-too frequent storm of resurgent darkness.