Molly Baskette, ‘96 M.Div.

At the heart of YDS is the commitment to train women and men for the lay and ordained ministries of the Christian church. The award for Distinction in Congregational Ministry is awarded to a lay or ordained individual who has shown exceptional pastoral competence in the work of developing the ministry and mission of local congregations.

Molly Baskette is the senior minister of First Church Berkeley UCC in Berkeley, Calif., where nonagenarian Nobel laureates worship with trans activists with pink hair and young multiracial adoptive families. Baskette has worked in ministry her entire adult life, in settings including Mexican orphanages, large suburban Anglo churches, urban multiracial churches, and, immediately before First Church Berkeley, First Church Somerville in Somerville, Mass. An author, Baskette has written books on church renewal, spiritual transformation, grief, and parenting. As a cancer survivor, she is now at work on a memoir of faith and survivorship. In addition to pastoring, she serves as a senior consultant for the Center for Progressive Renewal and coaches individuals and church teams via webinars and in-person trainings.