Amy most recently served until 2019 as the seventh Senior Minister and first woman at the helm of The Riverside Church in the City of New York. She holds degrees from Baylor University, the International Baptist Theological Seminary, and Wesley Theological Seminary. Pastor Amy’s professional ministry career began as the director of a homeless shelter for women in New Orleans, Louisiana; she later became Associate Pastor of Membership and Mission at St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church in the city of New Orleans. In 2003, Butler was called to the position of Senior Minister of Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, D.C.’s Chinatown, where she was also the first woman to lead that historic congregation.

Though leading institutions of faith in this moment can be one of the most challenging leadership tasks around, she is optimistic about the impact faith communities have on the world.

When she’s not busy leading, teaching, preaching or writing, Pastor Amy enjoys exploring the city wearing a mask, and hanging out with friends, at an appropriate social distance. She is an avid reader and loves to write, recently completing her first memoir which will be published by Penguin Random House Books. Pastor Amy is a single mom to three amazing young adults who are each making their way in the world; they are her favorites. She played the cello in high school but that has absolutely no relevance to her current life. Her children would say that her status as a licensed motorcyclist is the direct result of a midlife crisis, but she disagrees. And she hates exercise with a passion, perpetually bitter about a metabolism that requires it.