The Right Reverend Ruben L. Speaks received his AB degree from Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa; MDiv from Drew Theological Seminary, Madison, New Jersey; and STM from Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1972, Bishop Speaks was elected the seventy-sixth bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and for eight years served as presiding bishop in West Africa. He also authored 'Higher Catechism for Ministers and Lay Leaders', 'The Minister and His Task', 'The Church and Black Liberation', and 'God in an Age of Scarcity'.
