The Rev. Imani Olear

The Rev. Imani Olear is an American Lutheran pastor and yogi currently serving as the Director for Evangelical Mission and Assistant to the Bishop for Justice Ministry for the Upstate New York Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Before this call, she served at Reformation Lutheran Church in Rochester, NY, beginning in 2012, where she cared for the congregation and helped integrate their ministry with the broader community through interfaith, civic, educational, and outreach partnerships.Pastor Olear is known for creating and facilitating community engagement initiatives, workshops, and Bible studies centered on social justice and healing. She is also the founder of Yoga 4 A Good Hood, a “pay-what-you-can” yoga studio in Rochester that emphasizes community access, social justice principles, and mutual support. She developed a 200-hour yoga teacher training curriculum grounded in those principles.Academically, she holds a Bachelor of Theology from Ohio Dominican University and a Master of Divinity from Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, OH.--This podcast is made possible through funding from the Riefler Ministry Enablement Fund,
an annual grant program administered by the Network of Religious Communities in Western New York.