Pastor AJ Blackwood, MDiv
Mountain Top Community Minister / UURJ Coordinator
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Pastor AJ (he/him) serves as the Community Minister for The Mountain Top BIPOC Community, as well as the coordinator of UUs for Racial Justice.
Pastor AJ Blackwood is an innovative spiritual leader with an entrepreneurial spirit and a passion for creating vibrant, multi-sensory worship. Known for his outside-the-box thinking, AJ integrates multimedia, art, and storytelling to craft spiritually grounded experiences that engage the whole person ~ heart, mind, body, and spirit.
A Southern California native, AJ holds a Master of Divinity from Claremont School of Theology and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy with a minor in Comparative Religions from the University of California, Irvine.
AJ moved to Colorado in September 2019 to serve Prairie UU Church in Parker, and then served virtually as Executive Director of UU Justice Ministry of California. Soon after arriving, he stepped into leadership with UUs for Racial Justice and helped lead the Fall 2020 Speakers Series, bringing together BIPOC UU leaders from across the country to share their stories with the wider Colorado UU community.
He is a founding steering team member and Community Minister of The Mountain Top: A UU BIPOC Community, and coordinator of UUs for Racial Justice, as well as Executive Director of Bridges: A UU Network.
AJ has served multiple congregations across California, including as Consulting Minister at Sepulveda UU Society in Los Angeles and UU Fellowship of Kern County in Bakersfield. Earlier in his ministry, he completed a dual-site internship at Neighborhood UU Church in Pasadena and UU Church of the Verdugo Hills in La Crescenta.
His call to Unitarian Universalist ministry began in 2005 while attending Orange Coast UU Church (OCUUC) in Costa Mesa, where The Rev. Dr. Karen Stoyanoff encouraged him to pursue ordained ministry. During his time at OCUUC, AJ developed a thriving young adult ministry and served as Student Minister. He entered seminary in 2006, serving on the Worship Council and as administrator of the Center for Sexuality and Christian Life.
AJ’s commitment to justice has shaped much of his ministry. In 2008, he became a leader in the No on Proposition 8 campaign, later serving as a founding board member of the Orange County Equality Coalition. In 2010, he founded Progressive Interfaith Alliance, a community organization dedicated to advancing justice for underrepresented communities.
Raised in a Roman Catholic home with strong Baptist influences in Anaheim, California, AJ first discerned his call to ministry in his youth. Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, he served several Roman Catholic congregations and regional ministries, developing youth and young adult leadership and expanding LGBTQ+ outreach ministries.
On a personal note, Pastor AJ is married to Denard Blackwood and is the proud father of two adult children, Naomi-Rose and Jon-Luc, who live in Colorado and Utah, respectively. He enjoys bicycling, sci-fi and fantasy films and television, sewing, and spirited conversations about politics, theology, and justice.