Stephen Erich

biography

Stephen joined the Takoma Park Seventh-day Adventist Church as Pastor for Operations and Community Engagement in March 2025. 

Prior to Takoma Park, Stephen worked in New York as a religious life advisor at Columbia University and NYU, in close collaboration with Church of the Advent Hope, and served as pastor for the Babylon Seventh-day Adventist Church in Long Island. He co-chaired a committee on anti-racism as a spiritual practice at NYU and co-founded a DEI consultancy called Anti-Racist Hot Dog. 

Stephen holds a Master of Arts in Religion from Yale Divinity School and a Master of Business Administration from Andrews University. He has taught accounting and economics, convened events on social issues including race, mass incarceration, and poverty, and served as an editor for the Yale Journal of International Affairs. As the Pastor for Community Engagement, Stephen is eager to continue applying the gospel to social issues in Takoma Park.