Rev. Larita Rice-Barnes
Interim Director|revlarita@faithvoices.org 

Rev. Larita wears a few hats including: author, entrepreneur, Life Coach, Pastor, change agent, global political advisor, transformational leader, wife, mother and friend. She is a faith-based grassroots organizer. She has dedicated her life and work to the betterment of the world around her. She is an advocate for racial and economic dignity. She mobilizes and organizes communities of faith to build power.

She is a sought-out speaker,  advocate for gun violence reduction and chaplaincy in urban communities. Larita is a survivor of gun violence. She is a victim’s rights and mental health advocate and acts as liaison for parents and students with school officials.

She serves as Senior Pastor and founder of Empowerment Of Grace USA and Empowerment Of Grace-Uganda. In 2007, she founded Women of Excellence Midwest, an organization established as a safe haven for battered, abused, and rejected women to heal and be emboldened to move forward.

She served as the Social Justice Chair at Eden Theological Seminary where she earned her Master of Arts in Professional Studies degree and launched and led an Urban Chaplaincy program where participants earned a certificate for their participation.

She is a global leader and political advisor for members of parliament in several countries and has founded Global Impact Leadership Alliance (GILA),™ an organization built on the commitment of meeting the needs of developing nations and providing a platform for cultural and economic exchange.

She is the founder and lead organizer of the annual RESET America RESET Africa Conference, a conference that focuses on the key areas of influence: business, arts and entertainment, media, family, government, religion, and education, brings together heads of state and key policy makers from across the globe and fosters creative dialogue for cooperation while also participating in local government and receiving recognition for her work.

She is a 2016 recipient of the President Barack Obama Lifetime Achievement Award for Volunteer Services and a 2021 recipient of the President Joe Biden Lifetime Achievement Award for Volunteer Services. She has shared the stage with many of the industry’s leading speakers and singers and personalities.

Prior to assuming the role of Interim Director she served as a leader and a board member with Missouri Faith Voices.