Reverend Andrew Wilkes
Pastor | Double Love Experience Church
The Reverend Andrew Wilkes, Ph.D., is committed to the liberating, love-powered ministry of Jesus the Christ. He is the co-lead pastor of the Double Love Experience Church in Brooklyn, New York and the former Executive Director of the Drum Major Institute, a social change organization founded by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. Wilkes also serves as the Chief Policy and Advocacy Officer at Generation Citizen and is a 2022 inductee into the Martin Luther King Board of Preachers at Morehouse College. Dr. Wilkes was both licensed to preach and ordained at Zion Hill Baptist Church, under the leadership of Rev. Aaron Parker, Ph.D.
Dr. Wilkes has anchored his career and calling on an interwoven commitment to contemplative spirituality, community development, and economic justice. He served as the Associate Pastor of Social Justice and Young Adults at the Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral of New York (GAC) where he served on the pastoral staff for five years. He was co-appointed to pastor young adults, ages 21-39, with his wife, Rev. Dr. Gabby Cudjoe-Wilkes. In that capacity, he launched and led a social justice initiative called Micah 6:8, which equipped faith communities to initiate civic renewal by pursuing justice, public policy advocacy, and peacemaking within our society.
As a Senior Grants Manager at The American Red Cross, Dr. Wilkes oversaw a $45 million budget for Superstorm Sandy recovery in New York state & Connecticut. Before that, Dr. Wilkes engaged 140 faith communities as the Faith & Community Relations Associate at Habitat for Humanity New York City.
In 2015 he began his post as Executive Director of The Drum Major Institute (DMI), an organization founded by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., which carries forward the social change legacy of King by promoting economic justice, dismantling structural racism, and advancing civil rights. Under his tenure, DMI executed public affairs events in Dallas, Texas and Washington D.C. to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. To execute the companion events, Dr. Wilkes’ team mobilized DMI principals Ambassador Andrew Young, Martin Luther King III, and Rev. Dr. James Forbes, along with the executive leadership of Values Partnership; Southern Christian Leadership Conference; NAACP; and the Progressive National Baptist Convention.
During his Drum Major Institute tenure, he also established the Beloved Community Initiative, a national resource on spirituality and social justice for faith communities; and relaunched the nationally renowned Marketplace of Ideas Forum – a forum for bringing progressive policy ideas to an audience of activists, policy professionals, and nonprofit leaders. Following his tenure at DMI, Dr. Wilkes now serves on the Board of Directors for the Black Mountain School for Community and Theology, The Institute for Christian Socialism, and the New York State Labor-Religion Coalition, where he serves as the Board President.
A native of Atlanta, GA, Dr. Wilkes is a proud graduate of Hampton University, where he served on the Executive Board of the Honors College; Princeton Theological Seminary, where he received the Edler Garnett Hawkins Award for Scholastic Excellence; and the CUNY Graduate Center, where he earned the Ph.D. in political science.
Dr. Wilkes is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Guy R. Brewer Distinguished Leadership Award, The New York Theological Seminary’s Micah Institute Courage Award, and Reverend Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Push Advocacy Award. He is also the author of Freedom Notes: Reflections on Faith, Justice, and the Possibility of Democracy; co-author of Psalms for Black Lives; and author of the book, Plenty Good Room: Co-Creating an Economy of Enough for All, published in summer 2024 by Broadleaf Books. Dr. Wilkes is the elated husband of Rev. Dr. Gabby Cudjoe-Wilkes and lives in Brooklyn, New York.