A thinker who preaches.

E. Derrik Porter is a pastor-scholar, educator, and Moderator of The Presence Collective. He writes on faith, leadership, and the examined life — shedding alongside those who refuse to live shallow, whose lives must carry weight and make Godly impact.

His work sits at the intersection of pulpit, classroom, and academy. His writing and preaching aim at the same target from three directions: the formation of the person who can bear the weight of the word.

He is the Founding Pastor of Agape Impact Ministries and the Moderator of The Presence Collective — the umbrella brand under which his preaching, writing, and coaching live. His broadcast, Elevate with EDP, extends the pulpit into the podcast register. His current book, Thresholds, launched at the Salt & Light META Conference and is available now.

He has spent over a decade teaching and serving in administrative roles in education. The classroom is not a side gig. It is a laboratory for how young people become the adults their moment requires.

He is a graduate of Morehouse College, Mercy University, and Northwestern Christian University.

The through-line of his work is what he calls the Golden Thread — the disciplined logical alignment of everything he brings to a room. Topic to purpose to question to method. Sermon to text to congregation. Person to calling to hour.

Underneath the Golden Thread sits a shorter line he returns to before anything else: God is the source; he is only ever the resource. That distinction is what keeps the work honest — the difference between a man who points toward the wellspring and a man who starts to believe he is one. Every sermon carries it. Every lesson, every page, every hour in front of a room. Only one thing has ever been the source.

He preaches. He teaches. He writes. He walks with leaders through the seasons that ask them to become someone new before they had the language for it.

Speak the truth. Become the better. I'm rooting for you.