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David M. Bailey (b. March 12, 19??) near Richmond, Va., in Chesterfield County, is an entrepreneur, music producer, musician, author and speaker. Named "One of the 20 Most Creative Christians we Know," He is the executive director and founder of Arrabon, a ministry that equips faith communities to engage in reconciliation.

Bailey started the Urban Doxology Songwriting Internship in Richmond, teaches interns to compose ethnically fitting, theologically rich music for use in urban churches. Bailey believes the Church can and should lead by example in diversity and reconciliation. Bailey was featured in the 2018 Peripheral Vision PDX documentary, "11am: Hope for America's Most Segregated Hour," with interviews of students and local leaders writing music for reconciliation in Richmond.

Early Life and Education
Bailey was born and raised in the suburbs of Richmond, Va., in Chesterfield County, to Emmett Carlisle Vernon Bailey, Jr., a real estate and insurance broker, and Brenda Cox Bailey, a public school teacher. He has two siblings, Aisha Bailey Acham, Lori Bailey Ruffin. Bailey grew up in a musical family; his uncle, Dinworth Bailey, a jazz flautist, had an impact on his decision to pursue music. He also credits his appearance in Richmond's Second Street Festival when he was eight years old, as a starting place for his desire to pursue music. He began piano lessons, then played music in his home church, and picked up the saxophone in the school band. Bailey had his first "gig" at age 14.

He attended ?? high school, and graduated in ??. He went on to study jazz studies and earned a BA in music education from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in 2005.

Music & Training
In 2004, Bailey participated in a music workshop in Chillicothe, Ohio, that launched him into the world of music production. Following graduation from VCU in 2006, Bailey worked as a music teacher in the Richmond Public Schools (RPS), where he had the opportunity to engage with a variety of students.

Along with his wife, Joy, Bailey joined a team of people starting a new church in 2006, called East End Fellowship, with the vision of embodying a culturally reconciled fellowship in Richmond's gentrifying neighborhood of Church Hill. Bailey served as the young congregation's music director, and quickly saw a need for more worship leaders of color, and more songs that reflected their community and experiences, beyond "old school Gospel" and hymns. From this idea, Bailey and East End Fellowship launched the Urban Doxology Songwriting Internship. An “urban doxology” is any liturgy, preaching, or music and arts that crosses boundaries in ethnicity, race, and class that prepares God’s people for the city of God. From then until present, Interns write and produce a variety of songs that serve as "soundtrack of reconciliation" in the city of the former capital of the Confederacy.

In 2013, Urban Doxology the band evolved from the Songwriting Internship, and began touring the country to put on worship experiences that foster dialogue and learning about diversity, healing and reconciliation in the Church. The band has led worship at events like LeRoy Barber's The Voices Project, InterVarsity's Black Campus Ministries and the Justice Conference.

Leadership & Speaking
Bailey travels the country with Arrabon and Urban Doxology to speak to faith communities and universities about reconciliation and musical excellence. From 200? to 20??, he attended church in Gilpin Court, a government housing complex in Richmond, once infamous for having one of the highest murder rates in the U.S. (See Crime in Virginia). This experience, plus his involvement and leadership at East End Fellowship, provided exposure to different cultures and backgrounds, the basis for his desire to become a cultural competency educator; He trained church leaders on how to talk about race and work toward reconciled communities, eventually founding Arrabon in 2008. The word "arrabon" means a foretaste of what is to come.

After sensing there was more work to be done in this vein, he began to specialize in leadership development for musical worship leaders of color. Bailey started the Urban Doxology Songwriting Internship in 2008.

For the past several years, Bailey has spoken at workshops, trainings and conferences including TEDxRVA, Jesus Culture Conference , and Q Ideas. Additionally, he regularly leads discussions and workshops for Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and The Northwest Voices Tour.

Authorship
In 2016, Bailey, along with Arrabon Director of Training, Elena Aronson, co-authored the Race, Class and the Kingdom of God study curriculum.

Charlottesville Unite the Right Rally
Bailey and members of Urban Doxology were asked to lead a sermon and worship music the night prior to the August 2017 Unite the Right white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va. Weeks later, Richmond faith leaders, including Bailey, gathered to reject the ideology of white supremacy, calling for unity in the Church and the U.S. with a signed statement.

Personal Life
Bailey married Joy Cherie Guion, of Raleigh, NC, in 2006. The Baileys make their home in the Church Hill neighborhood of Richmond, where he serves as an elder of East End Fellowship church.