REV. BERNICE KING
Rev. Bernice King is a former president of the Southern Leadership Christian Conference (SLCC) and The King Center, and is the chief executive officer of First Kingdom Management, a consulting firm in Atlanta, Georgia.
The youngest child of civil rights icon and Nobel Prize winner Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Bernice followed in her father’s footsteps, sensing her call to ministry when she was 17 years old, the same year she addressed the United Nations. She would later attend Spelman College and Emory University, where she obtained both a Master of Divinity and a law degree.
Alongside her mother and other members of the King family, she became active in the civil rights movement, participating in several demonstrations and the anti-apartheid campaign. She was, like her father, arrested on many occasions.
A prolific and compelling speaker, King addresses audiences across the United States and is a well sought after speaker. Bernice served as an elder at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church and now continues her work and ministry. She was given her license to preach by Rev. Joseph Roberts at Ebenezer Baptist Church where her father pastored. “We rejoice with God that another peaceful warrior is fighting under the spirit of her father, grandfather and uncle,” Roberts said.
REV. DR. RENEE TREWICK
Renee Trewick made history when she was elected as the first Black woman to serve on the Southern Baptist Convention Board of Trustees and the first Black woman to serve as chair of any global agency for the 175-year-old organization.
Trewick is based in New York City and attends Bronx Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist Convention congregation. A graduate of Pace University with an MBA, she heads risk management as a vice president at Marsh USA. She has been with the firm for more than 30 years.
But beyond her corporate work, Trewick has been deeply engaged in church work serving with Mustard Seed Community and has chaired the finance committee for Metropolitan New York Baptist Association. She is also the director of stewardship at her church.
Ms. Renee Trewick is now the chair of the board of trustees for GuideStone, the financial arm of the Southern Baptist Convention. GuideStone directs and provides various aspects of financial support to more than 250,000 pastors, denominational workers and employees of the organization, dealing with retirement, real estate, investments and insurance.
REV. DR. RENITA WEEMS
Rev. Dr. Renita Weems co-pastors the Ray of Hope Community Church with her husband in Nashville, Tennessee. A celebrated public speaker and biblical scholar, she is professor and lecturer to many institutions including American Baptist College, Spelman College, and the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. She also writes on a diversity of topics and is a contributor on race and religion to the Huffington Post. She has authored many books including “Listening to God: A Minister’s Journey Through Silence and Doubt” and “Just a Sister Away.”
Weems holds a masters and Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary and was the 1999 recipient of the coveted Wilbur Award for Excellence in communicating spiritual values.
Ordained as an elder in the AME Church since 1984, this revered and heavily recruited preacher and public speaker continues to empower and transform lives – heavily focused on issues of faith, race and women in our global village. She is noted among leading scholars in theology and the womanist movement, and is a public intellectual whose scholarly insights on faith and the bible make her a well sought after commentator.
BISHOP VASHTI McKENZIE
Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie holds the coveted distinction of being the first woman elected to the bishopric of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. She is a well established national voice for women and a strong advocate for social justice. The current bishop of the 10th Episcopal District in the AME Church, McKenzie is the author of more than 5 books and is a dynamic and transformative preacher and public speaker, and an impactful administrator.
Her responsibility as a president prelate covers all AME churches in the entire state of Texas. She also served as president of the AME Council of Bishops, chair of the General Conference Commission, and was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the President’s Inaugural Council and on the White House Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
Bishop McKenzie served for ten years as the senior pastor at Payne Memorial AME Church in Baltimore, Maryland. A graduate of Howard University School of Divinity, where she earned her Master of Divinity, McKenzie was ordained to the ministry in 1984. She earned her Doctorate in Ministry from United Theological Seminary. This celebrated church pioneer and leader was noted by Huffington Post as one of the 50 powerful women in religion.
REV. DR. SUZAN JOHNSON COOK
Rev. Suzan Johnson Cook is a US policy advisor, pastor, a longstanding activist and celebrated preacher. The New York native served as a presidential advisor under the Clinton administration and as dean and professor of communications at Harvard University. She also taught theology at New York Theological Seminary and pastored a number of New York congregations. Additionally, Cook served as the United States Ambassador-at-Large for Internal Religious Freedom to the United Nations.
A strong leader and fearless advocate, Cook’s career involves a lot of firsts: the first Black woman to pastor an American Baptist Association (ABA) congregation, the first female president of the Hampton Minister’s Conference, and the first woman to be appointed chaplain to the NYC Police Department.
Rev. Johnson Cook received her B.S. degree from Emerson College in Boston, Her M.A. from Columbia University, her Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary, and a D.Min. from United Theological Seminary in Ohio. She is also a graduate of Harvard University’s Presidents Administrative Fellows Program. She is frequently noted among America’s top women in religion by various media outlets.
LISA SHARON HARPER
Acclaimed author of the bestselling book “The Very Good Gospel” and several others, Lisa Sharon Harper is a prolific speaker, writer and faith activist who travels the country and across the globe dispensing the bitter truth she calls “the very good gospel.”
Her faith-rooted approach to advocacy and activism continues to inspire groups and audiences to address a wide array of issues form immigration reform and political injustice to racial justice and theological transformation. Through her preaching, writing, leadership development training, and network building, Harper is engaging the church in the work for justice and racial equality.
She is the founder and was the executive director for New York Faith and Justice, and helped to establish Faith Leaders for Environmental Justice earlier in her career.
Harper is an Auburn Theological Seminary Senior Fellow, writes for several blogs and publications, and frequently appears as a commentator and guest on several national media outlets. She is the president of Freedom Road USA, a consulting firm specifically focused on designing forums and shaping conversations around common understanding.
Soon to be ordained by the Evangelical Covenant Church, Ms. Harper holds a Master’s Degree in Human Rights from Columbia University.
BISHOP JACQUELINE McCULLOUGH
Bishop Jacqueline McCullough is highly celebrated as one of the most dynamic Black female preachers in America and the world. She is also an author and gospel artist whose first release made a great impact on Billboard Magazine Christian Music/Gospel charts.
McCullough started her career journey as a registered nurse, but soon answered the call of God to pursue ministry full time. Her unshakable commitment to the work of Christ and the evangelization of the world fueled her passion to travel the United States and the world to preach the gospel. As an outgrowth, she established the Jackie E McCullough Ministry (JEM) and Word Alive Medical Mission, which provides educational and medical support to several countries as a part of their evangelistic and humanitarian outreach.
This New York based preacher has been one of the most requested Black female preachers in America, and she has ministered to hundreds at conferences, small churches and megachurches throughout her colorful years in ministry. She oversees a network of Beth Rapha churches and is the lead pastor for the International Gathering at Beth Rapha in Rockland County, New York. She is also the proud pioneer and president of Beth Rapha Christian College and Seminary with the headquarters campus located in Tampa, Florida.
Bishop McCullough has written 4 books and does annual missions in her home country of Jamaica and also in Liberia. She holds a Doctorate of Ministry from Drew University and Masters from New York University and the Jewish Theological Seminary.
REV. DR. CLAUDETTE COPELAND
A native of Buffalo, NY, Rev. Dr. Claudette A. Copeland is co-founder and pastor emerita, with her husband, of New Creation Christian Fellowship in San Antonio, TX. This celebrated preacher maintains a strong passion for the things of God and justice issues for women and children. The Claudette Copeland Ministries is a national empowerment forum for women and Dr. Copeland continues to be an active voice and advocate working with women’s groups and ministries across the denominational and professional spectrum. Her work and impact extends well beyond the United States of America.
Copeland received her undergraduate education at the University of Connecticut, majoring in the field of psychology. Her Master of Divinity in Pastoral Care and Counseling was achieved from the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia, and she earned her Doctor of Ministry from the United Theological Seminary in Ohio.
This internationally acclaimed evangelist is divinely equipped with what she contends is a prophetic declaration of the cross. She has served in chaplaincy in the US Airforce and at local hospitals, and was a visiting professor at United Theological Seminary.
Claudette Copeland came to know the Lord as a teenager and was groomed to serve during her years at the Church of God in Christ in her hometown. She has spent her entire adult life in ministry.
DR. ELLA SIMMONS
Dr. Ella Simmons serves as the only woman of any race to become a vice president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in the organization’s 157-year history. Simmons is an educator and lead administrator, and is the highest ranking female in the 22 million member organization.
Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Simons earned her Bachelor’s and Doctorate in Education from Indiana University. In between, she obtained her Master’s in Education from the SDA operated Andrews University. She served for decades as an educator and high school principal in Kentucky and Indiana, and was also the chair and dean of the Department of Education at Kentucky State University. Additionally, she was a professor in the School of Education at the University of Louisville. Dr. Simmons’s impressive career in education also included her tenure as the vice president for academic affairs at Oakwood University (also operated by the SDA Church) and as provost and vice president for academic administration at La Sierra University (another SDA institution in Riverside, CA).
Simmons was elected to her position as a general vice president in 2005, making history as one of the highest ranking Blacks in the organization still struggling with the ordination of women and the highest ranking woman in the denomination’s history beyond the founding era. She is an icon for women’s empowerment as she guides the global educational system of an organization with over 9,000 educational institutions.
REV. SARAH JAKES ROBERTS
This trailblazing young preacher, writer and wife juggles her time between her faith, her family and her business. She is redefining what it means to be a woman of faith and has broken down barriers to become one of the nation’s rising female voices discussing family, faith, gender, race and culture. She has a unique way of reaching people seeking to make peace with their past as they maximize the present and strengthen their relationship with God.
Roberts is the daughter of Bishop T. D. Jakes, and she and her husband co-pastor The Potter’s House (LA) and The Potter’s House (Denver).
Roberts’s ministry grows from her life experiences and her personal testimony overcoming the stigma of teen pregnancy, insecurities, toxic relationships and depression. Despite her challenges, she has evolved to become a powerhouse of a preacher, mother, entrepreneur, wife and a bestselling author.
She launched Women Evolve, a ministry that has already reached and impacted thousands of women since its inception in 2017. She is the recipient of many honors and awards, and has made appearances in a spectrum of media outlets including Good Morning America, The Today Show and the 700 Club.
Rev. Sarah Jakes Roberts and her preacher husband, Touré, have six children and spend their time jetting between their two churches in Denver and LA. Sarah graduated in the top 10% of her high school class at age 16, and went on to study journalism at Texas Christian University.