A new podcast series drawing from the wisdom of Black pastors premieres Wednesday.
“Pilgrimages of Striving and Thriving” explores how Black pastoral leaders in the United States flourish in their various ministerial contexts.
The podcast series is set to deliver 36 interview-based episodes, each highlighting a prominent Black pastoral leader.
Production on the series, produced jointly by Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Society and Good Faith Media, began last fall shortly after it was announced in August.
A new 30-minute episode will be released each Wednesday on all major podcasting platforms and also at LottCarey.org. A trailer for the series is available here.
The first episode, to be released Jan. 13, features Rev. Dr. Gina M. Stewart, senior pastor of Christ Missionary Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee.
Subsequent episodes over the next few months feature the following, among others:
- Dr. Alyn E. Waller, senior pastor, Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church, Philadelphia.
- Dr. Roz Nichols, organizing pastor of Freedom’s Chapel Christian Church in Memphis, Tennessee.
- Dr. J. Alfred Smith Sr., pastor emeritus, the historic Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland, California.
- Dr. William Curtis, senior pastor of Mount Ararat Baptist Church, Pittsburgh.
- Dr. Cynthia Turner, pastor of Dayspring Community Church in Lanham, Maryland.
- Dr. Micah L. McCreary, president of New Brunswick Theological Seminary in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
- Dr. Teresa Snorton, presiding bishop of The Fifth Episcopal District of The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in Birmingham, Alabama.
- Dr. Ralph Douglas West, founder and senior pastor, The Church Without Walls in Houston.
- Dr. Elaine Flake, co-pastor of the Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral of New York.
- Dr. James E. Victor Jr., pastor of Mount Olive Baptist Church in Arlington, Virginia
Production is ongoing.
These leaders will focus on how their spiritual gifts interact with their unique settings for ministry, yielding the substance of their ministerial work and resulting in their flourishing in ministry.
It’s a formula for flourishing (capacity + context = content) that Lott Carey has been exploring.
Each podcast episode – framed around constructive and inspiring conversations with Black pastors – will further illuminate this formula for flourishing in ministry “from the Black Church for the Whole Church.”
Rev. Dr. David Emmanuel Goatley and Rev. Dr. Jacqueline Madison-McCreary serve as project director and learning coordinator, respectively, for the “Pilgrimages of Striving and Thriving” project of Lott Carey. The project is funded through a Thriving in Ministry grant from the Lilly Endowment.
Lott Carey helps churches to extend through Christian witness throughout the world by coming alongside indigenously led partners engaged in ministries of evangelism, compassion, empowerment and advocacy with prayer partnership, financial support and technical assistance.
Good Faith Media is a nonprofit, faith-based organization with the mission of providing reflection and resources at the intersection of faith and culture through an inclusive Christian lens.
Reflection and resources at the intersection of faith and culture through an inclusive Christian lens.
