Troy Anthony Bronner: A Maker of Upside-Down Disciples

His benediction, a call and response, began: “And these are they who came to turn the world…” Before leaving the building, we shouted, “Upside down!” It is an adaptation of Acts 17:6 that would later flip my understanding of Christian ministry on its head and become foundational to my practice of it.

The Reverend T. Anthony Bronner offered the eulogy for a friend, Kolawole “Tommy” Glover. He offered spiritual leadership to the student body at Buffalo State College after the unthinkable happened.

Glover, a junior Computer Information Systems major and three other students had been involved in a car crash in Chautauqua County while returning from a ski trip at Holiday Valley Resort. It was February 6, 2000. 

“A weekend getaway turned fatal for one Buffalo State College student Sunday, leaving three other students injured,” Carl Burke wrote for the student newspaper. “‘The Elim Christian [Fellowship] was there to provide prayer services,’ Danisha Bailey said.”

But it didn’t stop there. After the viewing, there was Bronner, offering comfort to college students whose worlds had been turned upside down. I could barely lift my head and when I saw Glover’s mother, I remember wondering how she could face any of this.

We didn’t think we were immortal or invincible. But we naively believed we were too young to die. 

“Not Kolawale.” Death is so disorienting. “He was just here; what do you mean he’s gone?”

Bronner was right there, guiding us with conviction through one of the darkest times of our lives. I decided after that day I would follow him to whatever church he pastored.

When I began attending Elim Christian Fellowship, the members were gathering at Turner Carroll High School. Before this, they met at the Buffalo Christian Center. It was non-denominational, multicultural, multigenerational, and according to its name, “a place of refreshing.” 

This is likely why every Sunday felt like a revival to me. It wasn’t just “Spirit-filled”; it was Spirit-led, which sometimes meant Bronner did not preach. The decentering of the pastor was refreshing.

The new church was birthed through a call to prayer, a regional meeting that began at 5:30 a.m. This was before the time when God promised prosperity; instead, we were taught to simply seek the divine presence.

Bronner believed God could speak for God’s self. No intermediary, Bronner prided himself on “creating an atmosphere for worship.” Prayer is where the conversation began.

But this self-described pastor-teacher was also known for his scholarship. He was an adjunct professor of homiletics at Colgate Rochester Divinity School, where he had once been a student.

Bronner preached from memory while pulling passages from the likes of Howard Thurman and others. More than a dynamic preacher or visionary leader, he was a firm believer. He stood for something beyond himself.

The native Philadelphian would go on to found Elim Christian Fellowship of Rochester in 2002 and establish The Sound of the Genuine Biblical Institute, an affordable training program for faith leaders, which later became an accredited partner of Northeastern Seminary and now offers a Certificate in Christian Education Ministry. Bronner was reshaping the practice of ministry in Western New York after getting his start at Calvary Baptist Church at 29.

For a city known for its cold winters, it was a kind of snowball effect. And yet, despite his rising public profile, he managed to stay warm and within reach.

When members tried to pedestalize him, he said during one sermon, “This is not the Moses Show.” While a visionary leader, Bronner pushed against the idea that he was the only one with dreams that extended beyond our present reality. More than making space, he made a way for everyone to be seen and heard.

Despite my own shrinking, he saw me and better still, made sure I saw myself fully. Bronner affirmed my call to ministry, licensed and ordained me.

I needed a car to travel back and forth to seminary so he made a request during a Sunday morning worship service and keys were placed in my hands—though I had no driver’s license. Jesus didn’t need to take the wheel as I left the commute to a Greyhound bus. Still, I’ve never met anyone more generous who didn’t expect anything in return.

Always extending his reach, Bronner would go on to found the Turning the World Upside Down Covenant Fellowship (TWUDCF). He was now a bishop.

By then, I had moved away after graduating from seminary, but kept in touch— if only to say, “Thank you.” I never felt like I said it enough.

During our last visit, I shared the only secret I had kept from him, to which he chuckled. I just wanted him to know how much I loved and admired him. 

I had learned to turn the power dynamics of a racialized world upside down from him. Unknowingly, I had been practicing for the proclamation of the Raceless Gospel way back then.

Thank you, Rev. Dr. Troy Anthony Bronner, maker of upside-down disciples, “who came to turn the world upside down!”