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Betsey Stockton Center for Black Church Studies

reimagining

CHURCH

Featuring Bishop Joseph W. Walker

Friday, April 14, 2023 • 9AM EST • Hybrid Event

View Event ReplayIn-Person Registration (Closed)
Betsey Stockton Center for Black Church Studies

Reimagining Church

Featuring Bishop Joseph W. Walker

On April 14th, Princeton Theological Seminary welcomes Bishop Joseph W. Walker III, Presiding Bishop and the Northeast Central Regional leadership of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International for a pastoral symposium. The theme for his gathering is: Reimagining the Church: The Next Chapter. Discussions, led by Bishop Walker and Dr. David Latimore (Director of the Betsey Stockton Center for Black Church Studies), will focus on the challenges confronting the Black Church, and the invitation this moment offers church leaders to think creatively about the next stage of church development and leadership. The goal of our time is to encourage and equip leaders to re-envision how the church might meet its goals of ministering to its communities' spiritual and material needs in radically shifting communal landscapes. If you are a Pastor, this is a conversation you do not want to miss!

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Featured Speaker

Senior Pastor, International Presiding Bishop

Bishop Joseph W. Walker

Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship

Bishop Joseph W. Walker, III, is the senior leader of the historic Mt. Zion Baptist Church of Nashville, Tennessee where he celebrates his 30th year as pastor this calendar year. He was born in Shreveport, Louisiana to Deacon Joseph and the late Mrs. Rosa Walker.

Bishop Walker received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Southern University in Baton Rouge Louisiana; a Master of Divinity degree from Vanderbilt University and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Princeton Theological Seminary. He holds three honorary Doctorates from Meharry Medical College, Southern University, Kentucky State University, respectively.

Bishop Walker currently serves on the Board of Directors for Citizens Savings Bank & Trust, and Greater Nashville Chapter of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). In 2020, Dr. Michael Lomax, Chief Executive Officer of the UNITED NEGRO COLLEGE FUND, INC., appointed Bishop Walker to serve as a member of the UNCF President’s National Faith and Education Initiative Advisory Council.

In October 2016, he was appointed by former TN Governor Bill Haslam to serve as Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Tennessee State University, where he was unanimously re-elected in 2019.

Bishop Walker currently serves as the International Presiding Bishop of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship. In July 2013, he was chosen to succeed the founding International Presiding Bishop Paul S. Morton, Sr.

A prolific writer, Dr. Walker is a best-selling author of fourteen books. His latest book, Leadership and Loneliness outlines ways to understand, manage and find opportunities in the moments of loneliness associated with leadership. He and his wife, Dr. Stephaine Hale Walker, co-authored a book together – Becoming A Couple of Destiny.

Bishop Joseph W. Walker, III, is the senior leader of the historic Mt. Zion Baptist Church of Nashville, Tennessee where he celebrates his 30th year as pastor this calendar year. He also currently serves as the International Presiding Bishop of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship.

Bishop Walker received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Southern University in Baton Rouge Louisiana; a Master of Divinity degree from Vanderbilt University and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Princeton Theological Seminary. He holds three honorary Doctorates from Meharry Medical College, Southern University, Kentucky State University, respectively.

Host

Director

Rev. Dr. David Latimore

Betsey Stockton Center for Black Church Studies, Princeton Theological Seminary

Rev. Dr. David G. Latimore serves as the Director for the Betsey Stockton Center for Black Church Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary. The Betsey Stockton Center brings the exceptional strengths and resources of the seminary to support the prophetic and social justice traditions of the black church. The Center also serves to advance, and be transformed by, theological education that develops and nurtures current and future leaders of black religious institutions and to be a national leader in creating knowledge that addresses, in new and innovative ways, the theological and praxiological issues confronting the communities and constituencies served by the black church.

Rev. Dr. Latimore has over twenty years of pastoral experience. He most recently served as the sixth Senior Pastor of the Fifteenth Avenue Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee. He has also served as Senior Pastor at the Mt. Zion Baptist Church (Joliet, IL), the Mt. Carmel Baptist Church (Gainesville, FL), the Southern Union Baptist Church (St. Louis, MO), and has also served the First Calvary Baptist Church (Durham, NC) as Senior Associate Minister. Rev. Dr. Latimore was licensed into ministry by Bishop Paul S. Morton at Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church (New Orleans, LA).

Rev. Dr. David G. Latimore serves as the Director for the Betsey Stockton Center for Black Church Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary. The Betsey Stockton Center brings the exceptional strengths and resources of the seminary to support the prophetic and social justice traditions of the black church. The Center also serves to advance, and be transformed by, theological education that develops and nurtures current and future leaders of black religious institutions and to be a national leader in creating knowledge that addresses, in new and innovative ways, the theological and praxiological issues confronting the communities and constituencies served by the black church.

Schedule

All times are Eastern Time

Thursday, April 14, 2023

Time (ET)

Session

Speaker

9:00AM ET

Gathering

9:10AM ET

Opening Remarks

Dr. David Latimore

9:15AM ET

Lecture 1

Dr. David Latimore

10:00AM ET

Q&A Session

10:15AM ET

Break

10:30AM ET

Lecture 2

Bishop Joseph W. Walker

11:15AM ET

Q&A Session

11:30AM ET

Closing Comments

Dr. David Latimore

Virtual Participation

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Register to Attend at Princeton Theological Seminary

Location: Theron Room, Theodore Sedgwick Wright Library

Registration is closed for this event.

Betsey Stockton Center for Black Church Studies

The Betsey Stockton Center for Black Church Studies exists to highlight the theological and religious witness, which arises out of the African American and African Diaspora Christian experience. The Center helps to prepare men and women for vocational ministry or scholarly pursuits shaped by a wider knowledge and deeper appreciation of Black life within American and global Christianity.

The Betsey Stockton Center aspires to be a national leader in research on the Black church through the collaborative creation of scholarship with leading scholars, community leaders, and pastors to address the critical issues confronting clergy, congregants, and communities served by the Black church.