Now & Next
Developing Intergenerational Voices for Prophetic Ministry in the African American Context
Application Deadline: July 25, 2025
Decisions Sent: August 15, 2025
Overview
Leaders of historically Black churches, and others serving in African American contexts, face a myriad of challenges today. Questions around the future of the Black church abound; they are the topic of countless conferences, podcasts, YouTube shows, and social media posts. The role of the pastor is changing, and we are seeing a large-scale return of the bi-vocational pastor. Additionally, non-pastoral leaders are becoming increasingly vital to the thriving of our communities and congregations. Activists, artists, entrepreneurs, educators, executives, administrators, deacons, ministers, and lay leaders are leading in ways that are instrumental.
These transitions bring with them a clash of generational perspectives on ministry, theology, community, culture, and the gospel itself. Any serious discussion of leadership in churches, ministries, and non-profit organizations serving the African American context must be intergenerational, yet also prophetic and holistically rooted in Scripture. The Now & Next Cohort seeks to do just that.
This three-year Doctor of Ministry cohort, launching in the fall of 2025, will examine discipleship, membership, administration, preaching, culture, engagement, evangelism, and community with an intergenerational and prophetic lens, in order to build upon the legacy of the church and develop intergenerational, prophetic voices responsive to the realities of today. The cohort will be led by two primary instructors in partnership with the William E. Pannell Center for Black Church Studies and will also feature other presenters.
Schedule
Year One
Intergenerational Leadership (16 units)
Fall 2025: Reading Seminar (6 units, hybrid) | October 7–11, 2025, in Pasadena, CA
Winter 2026: Doctoral Research (4 units, online)
Spring 2026: Integration/Writing (6 units, online)
“Intergenerational” and “multigenerational” are not the same. While the latter means many generations are present, the former involves multiple generations involved with one another and working towards a common goal. In the first year of the cohort, students will gain understanding about the need for, opportunities of, and challenges in intergenerational leadership and ministry. The cohort will examine Biblical leadership principles, general practices, ministry/organizational models, boards and governance, and mission, and will also contend with defining prophetic ministry, in general and for their own contexts.
Year Two
Compelling Preaching (16 units)
Fall 2025: Reading Seminar (6 units, hybrid) | September 22–26, 2026, in Houston, TX
Winter 2026: Doctoral Research (4 units, online)
Spring 2026: Integration/Writing (6 units, online)
The second year of the cohort looks at preaching, proclamation, and communication. Students will briefly examine the history and hope of the Black Preaching tradition, while engaging in studies of exegesis and practical theology, and will be trained in sermon development. Topics will include AI, intergenerational audiences, missional communication, and more. How might contemporary communication of the gospel engage modern tools while remaining propheting and being empowered by the Holy Spirit?
Year Three
Holistic Formation
Fall 2025: Reading Seminar (6 units, hybrid) | September 22–26, 2026, in Houston, TX
Winter 2026: Doctoral Research (6 units, online)
Spring 2026: Integration/Writing (4 units, online)
The last year of the cohort looks at formation from a holistic perspective. What practices consider our current realities, our Biblical mandates for evangelism and discipleship, and have the entire human in view (spiritually, physically, and psychologically)? Mental health has been a stigma for so long in African American communities and churches. A focus of this year is gaining a more robust understanding of, and engagement with, mental health so that formation (and leadership) is more holistic. These studies and conversations are geared toward equipping present and future leaders to be intentionally intergenerational, powerfully prophetic, and holistically healthy.
Cohort Mentors
Rev. Najuma Smith is pastor of Word of Encouragement Community Church (WOECC) and assistant director of community and public engagement at USC’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture (CRCC). She also leads programming for the Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement, housed under CRCC.
Called to ministry in 1996, Smith has served in numerous pastoral roles, before launching WOECC in 2014. A speaker, author, life coach, radio personality, and community activist, she has a passion to serve others beyond the walls of the church and founded the Southern California Community Empowerment Corporation (SCCEC), which focuses on the uplift of families impacted by community violence, following the death of her son in 2018. She is also the founder of a sexual violence awareness and training campaign called “It’s Not Okay” (itsnotokay.org).
Smith holds a BS in management from Pepperdine University, a Bachelor of Theology from the Southern California School of Ministry, an MBA from Woodbury University, and a DMin from United Theological Seminary. She is an alumna of the “Passing The Mantle” Civic Engagement and Community Development Institute at USC, the precursor to the USC Cecil Murray Center’s Faith Leaders Institute.
Bishop Benjamin Stephens III is senior pastor of Trinity Temple Church of God in Christ in Grandview, Missouri, just outside Kansas City. A native of Inglewood, California, he is the esteemed Jurisdictional Prelate to the British Columbia Canada Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and he serves the needs of his community as a chaplain with the Grandview Police Department. In 2021, Stephens founded and serves as CEO of the Trinity Community Development Corporation (CDC).
Bishop Stephens has an earned BA in business administration with a concentration in marketing from Whittier College and an MDiv from Charles Harrison Mason Theological Seminary at the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta, Georgia, where he currently serves as an active member on the board of directors. He also holds DMin in youth and family ministry from Fuller Theological Seminary.
The Pannell Center provides formational opportunities and partnerships to help build a body of leaders who believe in the power of the Black church, community, and culture.
We do this by creating space and place. We strive to deliberately empower and holistically form Black Christian leaders. By centering kingdom work, cultural enrichment, and academic rigor the Pannell Center cultivates a spirit of excellence through the development of global leaders on campus, in the church, as well as in our local communities.
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