← The Black Church: the dossier
Leads the largest historically Black denomination, which reports 21,145 churches and about 8.4 million members. He has been the convention's president since 2025, when RNS reported he aimed to bring in women and younger leaders.
Verified 10-07Head of the Church of God in Christ, the largest Black Pentecostal denomination, based at Mason Temple in Memphis. He was re-elected to the Presidium in 2021 and 2024 and chosen as Presiding Bishop by it.
Verified 10-07Installed as Senior Bishop at the close of the AME's 52nd General Conference (Columbus, 28 August 2024). That conference elected six bishops and kept the ban on same-sex marriage.
Verified 10-07A Washington, D.C. pastor who succeeded David Peoples as president of the PNBC, the convention of Martin Luther King Jr., at its 65th annual session in July 2026. He began with a partnership with the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and a midterm message: 'It's a sin if you do not vote.'
Verified 10-07Affirmed as Senior Bishop and chief executive of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church at its 2026 General Conference.
Verified 10-07Senior Bishop of the AME Zion Church, the 'Freedom Church' of Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, and presiding bishop of its Piedmont Episcopal District.
Verified 10-07Second in COGIC's governing Presidium, from California. He stands in line behind Presiding Bishop Sheard.
Verified 10-07Third in COGIC's Presidium, from Missouri.
Verified 10-07Chief administrative officer of the largest Black denomination, serving under President Kimber.
Verified 10-07The convention's senior elected vice president, from Alabama, under President Kimber.
Verified 10-07Elected first in seniority of the AME's 2024 class of bishops, the first woman ever to lead a class.
Verified 10-07Elected in 2024 to the AME Church's chief administrative office, the first woman to hold it in the church's 208-year history.
Verified 10-07Elected in 2024 to run the clergy retirement fund after the scandal. A class-action suit says the church lost at least $90 million, about 70% of the fund; the church blamed embezzlement by its late former director. A federal judge approved $60 million in partial settlements, and in April 2026 clergy stood to recover $44 million more. He holds the purse the scandal emptied.
Verified 10-07Head of ITC in Atlanta, the consortium seminary that trains ministers for the AME, CME, COGIC, Baptist and other Black denominations.
Verified 10-07A scholar of African American preaching who succeeded Yolanda Pierce at the leading divinity school of the historically Black universities.
Verified 10-07Pastor of Martin Luther King Jr.'s church in Atlanta and a sitting US senator for Georgia. He is the Black church's most powerful elected voice and was campaigning for Democratic Senate candidates in 2026.
Verified 10-07Founded NAN in 1991. With the King family he led the 'March on Washington 2026: Defend the Vote' on 28 August 2026.
Verified 10-07An AME bishop who now heads the National Council of Churches, the bridge between the Black church and the mainline. She also holds a card in the Mainline deck.
Verified 10-07A bishop of The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries who founded and directs Yale's Center for Public Theology and Public Policy. He was arrested on 28 April 2025 for a prayer protest in the Capitol Rotunda. He is the moral-movement wing of the Black church.
Verified 10-07Led the 2025 "Target Fast", a year-long boycott over Target's DEI rollback. He ended it on 11 March 2026 after winning three of four demands, which drew backlash from activists who wanted to keep going. He is the Black church's clearest show of economic power.
Verified 10-07Has led Friendship-West in Dallas since 1983, growing it from about 100 to more than 13,000 members. He is the 2026 Democratic nominee for Texas's 30th congressional district: pulpit to Congress again.
Verified 10-07Leads a coalition claiming 150,000 congregations. It has asked Congress to consider pausing large AI models, the strongest AI stand of any body in the narthex.
Verified 10-07Took over The Potter's House in 2025, when its founder T. D. Jakes, who had led it since 1996, stepped aside as senior pastor. The best-known Black pulpit outside the denominations passed to the next generation.
Verified 10-07Leads the congregation Jeremiah Wright built, the best-known Black pulpit inside a mainline denomination. He has pressed Black clergy on marriage equality.
Verified 10-07Only the eighth pastor in more than 200 years of Alfred Street Baptist in Alexandria, Virginia. His sermons are streamed and widely shared.
Verified 10-07