The Prophetic Imperative: Launching and Nurturing WomanPreach! By Valerie Bridgeman

WomanPreach! Inc. was organized in 2009 and held its first preaching event in August 2010. That, of course, is not the history of the people who have come through these years and taught us, wowed us, and made us continue the work. One of the jokes of the first years was that I quit every Monday. It’s been hard work, as it always is for small non-profit organizations. As the founding president of this organization, we’ve depended on the small gifts of $5, $10, $15, $25, $50 or $100 a month from a few very faithful people. We’ve had a couple of “angels” who give more, and we began with a $10,000 grant from The Sister Fund, before we were even formed. Over these years of work, we have embraced two major values: 1) we do one thing, and we try to do that one thing every well. We help preachers hone their preaching skills. One of our board members shorten this ideal to “we’re stamping out bad preaching, one preacher at a time”; and 2) we do nothing without collaboration.

One of our first and best collaborators was Dr. Dale Andrews, may he rest in peace. He believed in the vision and put us in our budget at Vanderbilt and hosted us. He was a key and valued voice in WomanPreach’s formation. We’ve collaborated with seminaries and churches from Chicago Theological Seminary, Wesley Theological Seminary, Memphis Theological Seminary, Iliff Theological Seminary, and the one where I now lead, Methodist Theological School in Ohio, to name some. Churches like Christ Missionary Baptist Church in Memphis, that help our first two-day intensive in 2010 have remained steadfast, and St. Paul’s Baptist Church in Philadelphia, that hosted our first fundraiser where a friend and world-renowned saxophonist, Kirk Whalum, came as our headliner. Emory Fellowship (a United Methodist Church) in D.C. has been a good friend, as has Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, VA. Wisdom conversation partners, the first of which was the incomparable Dr. Renita Weems, and others like Drs. James Cone, emilie townes, Kelly Brown Douglas, Margaret Aymer, Wil Gafney, and more, amazing scholars and preachers who challenged anyone who attended events. We always have collaborators and wise voices in the room.

The reflections you will read this week are in honor of our 10-year anniversary, that was actually two years ago, but the pandemic hindered a full-on reflection of what it has meant to lead an organization committed to the prophetic imperative that preaching demands. I have never believed in the dichotomous “priestly-or-prophetic” that some bring to the preaching goes. To lead a congregation, to lead in the public square requires a keen prophetic eye to what is and proclaim a gospel of what ought to be, what can be. That is prophetic AND pastoral.

You will read from our artist-in-residence, Jaha Zainabu, a lay woman who came for a two-year stint and so moved and changed us that we begged her to stay, and she has. The other three pieces are reflections from people who came to a gathering and committed to the work of WomanPreach. Rev. Mary-Kate Myers, Rev. Earle Fisher, Ph.D., and Rev. Carla Jones Brown all capture some aspect of the work. I hope the glimpse you get will help you know why we celebrate and why we’re committed to continuing this evolving and good work in the foreseeable future.

Rev. Valerie Bridgeman, Ph.D., is the founding president and CEO of WomanPreach! Inc., the premiere organization that brings preachers and public theologians to full prophetic voice. She also is the Dean and Vice President of Academic Affairs, and an associate professor of Homiletics and Hebrew Bible at Methodist Theological School in Ohio (MTSO).