DR. JOEL B. KEMP, HOST
Joel B. Kemp is an Assistant Professor of the Hebrew Bible at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. He holds a Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible from Boston College; an M.Div. from Andover Newton Theological School; a J.D. from Harvard Law School; and an AB from Harvard College. Dr. Kemp worked as an attorney in a Boston law firm and subsequently served as general counsel for a consulting company.
He is a former member of the Board of Directors of Roxbury Youthworks – a Massachusetts not-for-profit focusing on the rehabilitation of inner-city youth with DYS and/or DSS involvement. Currently, Dr. Kemp serves as the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cornerstone Ministries, Inc.
GUEST LECTURERS
TAIT BROOKS, GUEST LECTURER
Tait Brooks currently serves as the Assistant Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Florida International University in Miami, FI. In this role, he is responsible for assisting in the development, implementation, and administration of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and initiatives. He addresses issues specific to under-represented minorities and unpler-served faculty, staff, and student populations. He received his Master of Divinity with a concentration in Religion and Health from Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. He obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre and Psychology from Texas State University.
DR. TERESA FRY BROWN, GUEST LECTURER
The Rev. Dr. Teresa L. Fry Brown is the Bandy Professor of Preaching, a chaired professorship created in 1986 with a gift from B. Jackson Bandy that is considered by many to be the country’s premier chair in homiletics. Fry Brown has taught at Candler since 1994, and in 2010, she became the first African American woman to attain the rank of full professor. She also served as the Director of Candler’s Black Church Studies program until 2015.
Fry Brown’s research interests include homiletics, womanism, womanist ethics, socio-cultural transformation, and African diaspora history focusing on African American spiritual values.
PASTOR COURTNEY MEADOWS,GUEST LECTURER
With over a decade of pastoral experience, he previously served as Senior Pastor of First Missionary Baptist Church of Whitehall, Alabama and the historic Hutchinson Missionary Baptist Church of Montgomery, Alabama. Pastor Meadows now uses those experiences to foster intentional intergenerational ministry at the Grace Baptist Church of Atlanta, Georgia as their Generational Pastor and preaching partner to Senior Pastor, Rev. Clinton McFarland. He is the Founder and Chief Igniting Officer of Igniting the Flame Ministries, a ministry established to encourage, equip, and empower believers to reach the least, last creatively, and lost with their talents and testimonies.
