Covenant Theological Seminary has received a $1.19 million grant from the Lilly Endowment to equip future preachers. The funds will help CTS further develop preaching resources for students and the broader community.
The grant will also provide funds for Thurman Williams, now pastor of New City Fellowship – West End, to join the CTS faculty full time in the spring 2024.
Through preaching cohort groups, conferences and workshops, and new resources, CTS will develop an emphasis on preaching as a primary means of pastoral ministry.
The goal of these programs is to encourage and revitalize seasoned preachers, better equip and support young preachers and those aspiring to preach, and allow all preachers — regardless of experience level, age, background or ethnicity — to learn from one another. The programs will also provide opportunities for bi-vocational pastors who haven’t had previously access to seminary-level education.
Tom Gibbs, CTS president, expressed his gratitude for the grant. The seminary will now “get to go deeper,” he said, producing better preachers who will bring more vital ministry.
Williams currently directs the homiletics program in a part-time, adjunct capacity; the Lilly funding enables CTS to hire him full time. In Williams’ mind, the grant gives CTS a bigger “footprint” in the community, “particularly among those who haven’t had access to seminary, but sense a call to preach the gospel.”
He’s hoping, too, that exposure to CTS through a preaching cohort will prompt some of these preachers to consider attending the seminary. Williams also looks forward to how RUF ministers and pastors in the D.Min. program can sharpen each other in their own cohorts.
Williams brings a wealth of pastoral and preaching experience to the position. Prior to planting New City Fellowship – West End in 2019, Williams served as associate pastor at Grace & Peace Fellowship in St. Louis from 2013 to 2018. He was also pastor of New Song Community Church in Baltimore from 2000 to 2013.
CTS is one of 81 organizations receiving grants from Lilly Endowment through a competitive round of its national Compelling Preaching Initiative. More information will be forthcoming as these programs develop.