Baylor’s Truett Seminary Announces New Associate Professor of Preaching
WACO, Texas (March 14, 2024) – Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary announced today that Tyshawn Gardner, PhD, will join the Seminary as associate professor of preaching beginning in the fall of 2024.
“I am overjoyed that Rev. Dr. Tyshawn Gardner will be joining our faculty,” said Jared E. Alcántara, PhD, professor of preaching, holder of the Paul W. Powell Endowed Chair in Preaching, and director of the Kyle Lake Center for Effective Preaching. “He has an evident and inspiring call to preach and to empower others to preach. In the last five years especially, he has established himself as a highly respected and sought-after researcher, writer, and scholar in homiletics. On top of all of this, he brings more than twenty years of pastoral ministry experience into the classroom. Rev. Dr. Gardner is a true blessing to the Church and the academy. I know he will be a gift to the Truett community as well.”
Gardner currently serves as associate professor and director of the Pre-Ministerial Scholars Program at Samford University and as an adjunct professor at Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School. A Navy veteran, he previously served as the senior pastor of Plum Grove Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and as the president of the Tuscaloosa Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Additionally, Gardner has regularly served on ministerial and professional boards, including Faith in Action, the Evangelical Homiletics Society, and Macedonia Ministries.
“My family and I are indescribably grateful and humbled to join the Truett family,” Gardner stated. “Baylor University/Truett Seminary’s status as a R1 institution with sound biblical and theological commitments embodies the finest model in theological education, one that conjoins both head and heart.” In addition, Gardner noted, “My deep admiration and respect for Truett is directly influenced by the Seminary’s ethical commitments to ethnic and racial diversity, both in the faculty and student body, as well as its affirmation of women in ministry. Taken together, this appointment will provide me the opportunity to grow and learn from a world-renowned faculty, while actively preparing women and men to be critical thinkers and committed preachers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Gardner received a BS from Stillman College (Tuscaloosa, AL), a MDiv from Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School (Birmingham, AL), and a PhD in Christian Preaching from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY), where his research focused on social crisis preaching, prophetic preaching, and rhetoric in the African American preaching tradition. Among his various publications, Gardner’s book Social Crisis Preaching, which won Preaching Magazine’s Book of the Year Award for 2024, merits special mention.
“Over time, Baylor’s Truett Seminary has become a destination location for the study and practice of preaching,” remarked Truett’s Dean Todd D. Still, PhD. “The addition of Rev. Dr. Tyshawn Gardner to our Seminary’s faculty only heightens the attraction for theorists and practitioners alike. An award-winning author, skilled teacher, and sought-after preacher, Rev. Dr. Gardner’s coming will add strength to strength. We are eagerly and enthusiastically awaiting his arrival.”
ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY
Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked Research 1 institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 20,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.
ABOUT GEORGE W. TRUETT THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY
Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary is an orthodox, evangelical, multi-denominational school in the historic Baptist tradition that equips God-called people for gospel ministry in and alongside Christ’s Church by the power of the Holy Spirit. Accredited by the Association of Theological Schools, Truett Seminary provides theological education leading to the Master of Divinity, Master of Arts in Christian Ministry, Master of Arts in Contextual Witness and Innovation, Master of Arts in Theology, Ecology and Food Justice, Master of Arts in Theology and Sports Studies (online), Master of Theological Studies, Doctor of Ministry, and Ph.D. in Preaching. Truett Seminary also offers joint degrees through Baylor University school/college partnerships in social work, business, law, music, and education. In addition to the flagship Baugh-Reynolds Campus in Waco, the Seminary also has additional instructional sites in Houston and San Antonio. Visit the Truett Seminary website to learn more.