- John Richard Bryant
Bishop John R. Bryant (born in 1944) is the Senior Bishop and Presiding Prelate of the Fourth Episcopal District of the
African Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America.Biography
Bryant is the son of the late Bishop Harrison James and Edith Holland Bryant. He was elected and consecrated the 106th Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church at the 1988 General Conference in Fort Worth, Texas.
He earned his B.A. degree in 1965 at
Morgan State University , his M.Th. degree in 1970 at theBoston University School of Theology, and his D.Min. degree at theColgate Rochester Divinity School in 1975.Bryant also holds several
Honorary Doctorate s fromPaul Quinn College ,Wilberforce University ,Payne Theological Seminary andVirginia Seminary . He received the Outstanding Alumnus Award from both Boston University School of Theology and Morgan State University. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame of his high school,Baltimore City College .Bishop Bryant is the father of Dr. Jamal Harrison Bryant, pastor and founder of the Empowerment Temple AME Church in Baltimore, Maryland, and Dr. Thema Simone Bryant Davis.
Connections to Pentecostalism
Bishop Bryant and his wife, Reverend Dr. Cecilia Williams-Bryant, garnered a reputation for turning St. Paul A.M.E. Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts into what people called a "rocking church" because of their support of
Pentecostal religious practices. When assigned to Bethel A.M.E. Church in Baltimore, Maryland in 1975, the congregation grew to over several thousand members. Again, the Bryants brought to Bethel a sense of Pentecostalism and 14 percent of the congregation reported that they practicedglossalalia or "speaking in tongues" and 59 percent reported that they had the gifts ofprophecy and/ordivine healing .Because of all this, Bishop Bryant is considered the father of Neo-Pentecostalism.
References
* [http://www.amec5th.org/bishopjohn.htm About John Richard Bryant] from the official AME 5th District website.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.