John Richard Bryant
Bishop John Richard Bryant (born June 8, 1943) a retired bishop who was the former Senior Bishop and Presiding Prelate of the Fourth Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
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 the Boston University School of Theology, and his D.Min. degree at the Colgate Rochester Divinity School in 1975.
Bryant also holds several Honorary Doctorates from Paul Quinn College, Wilberforce University, Payne Theological Seminary and Virginia 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, Senior Pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Dekalb County, Georgia near Lithonia and Dr. Thema Simone Bryant-Davis. Jamal’s ex-wife Gizelle Bryant is a star on the reality series The Real Housewives of Potomac.
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 regularly practiced glossalalia or "speaking in tongues" and 59 percent reported that they had the gifts of prophecy and/or divine healing.
Because of all this, Bishop Bryant is considered the father of Neo-Pentecostalism.
References
- About Bishop Bryant from the official AME 4th District website.
- v
- t
- e
- Religion in Black America
- Historically African-American Christian denominations
- Clergy
Dexter Avenue Baptist Church | |
---|---|
First African Baptist Church (Richmond, Virginia) | |
First African Baptist Church (Savannah, Georgia) |
|
Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship | |
Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention | |
National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. | |
National Baptist Convention of America, Inc. | |
National Missionary Baptist Convention of America | |
Progressive National Baptist Convention | |
United American Free Will Baptist Church |
- Apostolic Assemblies of Christ
- Apostolic Faith Church (William J. Seymour)
- Church of God in Christ (Charles Edward Blake Sr.
- Andraé Crouch
- Sandra Crouch
- Robert Michael Franklin Jr.
- Samuel Green Jr.
- Edwin Hawkins
- O. T. Jones Sr.
- John P. Kee
- Charles Harrison Mason
- Chandler David Owens Sr
- Gilbert E. Patterson
- J. O. Patterson Jr.
- Wayne Perryman
- Ted Thomas Sr.
- F. D. Washington
- Dickerson Wells
- Timothy Wright
- Lennox Yearwood)
- Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith (Robert C. Lawson)
- Church of Universal Triumph, Dominion of God (James F. Jones
- James Shaffer)
- Fire Baptized Holiness Church of God of the Americas
- Mount Sinai Holy Church of America (Ida B. Robinson)
- Pentecostal Assemblies of the World
- Pentecostal Churches of Christ (J. Delano Ellis)
- Reformed Zion Union Apostolic Church
- Triumph the Church and Kingdom of God in Christ (Elias Dempsey Smith)
- United Pentecostal Council of the Assemblies of God, Incorporated
- United Holy Church of America
- United Sabbath-Day Adventist Church
- Black Catholicism (Servant of God Mother Mary Lange
- Venerable Mother Henriette DeLille
- William Augustine Williams
- Venerable Pierre Toussaint
- Venerable Fr Augustus Tolton
- George Clements
- Bishop John Ricard
- Servant of God Julia Greeley
- Servant of God Sr Thea Bowman
- Sr Jamie Phelps, OP
- Clarence Rivers
- Fr Cyprian Davis, OSB
- Archbishop James Lyke
- Cardinal Wilton Gregory)
- African Orthodox Church (George Alexander McGuire)
- Church of Christ (Holiness) U.S.A. (Charles Price Jones)
- Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America
- City of Refuge UCC (Yvette Flunder)
- Global United Fellowship (Neil Ellis)
- Imani Temple African-American Catholic Congregation (George Augustus Stallings Jr.)
- Interdenominational Theological Center
- Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge
- Love Center Church (Walter Hawkins)
- Original Church of God or Sanctified Church
- Spencer Churches (Peter Spencer)
- Trinity United Church of Christ (Otis Moss III)
- United House of Prayer for All People (Marcelino Manuel da Graça
- Walter McCollough
- Samuel C. Madison
- C.M. Bailey)
- Union of Charismatic Orthodox Churches (Emilio Alvarez)