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 The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a Black church, predominantly African American Methodist Religious denomination, denomination. It adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology and has a connexionalism, c ...

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 Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. He earned his B.A. degree in 1965 at Morgan State University, his

M.Th. Master of Theology ( la, Theologiae Magister, abbreviated MTh, ThM, or MTheol) is a post-graduate degree offered by universities, divinity schools, and seminaries. It can serve as a transition degree for entrance into a PhD program or as a sta ...

degree in 1970 at the

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

School of Theology, and his

D.Min. The Doctor of Ministry (abbreviated DMin or D.Min.) is a professional doctorate, often including a research component, that may be earned by a minister of religion while concurrently engaged in some form of ministry. It is categorized as an advanced ...

degree at the

Colgate Rochester Divinity School Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School is a Baptist seminary in Rochester, New York It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA. History 1820s-1960: Early history Four Baptist institutions merged over the course of the 19th and 20t ...

in 1975. Bryant also holds several

Honorary Doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

s from Paul Quinn College,

Wilberforce University Wilberforce University is a private historically black university in Wilberforce, Ohio. Affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), it was the first college to be owned and operated by African Americans. It participates in t ...

, Payne Theological Seminary and

Virginia Seminary Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS), formally called the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia, located at 3737 Seminary Road in Alexandria, Virginia is the largest and second oldest accredited Episcopal seminary in the Unite ...

. 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 Baltimore City College, known colloquially as City, City College, and B.C.C., is a college preparatory school with a liberal arts focus and selective admissions criteria located in Baltimore, Maryland. Opened in October 1839, B.C.C. is the thir ...

. 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 Gizelle Annette Bryant (née Graves; born September 9, 1970) is a American model, television personality and author. She was the First Lady of Empowerment Temple AME. She has appeared on the reality TV series ''The Real Housewives of Potomac'' ...

is a star on the reality series ''

The Real Housewives of Potomac ''The Real Housewives of Potomac'' (abbreviated ''RHOP'') is an American reality television series that premiered on January 17, 2016, on Bravo. It has aired six seasons and focuses on the personal and professional lives of several women living ...

''.

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 Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

into what people called a "rocking church" because of their support of

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

religious practices. When assigned to Bethel A.M.E. Church in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

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 Speaking in tongues, also known as glossolalia, is a practice in which people utter words or speech-like sounds, often thought by believers to be languages unknown to the speaker. One definition used by linguists is the fluid vocalizing of sp ...

or "speaking in tongues" and 59 percent reported that they had the gifts of

prophecy In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a ''prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or prete ...

and/or

divine healing Faith healing is the practice of prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that are believed by some to elicit divine intervention in spiritual and physical healing, especially the Christian practice. Believers assert that the healing ...

. Because of all this, Bishop Bryant is considered the father of Neo-Pentecostalism.

References

*Abou
Bishop Bryant
from the official AME 4th District website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bryant, John Richard Religious leaders from Texas American evangelists 1946 births People of the African Methodist Episcopal church African Methodist Episcopal bishops Living people Baltimore City College alumni 20th-century Methodist bishops African-American Methodist clergy American Methodist clergy Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School alumni