Rev. Dr. Gina Marcia Stewart is a pastor, preacher, visionary, builder, mentor, adjunct professor, and daughter of Christ Missionary Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. She has led the congregation of Christ Missionary Baptist Church, where she was baptized and mentored for ministry by her predecessor and former pastor, the Rev. Eddie L Currie. She is the first African American female elected to serve an established African American Baptist congregation in Memphis and Shelby County.
Dr. Stewart has earned a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Marketing from the University of Memphis. She received a Master of Education in Administration and Supervision from Trevecca Nazarene College in Nashville, Tennessee and a Master of Divinity degree from Memphis Theological Seminary. Rev. Stewart also attended the Harvard Divinity School Summer Leadership Institute for Church Based Community and Economic Development. She received the Doctor of Ministry degree from the ITC-Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta, Georgia and a PhD in African American Preaching from Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Dr. Stewart has received numerous honors and awards for her outstanding service to the church and the community such as Outstanding Citizen of the Year from Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Community Service Award from Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Pastor of the Year Award (medium size church) from the Gospel Bridge Awards, and The World’s Most Loved Pastors (November/December 2005-Gospel Today magazine) and the Women of Wisdom award from the Women’s Foundation of Greater Memphis. She received the Pastor of the Year award from Citizens for Better Service and was the first female to receive the prestigious Carter G. Woodson Award from Southwest Community College. She has received the Living Legends Award in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the community, the Class of 2017 Women of Excellence Award from the Tri-State Defender and the Lifetime Achievement Award from Memphis Juneteenth Festival.
Dr. Stewart’s work been featured in numerous books and publications such as Audacity of Faith: Christian Leaders Reflect on the Election of Barack Obama, What We Love About the Black Church: Can We Get A Witness? and Black Practical Theology. She has been featured in Gospel Today, Spirit magazine, Soul Sanctuary, a desktop documentary of the essential highlights of the African American worship experiences across denominations nationwide, and The African American Pulpit, a quarterly journal that serves as a repository for the very best of African American preaching and provides practical and creative resources for persons in ministry.
She has served as a team leader for the Pastoral Excellence Program for Lott Carey International, a development and advocacy organization, as adjunct faculty for Memphis Theological Seminary and as faculty mentor for United Theological Seminary Doctor of Ministry Program. She is currently a Visiting Professor of Practical Theology for the Samuel D. Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University.
Dr. Stewart was recently inducted into the Martin Luther King Board of Preachers and elected to serve on the National Board of the NAACP. In 2015, she was elected to serve as the Second Vice-President for Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention. She also serves as a member of the Advisory Council for the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University, Co-Convener for the Women in Ministry Conference-Dr. Cynthia L. Hale, Convener and a Trustee for the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Pastors Conference. She is a former board member of the Advisory Board for The African American Pulpit, The National Civil Rights Museum and Bread for the World. Dr. Stewart is the founder of Greater Works Inc. a non-profit organization devoted to philanthropy and ministry development. She is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. In September 2015, she released her first book entitled We’ve Got Next: HERstory in HIStory.
Under Dr. Stewart’s leadership, CMBC has experienced significant numerical, physical and financial