Darrell A. Drumwright, M. Div.
Senior Pastor
A native of Nashville, TN, Darrell Antonio Drumwright completed his undergraduate studies, summa cum laude, in Sociology at Tennessee State University in Nashville, TN. He earned the M.Div. degree in June of 2000 with honors from The Divinity School at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA. In 1999, Darrell was named a Hopkins Shareholder, one of the nation’s oldest endowed fellowships given to Divinity School students who show ministerial promise in the Harvard community. During his time in divinity school, Darrell served as the Minister to Young Adults and the Assistant to the Pastor at New Hope Baptist Church in Boston, MA. His collaborative work with TSU faculty entitled "Seniors’ Mental Health and Pastoral Practices in African American Churches: An Exploratory Study in A Southern City" was published in the December 1998 vol. 40 no.2 edition of the Review of Religious Research. Darrell has preached and lectured in numerous parts of the country. Bishop Michael Lee Graves named Pastor Drumwright his successor in August of 2004 and in December of 2004, Darrell became senior pastor of The Temple Church.
In April of 2004, Pastor Drumwright was awarded a full fellowship and admitted to the Ph.D. program in History at Vanderbilt University. In addition to serving as senior pastor, Darrell is a faculty member at Tennessee State University in the Department of Languages, Literature and Philosophy where he gives instruction in the area of Religious Studies. From 2001-2007, he served as a faculty member at American Baptist College, giving instruction across the liberal arts disciplines.
Darrell is a member of the American Academy of Religion, the Society for the Study of Biblical Literature, Leadership Nashville Class of 2013-2014, Harvard Club of Middle Tennessee and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated, Nashville Alumni Chapter where he was named Young Brother of the Year in 2003. He was also named 2005 Nashville Pastor of the year by Brothers United Ministry, A Top 45 Leader Under the Age of 45 in Tennessee by the Tennessee Chapter of the NAACP and also saluted by Dr. Bobby Jones in January of 2007 on his international television broadcast. On November 8, 2014, the Minerva Foundation, Incorporated honored Pastor Drumwright with the Dr. Dorothy Brown Humanitarian Award. He is a member of the Board of Trustees at American Baptist College and a graduate of the Leadership Nashville Class of 2014.
Pastor Drumwright is married to Latonya T. Drumwright and they have two sons, Demarkus and Damarius.