In this episode of The Ministry Exchange, Rev. Dr. Angela D. Sims shares the moral and theological convictions that have shaped her leadership as President of Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School and as a leading voice in Christian social ethics. With scholarship forged through deep study and lived faith, Dr. Sims reflects on the formation that began long before she could name it—from sitting beside her grandmother in church to rigorous theological training at Howard University and Union Presbyterian Seminary.

Drawing from her groundbreaking work in Lynched: The Power of Memory in a Culture of Terror and her study of Ida B. Wells, Dr. Sims explores how memory functions as ethical responsibility—not nostalgia. She challenges the Church to confront racial terror as both historical reality and present tension, and to resist the temptation to separate faith from justice. Through womanist theology and disciplined moral reflection, she offers a framework for leadership rooted in courage, truth-telling, and hope.

This conversation explores:

- How memory shapes moral imagination and public witness
- Why confronting America’s history of lynching is a theological obligation
- The role of womanist ethics in forming resilient, justice-centered leaders
- Leading a seminary through crisis, transition, and institutional change
- What it takes to form pastors who can preach, organize, and serve beyond the sanctuary

For pastors, scholars, and ministry leaders, Dr. Sims offers a compelling vision for a Church that refuses amnesia, embraces accountability, and forms leaders capable of carrying hope with integrity and courage.

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🎙️ The Ministry Exchange with Dr. Mapson is powered by MinistryForward Media Group, helping churches and leaders grow through media, strategy, and leadership tools.

📲 Stay Connected:
Follow us on Instagram & Facebook: @ministryfwd / @drjwmapson
Visit our website: www.ministryfwd.com
(coming soon)
Watch episodes on YouTube: Search “The Ministry Exchange with Dr. Mapson”

Want to collaborate or sponsor an episode?
Reach out at: info@ministryfwd.com

This episode is proudly sponsored by Terry Funeral Home Inc.
For over 85 years, Terry Funeral Home has walked with families through life’s most sacred moments, offering care, dignity, and excellence when it matters most. Learn more at terryfuneralhome.com.

This episode is also supported by our Silver Partner, Palmer Theological Seminary.
Whole Gospel. Whole World. Whole Persons. Palmer equips leaders for transformative, justice-centered ministry through theological depth and holistic formation. Learn more at palmerseminary.edu.

In this episode of The Ministry Exchange, Rev. Paul Timothy Roberts Sr., Dr. Ouida Harding, and Minister Warren Cooper join Dr. Mapson for a courageous conversation on worship as resistance and the prophetic power of Black sacred music. Representing JCSTS — formerly known as Johnson C. Smith Theological Seminary, with roots tracing back to the Freedmen’s Institute — they explore how theological formation, cultural memory, and sacred sound intersect in this critical moment for the church.

Tracing the lineage of Black Church music from spirituals to contemporary expressions, our guests challenge the drift toward performance culture and consumer-driven worship. They name the tension between platform and prophecy, excellence and ego, gig culture and ministry — calling pastors and musicians back to shared purpose and theological depth.

This conversation explores:
- Worship as resistance, not escape
- The prophetic function of Black Church music
- Preserving a sacred tradition larger than contemporary gospel
- The pastor–musician relationship and its challenges
- Capitalism’s influence on worship culture
- How JCSTS is forming leaders to align music, message, and mission

For pastors, musicians, and worship leaders, this episode offers clarity and conviction — a call to restore variety, courage, and theological grounding in our sanctuaries. When worship becomes offering rather than performance, it forms communities that resist injustice, tell the truth, and sing with purpose.

If this conversation strengthens your ministry, subscribe, share it with a fellow leader, and leave a review so more voices can join the exchange.

Support the show

Thanks for tuning in to The Ministry Exchange with Dr. Mapson
Where real conversations meet real ministry.

🎙️ Enjoying the podcast? Support the show ⬇️
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2456465/supporters/new

🎙️ The Ministry Exchange with Dr. Mapson is powered by MinistryForward Media Group, helping churches and leaders grow through media, strategy, and leadership tools.

📲 Stay Connected:
Follow us on Instagram & Facebook: @ministryfwd / @drjwmapson
Visit our website: www.ministryfwd.com
(coming soon)
Watch episodes on YouTube: Search “The Ministry Exchange with Dr. Mapson”

Want to collaborate or sponsor an episode?
Reach out at: info@ministryfwd.com

This episode is proudly sponsored by Terry Funeral Home Inc.
For over 85 years, Terry Funeral Home has walked with families through life’s most sacred moments, offering care, dignity, and excellence when it matters most. Learn more at terryfuneralhome.com.

This episode is also supported by our Silver Partner, Palmer Theological Seminary.
Whole Gospel. Whole World. Whole Persons. Palmer equips leaders for transformative, justice-centered ministry through theological depth and holistic formation. Learn more at palmerseminary.edu.

Season Two of The Ministry Exchange begins with a powerful and timely conversation—one that sets the tone for the season ahead.

In this episode of The Ministry Exchange, Rev. Dr. Mark Kelly Tyler offers a compelling reflection on calling, courage, and the sacred responsibility of memory within the life of the Black Church. Drawing from decades of ministry as a pastor, historian, filmmaker, and organizer, Dr. Tyler traces a journey that moves seamlessly between pulpit, public square, and preserved story.

From his early formation in Oakland to his tenure as Senior Pastor of Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, Dr. Tyler reflects on what it means to lead on sacred ground while remaining accountable to both history and community. He shares the weight and wonder of shepherding the founding congregation of African Methodism, where worship, justice, and legacy converge, and explains how the AME Church’s origins continue to shape its prophetic witness today.

Throughout the conversation, Dr. Tyler explores how storytelling has become central to his ministry. From documentary filmmaking and radio hosting to his innovative Black History on Two Wheels initiative, he explains how history, when told faithfully, becomes a tool for formation, resistance, and hope. He also speaks candidly about itinerant ministry, family life, obedience within hierarchical systems, and the discernment required to step away from the pastorate into his current role as Historiographer of the AME Church.

This episode explores:

• Why history is essential to faithful ministry and moral clarity
• The personal and spiritual costs of itinerant leadership
• How media, film, and radio serve as modern pulpits
• Navigating prophetic witness within institutional systems
• Transitioning from pastoral leadership to global historical stewardship
• What it means for the Church to tell the truth about where it has been

For pastors, church leaders, and anyone concerned with the soul of the Church, Dr. Tyler offers a thoughtful meditation on leadership that remembers, resists, and remains faithful. This is a conversation about longevity, obedience, and the power of holding history with care.

Support the show

Thanks for tuning in to The Ministry Exchange with Dr. Mapson
Where real conversations meet real ministry.

🎙️ Enjoying the podcast? Support the show ⬇️
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2456465/supporters/new

🎙️ The Ministry Exchange with Dr. Mapson is powered by MinistryForward Media Group, helping churches and leaders grow through media, strategy, and leadership tools.

📲 Stay Connected:
Follow us on Instagram & Facebook: @ministryfwd / @drjwmapson
Visit our website: www.ministryfwd.com
(coming soon)
Watch episodes on YouTube: Search “The Ministry Exchange with Dr. Mapson”

Want to collaborate or sponsor an episode?
Reach out at: info@ministryfwd.com

This episode is proudly sponsored by Terry Funeral Home Inc.
For over 85 years, Terry Funeral Home has walked with families through life’s most sacred moments, offering care, dignity, and excellence when it matters most. Learn more at terryfuneralhome.com.

This episode is also supported by our Silver Partner, Palmer Theological Seminary.
Whole Gospel. Whole World. Whole Persons. Palmer equips leaders for transformative, justice-centered ministry through theological depth and holistic formation. Learn more at palmerseminary.edu.

A season’s worth of hard-won wisdom deserves more than a closing credits moment, so we pressed pause and gathered the conversations that shaped us most. This Season One Rewind revisits the clips you returned to, shared, and carried into your ministry contexts—moments about letting go with grace, the realities of clergy life, the tension between cultural relevance and church identity, the courage to answer a call before you feel ready, and the weight of prophetic preaching when support is scarce. This episode is part reflection, part field guide, and focused on what strengthens real churches and real leaders.

We revisit Bishop Walter S. Thomas Sr., who reminds us that loving the church more than the position is the foundation of healthy transition. We pair that with Rev. Dr. DeForest “Buster” Soaries’s challenge to rethink pastoral finance, honor bi-vocational realities, and provide dignified support for the shepherds who serve our congregations. Rev. Dr. Alyn E. Waller reframes gospel music as an on-ramp to discipleship rather than a substitute for Sunday formation, pushing us to imagine evangelism for a generation drawn by sound but searching for substance.

With Rev. Dr. Danielle L. Brown, we sit in the tension of calling before readiness, naming the quiet scripts that have funneled women into support roles—and celebrating the growing, Spirit-led movement of women stepping confidently into senior leadership. Rev. Dr. Kevin R. Johnson brings us into the loneliness and necessity of prophetic conviction, reminding us that standing alone often precedes standing together.

Threaded through it all is Bishop Keith W. Reed’s charge to “gather wheat from every field, and make your own bread”—a reminder to learn widely without losing yourself, lead boldly without imitation, and let the voices that shaped you strengthen your own.

We close with gratitude for every guest who shared their journey and every listener who watched, commented, prayed, and carried these conversations beyond the studio. A Season One digital E-Book is on the way—gathering themes like leadership pressure, legacy and succession, calling, originality, worship and culture, and prophetic responsibility into a resource for pastors and leaders everywhere.

Season Two begins January 8 with new voices and the same commitment to clarity, courage, and ministry that matters. Share this rewind with someone who needs it, subscribe, and help us continue the conversa

Support the show

Thanks for tuning in to The Ministry Exchange with Dr. Mapson
Where real conversations meet real ministry.

🎙️ Enjoying the podcast? Support the show ⬇️
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2456465/supporters/new

🎙️ The Ministry Exchange with Dr. Mapson is powered by MinistryForward Media Group, helping churches and leaders grow through media, strategy, and leadership tools.

📲 Stay Connected:
Follow us on Instagram & Facebook: @ministryfwd / @drjwmapson
Visit our website: www.ministryfwd.com
(coming soon)
Watch episodes on YouTube: Search “The Ministry Exchange with Dr. Mapson”

Want to collaborate or sponsor an episode?
Reach out at: info@ministryfwd.com

This episode is proudly sponsored by Terry Funeral Home Inc.
For over 85 years, Terry Funeral Home has walked with families through life’s most sacred moments, offering care, dignity, and excellence when it matters most. Learn more at terryfuneralhome.com.

This episode is also supported by our Silver Partner, Palmer Theological Seminary.
Whole Gospel. Whole World. Whole Persons. Palmer equips leaders for transformative, justice-centered ministry through theological depth and holistic formation. Learn more at palmerseminary.edu.

In this solo episode, Dr. Mapson guides us into one of the most overlooked yet essential seasons in the life of the church — the season of Advent. While our culture rushes toward Christmas with shopping, noise, and trillion-dollar spending, Advent quietly calls us to memory, reflection, and the Incarnation itself.

Drawing from Scripture, church history, and decades of preaching, Dr. Mapson explores why Advent matters and why the church must reclaim it. He walks through the biblical rhythms, theological depth, and spiritual discipline that make this season more than a countdown to December twenty-five.

From Jewish feast days and collective memory, to secularism and commercialism, to genealogies, angels, tensions in the birth narratives, and preaching possibilities across the Gospels — this episode offers a rich journey through the texts and symbols we often know too well and rarely examine afresh.

Dr. Mapson unpacks:
• Why Advent reveals God’s activity throughout the year
• How the Gospel offers an alternative to cultural Christmas
• The Incarnation as the center of Christian faith
• Preaching values in Matthew and Luke’s birth narratives
• The symbolism of genealogies, dreams, angels, shepherds, and wise men
• Biblical tensions resolved only by divine intervention
• The role of Advent preaching series in shaping congregational life
• Old Testament connections, carols, and songs of the season
• What happens after the angels leave — and how believers respond

This episode invites the church to slow down, look again, and rediscover the gift God gives in this season — a gift that changes how we live, serve, and enter a new year.

Support the show

Thanks for tuning in to The Ministry Exchange with Dr. Mapson
Where real conversations meet real ministry.

🎙️ Enjoying the podcast? Support the show ⬇️
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2456465/supporters/new

🎙️ The Ministry Exchange with Dr. Mapson is powered by MinistryForward Media Group, helping churches and leaders grow through media, strategy, and leadership tools.

📲 Stay Connected:
Follow us on Instagram & Facebook: @ministryfwd / @drjwmapson
Visit our website: www.ministryfwd.com
(coming soon)
Watch episodes on YouTube: Search “The Ministry Exchange with Dr. Mapson”

Want to collaborate or sponsor an episode?
Reach out at: info@ministryfwd.com

This episode is proudly sponsored by Terry Funeral Home Inc.
For over 85 years, Terry Funeral Home has walked with families through life’s most sacred moments, offering care, dignity, and excellence when it matters most. Learn more at terryfuneralhome.com.

This episode is also supported by our Silver Partner, Palmer Theological Seminary.
Whole Gospel. Whole World. Whole Persons. Palmer equips leaders for transformative, justice-centered ministry through theological depth and holistic formation. Learn more at palmerseminary.edu.

In this episode of The Ministry Exchange, Rev. Dr. J. Wendell Mapson Jr. and his son, Jesse Mapson III, share a rare and revealing father-and-son dialogue about faith, innovation, and legacy. Together they trace how a historic Black Baptist church learned to evolve—adding drums, livestreams, and online giving—without losing its sacred soul.

Jesse—known professionally as J. Melodic, an award-winning music producer whose work has been featured by Apple, Disney, the NBA, NFL, and more—brings his world of music, media, and creative strategy into the conversation, reflecting on how those experiences reshaped his view of ministry. From his start as a seven-year-old church drummer to creative director and CEO of MinistryForward Media Group, he shares how excellence, storytelling, and sound can all serve as modern evangelism.

Meanwhile, Dr. Mapson offers the pastoral and theological lens behind the journey, revealing what it takes to guide a congregation through change without compromising conviction. What began as cautious experimentation became a blueprint for digital discipleship and intergenerational partnership.

This conversation explores:

• How openness to change preserves the church’s soul rather than dilutes it
• Turning media and design into tools of ministry and mission
• Why inclusion, belonging, and excellence can coexist in worship
• Lessons for young leaders seeking genuine influence, not just visibility
• Building systems that meet today’s needs—from follow-up to food security

For pastors, PKs, and ministry teams learning to bridge reverence with reinvention, this dialogue offers both wisdom and warmth—a living example of what it means to rebuild the church while keeping its heart intact.

Support the show

Thanks for tuning in to The Ministry Exchange with Dr. Mapson
Where real conversations meet real ministry.

🎙️ Enjoying the podcast? Support the show ⬇️ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2456465/supporters/new

🎙️ The Ministry Exchange with Dr. Mapson is powered by MinistryForward Media Group— helping churches and leaders grow through media, strategy, and leadership tools.

📲 Stay Connected:
Follow us on Instagram & Facebook: @ministryfwd / @drjwmapson
Visit our website: www.ministryfwd.com (coming soon)
Watch episodes on YouTube: Search “The Ministry Exchange with Dr. Mapson”

Want to collaborate or sponsor an episode?
Reach out at: info@ministryfwd.com

New episodes drop every other Wednesday. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation that matters.

This episode is proudly sponsored by Terry Funeral Home Inc.
For over 85 years, Terry Funeral Home has walked with families through life’s most sacred moments—offering care, dignity, and excellence when it matters most. Learn more at terryfuneralhome.com.

In this episode of The Ministry Exchange, Rev. Dr. Cynthia L. Hale shares the courageous journey of a woman who answered God’s call when the church wasn’t ready to listen. As the founder and Senior Pastor of Ray of Hope Christian Church in Decatur, Georgia, Dr. Hale reflects on more than four decades of breaking barriers, building leaders, and preaching with conviction and grace.

With wisdom shaped by experience, she explains what it means to lead without losing yourself, and how empowering others sustains both the pastor and the people. From her musical beginnings that shaped her voice and rhythm, to planting Ray of Hope with only four members in her apartment, Dr. Hale recounts how vision, discipline, and faith turned a small gathering into a movement.

This conversation explores:

• The cost and courage of saying yes to God’s call as a woman in ministry
• How mentoring and team-based leadership create healthy, lasting churches
• The vital connection between worship, justice, and pastoral responsibility
• Why rest, renewal, and boundaries are non-negotiables for effective leadership
• How empowerment and excellence keep ministry fresh across generations

For every pastor, leader, and woman answering a difficult call, Dr. Hale offers both testimony and strategy — a masterclass in leading with integrity, longevity, and hope.

Listen, share with someone who needs encouragement, and subscribe so you never miss an episode of The Ministry Exchange with Dr. Mapson.

Support the show

Thanks for tuning in to The Ministry Exchange with Dr. Mapson
Where real conversations meet real ministry.

🎙️ Enjoying the podcast? Support the show ⬇️ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2456465/supporters/new

🎙️ The Ministry Exchange with Dr. Mapson is powered by MinistryForward Media Group— helping churches and leaders grow through media, strategy, and leadership tools.

📲 Stay Connected:
Follow us on Instagram & Facebook: @ministryfwd / @drjwmapson
Visit our website: www.ministryfwd.com (coming soon)
Watch episodes on YouTube: Search “The Ministry Exchange with Dr. Mapson”

Want to collaborate or sponsor an episode?
Reach out at: info@ministryfwd.com

New episodes drop every other Wednesday. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation that matters.

This episode is proudly sponsored by Terry Funeral Home Inc.
For over 85 years, Terry Funeral Home has walked with families through life’s most sacred moments—offering care, dignity, and excellence when it matters most. Learn more at terryfuneralhome.com.

In this episode of The Ministry Exchange, Dr. J. Wendell Mapson Jr. explores Pulpit & Pew: The Sacred Exchange That Gives Life, a teaching on the living covenant between preacher and people that remains central to the Black Church.

With wisdom forged through decades of preaching, Dr. Mapson examines what truly happens in the “preaching moment,” where the Word meets the listener and transformation begins. Drawing on Augustine’s charge to teach, delight, and move, he unpacks how instruction, clarity, and compassion keep preaching alive and effective in every generation.

This conversation explores:

• How instruction anchors preaching amid growing biblical illiteracy
• Why delight and rhetoric matter for attention, clarity, and joy in God
• How movement turns Sunday proclamation into Monday obedience
• The covenant between pulpit and pew and the “rights” both share
• Preaching across generations without losing anyone in the room
• Addressing crisis moments without losing the gospel’s center

For preachers, teachers, and all who love the Church, this episode offers a masterclass in faithful communication where the gospel gives life and both pulpit and pew breathe together.

Support the show

Thanks for tuning in to The Ministry Exchange with Dr. Mapson
Where real conversations meet real ministry.

🎙️ Enjoying the podcast? Support the show ⬇️ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2456465/supporters/new

🎙️ The Ministry Exchange with Dr. Mapson is powered by MinistryForward Media Group— helping churches and leaders grow through media, strategy, and leadership tools.

📲 Stay Connected:
Follow us on Instagram & Facebook: @ministryfwd / @drjwmapson
Visit our website: www.ministryfwd.com (coming soon)
Watch episodes on YouTube: Search “The Ministry Exchange with Dr. Mapson”

Want to collaborate or sponsor an episode?
Reach out at: info@ministryfwd.com

New episodes drop every other Wednesday. Subscribe so you never miss a conversation that matters.

This episode is proudly sponsored by Terry Funeral Home Inc.
For over 85 years, Terry Funeral Home has walked with families through life’s most sacred moments—offering care, dignity, and excellence when it matters most. Learn more at terryfuneralhome.com.