Committee Recommends New Minister to Lead Riverside Church
A prominent multicultural megachurch known for its activism is closer to finding its new leader.
A search committee at The Riverside Church in Manhattan announced on Sunday that it has unanimously selected Dr. Brad R. Braxton, 39, to lead the 2,400-member congregation.
Braxton, a native of Salem, Va., was recommended to succeed the Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes, Riverside's first black senior minister who led the church from the pulpit for 18 years.
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Forbes retired last year but continues to serve as Senior Minister Emeritus at Riverside. He was a figure of controversy among some in the congregation who felt he didn't do enough to maintain the church's tradition of advocating social justice positions, as reported by The New York Times, or that he alienated some white members at the diverse church with his style – which has Pentecostal roots.
But he was able to rise above the criticism from the congregation, according to Geoffrey Martin, a member of the search committee, and membership increased during his leadership.
When leaving the pulpit, he told Religion News Service that his advice for his successor is not to accept the job "unless you have a deep sense of divine appointment to it."
Son of a Baptist pastor and an associate professor of homiletics and new Testament at the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., Braxton was selected from 65 candidates to be the next senior minister.
Cheryle Wills, the chairwoman of the search committee, told the congregation that committee members described Braxton as "powerful" and "a genius."
"All of us know that this young man has a vision much larger than ours," Wills said, according to the NY Times. "We want to be on the forefront of change. And not change for the sake of change. But change for the betterment and inclusion of all people."
In an interview with the NY Times, Braxton said he is honored at the prospect of being a part of a church with a "noble legacy" and that he views his role as both spiritually nurturing the congregants and serving the common good.
"So I certainly would hope to continue in that marvelous legacy of congregational care internally, and bold, courageous, prophetic action externally, for which the Riverside Church has been known now for so many years," he said.
Braxton is scheduled to speak to the Riverside congregation on Sept. 10 and on Sept. 14, when he will deliver his "Candidate Sermon."
A vote by the congregation be made that same day. The call of the Senior Minister must be approved by a two-thirds vote of the qualified members of the Church present, according to Riverside's Web site. If confirmed, he would be the second black minister to lead the Manhattan church.
The Riverside Church is an interdenominational, interracial, and international church built by John D. Rockefeller Jr. in 1927. It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches and the United Church of Christ.
