Pro Ecclesia Medal of Service – Joel C. Gregory, B.A. ’70, Ph.D. ’83

Joel C. Gregory has held many titles throughout his ministry, but the throughline is an excellence in preaching fed by a love for individuals.

At 16 years old, Gregory told his youth minister he felt called to preach.

“Back in that day,” Gregory said, “if you said that in a Baptist church, they didn’t waste any time putting you up on a Wednesday night, having you do it to see if you could, and they gave you a license.”

Gregory’s earliest preaching was as a high school student at rescue missions.

For Gregory, part of the value of education is how it shaped him. Beginning his undergrad studies at age 17, Gregory studied religion and Greek at Baylor before attending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. He returned to Baylor for a doctorate in religion studying the New Testament. Gregory later earned an M.Th. from Oxford University in 2023.

“Short of my own family experience, nothing shaped me more than being at Baylor University as an undergraduate in the Department of Religion. Those people shaped me for a lifetime in ways I did not even know when I was there.” Gregory said. “Parallel to that, churches in and around Waco where I attended and served were all shaping institutions.”

Gregory has preached from pulpits and spoken at colleges, universities, conventions and seminaries across the country. His service to Baptist churches included two terms as president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. After two years serving as pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Gregory’s ministry transitioned to a model of itinerant preaching, particularly in the Black church in America. This eventually led to the formation of Proclaimers Place in 2005.

Proclaimers Place is a seminar program focused on equipping and educating primarily African American pastors, and participants receive a certificate of completion from Truett Seminary.

“We spend four days working on text while I model, mentor and apprentice preachers in the task. And for whatever reason, God has blessed it. I never thought it would go on for 20 years. We now have more invitations to do it than we’ve ever had.”

Gregory also returned to Baylor in 2005 as a professor of preaching at George W. Truett Theological Seminary, where he taught until 2024. Gregory was influential in shaping the instruction of preaching at Truett. He was the initial holder of the George W. Truett Chair of Preaching, the inaugural director of the Kyle Lake Center for Effective Preaching from 2018-24 and he was instrumental in starting the Ph.D. in preaching at Truett, the only preaching doctorate offered in the U.S. by a Baptist university. He was also beloved by students, earning the designation “Outstanding Professor” at Baylor in 2019.

Despite having been named one of the “Twelve Most Effective Preachers in the English Language” by more than 500 professors of preaching in 2018 and a “Living Legend” by the E.K. Bailey International Conference, recognition from his alma mater still comes as a great surprise to Gregory.

“I hope that a lifetime of studying at, teaching at and representing Baylor all over the world has resulted in honor to Baylor University,” Gregory said. “I think all of us who’ve been shaped by the legacy and history of an institution that’s older than this state of Texas, owe so much to this university.”