BA, Fort Wayne Bible College
MA, University of Southern California
William Pannell joined Fuller in 1974 as assistant professor of evangelism.
Before joining the faculty, he was the first African-American to serve on Fuller's Board of Trustees. In 1992 he was appointed as the Arthur DeKruyter/Christ Church Oak Brook Professor of Preaching, served as dean of the Chapel from 1992 to 1998, and also served as director of the African-American Studies Program. A gifted preacher and professor of homiletics, Pannell has nurtured several generations of Fuller students from the classroom to the pulpit. He currently serves on the board of Taylor University in Indiana and is the author of numerous articles and books, including The Coming Race Wars? A Cry for Reconciliation (1993); Evangelism from the Bottom Up (1992); and My Friend, the Enemy (1968).
Preaching in contemporary America, race relations, Black Church, evangelism
William Pannell recalls the road signs that have steered his thinking.
July 1, 1983
I discovered books late in life. Our home, like others in our neighborhood, was not literary, the margin of survival a bit too narrow for book acquisition. I recall my astonishment when I enrolled in Bible college and discovered the other students' shelves of books. I couldn't believe they owned them all. At eighteen years old, a personal library had never been part of my life. I hadn't realized the loss.
The only exception was a book I came across shortly after my conversion at age sixteen: the Book of Ephesians. It was my first exposure to God's family planning and the first time I felt the exhilaration that comes from knowing I had been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. What joy for a teenager trying to find himself in a society where already he felt alien.
Bible college exposed me to some theology, most of it eminently forgettable. What impressed me most was a small volume (the title escapes me) which told the stories of "famous" Christians from William Carey onward who initiated the great missionary thrusts of the Western church. In retrospect, the stories were more romantic than factual in crucial areas, but they served to stimulate my thinking about "the regions beyond" and the price God's people have paid to proclaim good news to the nations.
Books became even more important to me when I entered full-time evangelism. James Stewart's A Man in Christ became a solid basis for studying the life of Paul and the central themes of his theology. It also provided much sermon material, as did Stewart's Heralds of God and A Faith to Proclaim. These books combined good scholarship, fine writing style, and a warm evangelical tone.
Around this same time, I came across the writings of Ruth Paxson. Her Life on the ...
Hear some of the world’s foremost authorities on race, religion, culture, community, education and empowerment take on the topics of “Ministry in the City”.
Crichton College
August 14th - October 2nd
Tuesdays at 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Virgil L. Iles Auditorium
Listen to the Lectureship Series You can listen to previous lectures here or download for play on your computer or MP3 player. Simply click the title to listen, or to download, right click and "Save Target As..." to your computer.
August 21, 2007 – Dr. William Pannell "A Theology for the City"
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