Founding and Senior Pastor
Bishop Parnell M. Lovelace, Jr., PhD, DMin
Known as the “People’s Bishop,” Our senior pastor is described as an apostolic strategist, communicator, teacher, thinker, and progressive leader. He serves as a mentor and friend among multitudes of pastors, trans-denominationally. The merging of his spiritual journey and that of social science has served to facilitate an approach that reaches and embraces the disenfranchised, the poor, the youth, the elderly, the marginalized, and people of all communities. He is held in high esteem regionally and globally for his character, integrity, and life-transforming teachings. Reared in Sacramento, CA, Bishop Lovelace is a protégé of Pastor Willie P. Cooke of the Shiloh Baptist Church, District Elder Robert Holman, Sr., Christ Temple Apostolic Church, and Pastor Jack W. Hayford, Church on the Way. He planted the Center of Praise Ministries 35 years ago.
His educational accomplishments include an Associate in Arts Degree, American River College; Bachelor of Arts in Social Work, Oral Roberts University; Master of Arts in Social Work, University of Oklahoma; Master of Arts in Practical Theology (High Honors), Oral Roberts University; and a Doctor of Ministry, Talbot School of Theology (Biola University). He earned his PhD in Intercultural Studies at the Cook School of Intercultural Studies, Biola University (2021). He is an inductee of the prestigious Martin Luther King Jr. International Board of Preachers and Collegium Scholars at Morehouse College (2012). He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including being presented the Key to the City of Rancho Cordova for his leadership in facilitating the development of the innovative Rancho Cordova Youth Center.
He is the author of several journal articles and the well-received book, Set it Up: Developing Leaders for Healthy Churches. He has served as the North American editor for the Great Commission Research Journal, an academic journal devoted to research and scholarly thinking on the perspective of church growth. He also is an adjunct professor at Talbot School of Theology, where he leads the African American Ministry doctoral program. He currently serves as Vice President of Diversity, Reconciliation, and Unity at Jessup University.
He is a senior fellow with the American Leadership Forum, the CEO of Lovelace Leadership Connection, Inc., a certified church consultant with the Society for Church Consulting. and he chairs the Oral Roberts University School of Social Work Advisory Board.
He is married to the lovely Lady Dianna (Richardson) Lovelace, and they are proud parents of a son and a daughter and proud grandparents of one grandchild.
If you would like to invite Bishop Lovelace to speak at your church or event, please complete the Engagement Request by clicking the link below.
Bishop Lovelace's Engagement Request