The Rev. Dr. Valerie Bridgeman Davis, Ph.D., biblical studies (Hebrew Bible—Baylor University), teaches preaching and worship at Memphis Theological Seminary. She is assistant professor of homiletics and worship, and hebrew bible at Memphis Theological Seminary. The author of numerous articles and books, Dr. Bridgeman Davis is also a poet whose work has been published and recorded on CD. She has also been a pastor and a chaplain. She lives in Memphis, Tennessee.
Rev. Dr. Safiyah Fosua has roots in both Kansas and Oklahoma. Her academic background includes a Bachelor of Arts degree from Northwestern University of Evanston, Illinois; a Master of Divinity degree from Oral Roberts Seminary in Tulsa, Oklahoma; and a Doctor of Ministry degree from the United Theological Seminary of Dayton, Ohio, in Afrocentric Pastoring and Preaching.
Safiyah writes weekly lectionary-based preaching helps and articles for the General Board of Discipleship’s worship web page and has written for Upper Room publications, Cokesbury’s Daily Bible Study, Urban Ministries, Inc., and contributed to the Women of Color Study Bible. Among her published works are Mother Wit: 365 Meditations for African-American Women (1996), Jesus and Prayer (2002), and a tract titled Learning New Habits (2005). Safiyah also served as the associate editor of the Africana Worship Book, series (2006-2008) and the Companion to the Africana Worship Book (2008). Currently, Safiyah is a member of the Africana Hymnal Study Committee for the United Methodist Church and a writing coach for GBOD’s Open Source Liturgy Project empowering writers to produce ecumenically-grounded contextual, multi-cultural and multi-ethnic liturgies for use in local church worship.
Dr. Fosua is a clergy member of the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference. Her pastoral experience includes ministry in the large downtown church, the unique ministry of the rural circuit, and the ministry challenges of the small inner-city congregation. Safiyah Fosua is married to Rev. Dr. Kwasi I. Kena. Prior to her current appointment as Director of Preaching Ministries for the General Board of Discipleship, Safiyah and her husband, Kwasi, spent a number of years as missionaries in Ghana, West Africa. The couple has two adult sons, and two grandchildren.
