BIO SKETCH FOR REV. DR. BARBARA A. REYNOLDS
The Reverend Dr. Barbara A. Reynolds is an award- winning journalist, author and has appeared on such major television
shows as the “Oprah Winfrey Show,” “Politically Incorrect,” “C-Span”,
“CNN and Co.” She is also heard every Saturday on XM satellite radio on her own signature show called, “Reynolds
Rap.” She has more than 30 years of experience as a journalist/writer with some of the major media institutions in America,
such as Ebony magazine, Essence Magazine, The Chicago Tribune and she was an editorial board member and columnist with USA
Today for more than 13 years. Today she is a religion columnist for the National Newspaper Publishers Association, which reports
a readership of 10 million.
Born in Columbus, OH, she
received her BA in journalism from The Ohio State University, her Masters Degree from Howard University School of Divinity
in 1992 and her Doctorate in Ministry from the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, OH in 1998. She also has been awarded
honorary doctorates in humane letters from Shenandoah University and her alma mater, Ohio State University. Bishop
Alfred A. Owens, Jr. ordained her an elder at the Greater Mt. Calvary Holy Church in 1995.
Dr. Reynolds is also a consultant to several major universities and public officials on media strategies and
served in that capacity on the OJ Simpson Trial for NBC television. Dr. Reynolds has preached in many churches and for many
denominations across the United States. In 1997, she became one of the first African American female ministers asked to serve
as Chaplain of the Week at Chautauqua Institution, a Christian resort center where presidents from Harry Truman to Bill Clinton
have vacationed in that meditative spiritual setting. In 2005, she was the speaker for the 89th
Annual Convocation of the Howard University School of Divinity.
As a professor, Dr. Reynolds has held the Jessie Ball Dupont Chair in Journalism at Shenandoah University
in Winchester, VA and was a Freedom Forum Scholar for the 1998 school year in journalism at Florida A&M University in
Tallahassee and has taught Contemporary Issues: The role of Faith and Spirituality in American Journalism and Mass Media at
the Howard University School of Communications. Presently she teaches prophetic ministry at the Howard
University School of Divinity and the Black Presence in the Bible at the Calvary Bible Institute, where she serves on the
board of directors.
Her books include: Jesse Jackson: America’s
David, an unauthorized biography, And Still We Rise: Interviews with 50 African-American Role Models; No I Won’t
Shut Up! 30 Years of Telling It Like It Is; Out of Hell & Living Well: Healing From the Inside Out. In August
2007, she released her fifth book, called, Doing Good in the Hood: The Life, Leadership & Legacy of Bishop Alfred
A. Owens, Jr.
In 1997 she launched a citywide deliverance ministry for female substance abusers, called Harriet’s
Children, headquartered at Greater Mt. Calvary Holy Church.
Dr. Reynolds
is the recipient of many honors. They include the Martin Luther King Jr. Drum Major for Justice Award, the 1999 Journalist
of the Year Award from the National Association of Black Journalists, Outstanding Achievement Award from the Columbia University
(Missouri) School of Journalism and a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University where she studied constitutional law. Bishop Alfred
Owens, Pastor of Greater Mt. Calvary Holy Church, named her Woman of the Year for 2004. In 1995 she was voted into Leadership
Washington that is self-described as a powerful network of leaders affecting the Washington Metropolitan Area. In 2006, she
served as a commissioner of the Katrina Truth and Justice Commission under the auspices of the Dr. Samuel D. Proctor Conference.
She lives in Prince George’s
County with her son, John Eric Reynolds, who is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore.
