January 5, 2021
NTS is pleased to welcome Rev. Dr. Charles Wesley Thurman, Jr. as the Associate Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program.
Dr. Thurman graduated from Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology. He graduated from Indiana Wesleyan University, Wesley Seminary in 2016 with a Master of Divinity degree and obtained a Church Planting and Multiplication Certification. He received his Doctor of Ministry Degree with a focus in Transformational Leadership from Wesley Seminary in 2020. His dissertation focus was “An analysis of the Methodist Class Meeting and Its Spiritual Effects on Black Millennials in the 21st Century.”
Dr. Thurman was called to the ministry at the age of sixteen and served under his father’s leadership, The Rev. Charles Wesley Thurman Sr., at the Liberation AME Zion Church in Indianapolis, Indiana as minister of music and a staff minister. He became a member of the Indiana Conference of the AME Zion Church as a Traveling Minister in 2012. He was ordained Deacon in 2014 and Elder in 2016. His first pastorate was completed at the Alive AME Zion Church in Noblesville, Indiana, where he planted and served for three years. Dr. Thurman was later appointed to the St. Matthew AME Zion Church in Kansas City, MO, in January of 2018, where he currently serves as lead pastor. Dr. Thurman lives in Kansas City with his wife Christina and their four children: Caiden Elijah, Cailum Joshua, Cailah Elizabeth, and Caisey Jada.
Dr. Thurman has a passion for spreading the message of Jesus Christ. He desires to be purposeful in creating innovative and transformative ministry and desires to be instrumental in the expansion of the kingdom of God through making disciples.
Learn more about the Doctor of Ministry program at NTS at www.nts.edu/dmin.