BWIM is excited to announce that Rev. Dr. Latonya Agard has been named the recipient of the 2024 Frankie Huff Granger Distinguished Mentor Award. Rev. Dr. Latonya Agard is the church planter and pastor of Transformation Fellowship Christian Church (TFCC) in Apex, North Carolina, founder of BeSpeak Solutions, Inc., and serves full-time as the Executive Director of the North Carolina Coalition to End Homelessness.
Rev. Dr. Agard was nominated for her selfless leadership, empathy, compassion, and approachability. In her role as pastor she actively mentors associate ministers at TFCC and supports women students from Campbell University Divinity by providing them with opportunities to preach and lead impactful projects.
Throughout the many roles and ministries she has held in her career, including pastor, church planter, therapist, entrepreneur, and non-profit executive, Rev. Dr. Agard aims to help women and men discover their true selves and speak their new futures into existence. She does not shy away from the difficulties of racism, sexism, classism, or any other political and social problems in our world, but always finds a way to encourage those oppressed and to help those who oppress do better through Christ’s example.
Friend and colleague Rev. Natasha Fuller nominated Rev. Dr. Agard, writing, “As a seven-year relocator from the Big Apple, pastor Agard welcomed me with open arms and encouraged me as a minister to push past my place of comfort to be the best woman of God that I could. She told me that God had spoken to her and said it was time for me to move from minister to Reverend. So, we studied, prayed, and labored for over a year, and she challenged my beliefs on theology, to keep an open mind and supported my decision to go back to school. She didn’t just study with me through that year of intense training in preparation for the catechism, but she chose a panel of preachers and teachers who had the same desire to see the ministry grow. She never saw me how I saw myself, but she saw my POTENTIAL.”
She went on to say, “To receive unconditional support as a woman in ministry is paramount, as she poured into me daily. In meetings over a meal or a quick stop for coffee, Dr. A has shown love and support to all of her associates. She is a woman of God who knows that her calling is not singular, that we, the women of ministry, women of service, and women of God need to rally behind one another for the common denominator: love of people, and love of Christ that shows up every day, in so many ways, employed by the gifts that God has bestowed.”
Church member and Campbell Divinity School professor, Dr. Alicia Myers, also nominated her pastor. Dr. Myers writes, “I have been a member of TFCC for almost three years and I have seen Rev. Dr. Agard mentoring women and girls in her ministry. She mentors and encourages her three associate ministers, all of whom are ordained (one of whom was ordained under her leadership) and all of whom are women. These women regularly lead worship and preach, receiving support and guidance from Pastor Agard. She also guides and encourages the teenage and young women who are part of TFCC, as well as the infants and toddlers whom she invites to join her every Sunday either where she is seated or in the pulpit.”
She continues to describe Rev. Dr. Agard’s impact, writing, “She also mentors women students from Campbell University Divinity School. Rev. Dr. Agard…creates opportunities for these women to preach and to lead projects as they feel called to do. She also meets regularly with them to encourage and equip them as they continue in ministry.”
From a personal perspective, Dr. Myers also shared how Rev. Dr. Agard mentors her as well. “I have also personally benefited from Rev. Dr. Agard’s mentorship…. She has helped me study and understand womanist theology more fully, continually recommending books for me to read and to potentially use in classes. She has been a sounding board for ideas for [my Women in Christian Leadership class], in particular, since I have never worked full-time in a church setting. She gives me honest critique and advice as I continue to work on this class to make it as helpful and life-giving for my students as possible, regardless of their gender.”
Rev. Dr. Agard’s journey includes a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and a Master of Arts in English from the University of Alabama, followed by a Master of Divinity from Duke University Divinity School. She furthered her theological education by completing the Doctor of Ministry program at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary with distinction.
Each year, Baptist Women in Ministry (BWIM) honors an individual who has inspired women to use their gifts in God’s service with the Frankie Huff Granger Distinguished Mentor Award. This award, established in 2013, celebrates the legacy of Frankie Huff Granger, who served at First Baptist Church, Berea, South Carolina for over 20 years. Learn more about Granger at www.bwim.info/awards.
Baptist Women in Ministry gives thanks for the faithful witness of mentoring women in ministry demonstrated by Rev. Dr. Latonya Agard. We honor her as a “consistent and outspoken advocate for women in ministry,” and as one who “models compassion, intelligence, resilience, and prayerful faith in all that she does.” May the example of Rev. Dr. Agard inspire others to also commit themselves to the mentoring of women in ministry and leadership among Baptists.