Meet Our Keynote Speaker

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Rev. Dr. Tyshawn Gardner currently serves as Associate Professor of Preaching, David E. Garland Chair in Preaching, and Assistant Director of the Kyle Lake Center for Effective Preaching at the George W. Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University in Waco, TX.

Prior to his appointment at Truett Seminary, Dr. Gardner served as Associate Professor and Director of the Preministerial Scholars Program at Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama, Senior Pastor of Plum Grove Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama for 19 years (2003-2022), as Vice President for Student Affairs at Stillman College (2019-2022), and as the President of the Tuscaloosa Chapter of the SCLC from 2016-2019.  

Rev. Gardner received the Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Stillman College in Tuscaloosa and the Master of Divinity degree from Beeson Divinity School at Samford University, in Birmingham, where the Dean and faculty selected him as the Most Distinguished Student in 2014. He earned the PhD in Christian Preaching with distinction from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY., where his research interest was the social crisis preaching of Kelly Miller Smith, Sr., prophetic preaching, and the use of rhetoric in the African American preaching tradition. Rev. Gardner is a veteran of the U.S. Navy and served in both Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. He has published two books, Sacred Anthropology: Prophetic Radicalism for Pulpit and Pew with Fortress Press (2022), and Social Crisis Preaching: Biblical Proclamation for Troubling Times with B&H Academic (2023) which was named Book of the Year by Preaching Magazine in 2024. His third book, I Heard the Preaching of the Elder: The Life, Proclamation, and Protest of Kelly Miller Smith, Sr. with Baylor University Press will be available in April 2026.   

Rev. Gardner is a sought-after preacher and lecturer. His social and community activism warrants him the opportunity to be visible and vocal in the community and allows him to be actively engaged in intricate events and the effect they have on our community. Rev. Gardner is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated. He is also a member of the Academy of Homiletics and the Evangelical Homiletics Society, and the Ministry Collaborative. Rev. Gardner has a heart for social and racial justice and works tirelessly to see reconciliation and unity in the community. 

He is married to Shonetay Gardner, and they have 4 children, Coretta, Tristan, Titus, and Tyson and 4 beautiful grandchildren.