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Cleveland Baptist Association
PO Box 43728, Cleveland, Ohio 44143
(216) 721-9077
Email: cbainfo@cbacleveland.org
The Cleveland Baptist Association Has a New Regional Executive Minister
Cleveland, OH (11-20-23) for immediate release
On November 13, 2023, the Board of Trustees of the Cleveland Baptist Association enthusiastically and unanimously called the Rev. Dr. TaNikka Sheppard as its new executive minister. She will begin on January 1, 2024.
Rev. Dr. Sheppard comes to Cleveland from Florida where she has served as assistant general secretary and treasurer of the North American Baptist Fellowship and executive pastor of The Fountain Church of Miami Gardens. She founded Sheppard Leadership Solutions in 2019 helping leaders, churches, and faith-based organizations to develop and clarify their vision, purpose, and mission to expand their leadership capacities, to formulate their succession plans, and enhance their communications platforms. She most recently served as president of Baptist Women of North America. She previously served New Salem Baptist Church of Columbus, OH, the Baptist World Alliance, and the Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention.
Board president Rev. Dr. James P. Quincy, III said, “Rev. Dr. Sheppard brings a unique mix of international Baptist experience, with faith-based work and congregational engagement, built on a foundation of work with women and youth that is essential to the growth of our region in this post-pandemic season. We are fortunate to have found these gifts in one person, which makes her uniquely qualified to be our next Regional executive minister.”
“I love helping to guide others on the path of their ministerial calling, through ordination and beyond. My background includes examples of transformational leadership and discipleship that shifted paradigms, developed strategies, and implemented processes that successfully accomplished tasks and helped to reach the desired goals,” noted Rev. Dr. Sheppard during the process.
Rev. Dr. Sheppard received bachelor’s degrees in both Sociology and African American and African Studies from The Ohio State University, her Master of Divinity degree from Methodist Theological School, and a Doctor of Ministry degree in Global Ministry from Virginia Union University. “I believe that her twenty years of experience positions her well for success in Cleveland and for CBA,” Rev. Dr. Quincy added.
Rev. Dr. Sheppard is a native of Akron, who was ordained through ABC-OHIO and comes home to Northeast Ohio with a wealth of knowledge and experience in global ministry, with emphasis on women and youth, combined with healthy doses of academic, congregational, governmental, and professional experiences from around the world. The Cleveland Baptist Association enthusiastically welcomes Rev. Dr. Sheppard as our next Regional Executive Minister.
Rev. Dr. TaNikka Sheppard
Regional Executive Minister
Dr. TaNikka Marie Sheppard is a leader of leaders who has garnered over 20 years of shepherding, ministerial, and preaching experience. She engages with ministries and organizations around the world through her mission work, leadership coaching, ministerial experiences, and preaching opportunities.
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On January 1, 2024 she began her new role as the Regional Executive Minister of the Cleveland Baptist Association, which has been “Strengthening local churches, since 1832.”
Dr. Sheppard is the president and founder of Sheppard Leadership Solutions, a leadership development firm that helps faith-based leaders and organizations progressively “live, lead, and inspire”.
Since January 2023 Dr. Sheppard has served as the Assistant General Secretary and Treasurer of the North American Baptist Fellowship (NABF), a diverse community of 22 Baptist denominations and groups that serve their communities through 55,000 churches and 19.5 million congregants. Dr. Sheppard's global leadership also extends to the Baptist World Alliance, where she serves as the Vice-Chair of the Commission on Transformational Leadership. Dr. Sheppard is the immediate past-president of Baptist Women of North America (BWNA) and she is also a past vice-president (2017-2022) in the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) Women’s Department. Previously, Dr. Sheppard served as the leader of the International Youth Development Department of Lott Carey, which provides national and international opportunities for youth and young adults to become compassionate and productive global citizens.
In 2009 Dr. Sheppard was licensed in ministry at New Salem Baptist Church (NSBC) in Columbus, Ohio under the pastoral leadership of Dr. Keith A. Troy, and she was ordained in June 2019 through ABC-Ohio.
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Dr. Sheppard received her two B.A. degrees in Sociology and African American and African Studies from The Ohio State University in 2002. In May of 2010, she graduated from the Methodist Theological School of Ohio with a Master of Divinity degree and a specialization in Youth and Young Adult Ministry. She received her Doctor of Ministry degree in Global Leadership at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology of Virginia Union University in May of 2018. Her studies focused on leadership development, liberation theologies, and contemporary missiologies, with a research concentration among the Dalit Christian Federation in Bengaluru, India.
From 2008 to 2019 Dr. Sheppard served as the Director of Life Development at NSBC where she coordinated and developed ministries, worship, and community outreaches for youth and college students. From 2017 to 2020 she led the Communications and Media Department, which allowed her to engage her passion for sharing the Good News in unique and transformative ways. From 2020 to 2023 she served as the Executive Pastor of The Fountain Church in Miami Gardens, Florida.
While Dr. Sheppard continues to be humbled, honored, and transformed by every door that God opens for her, it is only by God’s power and for Christ’s glory that she endeavors to live by the words said by Jesus in Luke 9:23, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”