Rev. Cook, a native of New York, is the founder and senior pastor of the Bronx Christian Fellowship, a new church plant for the American Baptist Churches of Metropolitan New York. Prior to this, she served for 13 years as the senior pastor of the Mariners' Temple Baptist Church, the oldest American Baptist Church in New York City where she was the first African-American woman to be elected senior pastor of an American Baptist congregation in its 200-year history.
Rev. Cook is the Executive Director of the Multi-Ethnic Center Inc., located in the Bronx, New York. The Center is a vehicle for Rev. Cook to continue the work she initiated as a White House Fellow. She was one of seventeen in the nation appointed by President William J. Clinton to serve on the Domestic Policy Council, with a focus on issues of violence, homelessness, and community empowerment. Rev. Cook served as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development from 1994-1997 with Secretary Henry Cisneros.
Motivation and empowerment are the common threads in the diverse work of Rev. Cook. Her efforts to inspire and uplift are demonstrated via sermons, motivational speaking, seminars, and workshops. She leads by example as the first woman officer of the historical 7,500-member Hampton University Ministers' Conference, the largest gathering of African American clergy in the world.
Rev. Cook's most recent endeavors include Sujay Ministries, an exciting and relevant audio and video ministry designed to meet the needs of urban professionals, and youth and Jonco Productions, established to promote her oral, video and written motivational works and concepts. She is also the editor of Judson Press' Wise Women Bearing Gifts and co-author of Preaching in Two Voices (Judson Press, 1995). Her latest release, Sister to Sister: Devotions for and from African American Women, is a best seller and has won her international accalaim (Judson Press, 1996). At the end of 1997, she will release a book on spirituality for women in the work force with Thomas Nelson Publishers.
Rev. Cook received a B.S. from Emerson College, an M.A. from Teachers College at Columbia University, an M.Div. from Union Theological Sminary, and a D. Min. from the United Theological Seminary as a Sam Proctor Fellow.
She is married to Mr. Ronald Cook. They are the parents of two sons: Samuel David and Christopher Daniel.
Suzan Johnson Cook
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