October 2024 | LISLE, IL—Rev. Dr. William E. Pannell, known as one of the most significant figures in Black evangelicalism in the last century, died on October 12, 2024. He was 95.
“Whenever the history of evangelicals in America is written, there will be a chapter on William Pannell,” said Willie James Jennings, Yale Divinity School. “He has been their Jeremiah—his words carrying the density of gospel truth and the wisdom of a seasoned disciple of Jesus.”
“He would never say this of himself, but I will,” said Jemar Tisby in his article titled “Who Is Bill Pannell?”. “In the truest sense of the word, Dr. Pannell is a real life saint.”
Tisby, who was mentored by Pannell, said that it was one of his greatest professional honors to write the introduction to the 2021 expanded edition of Pannell’s influential book The Coming Race Wars: A Cry for Justice, from Civil Rights to Black Lives Matter.
“In that book he was prophetic about the rising racial tensions in this country and the imperative for the church to act. He was adamant that the gospel had something to say about the most pressing issues of justice in our world,” Tisby said. “We are in a time when people are looking for Christians to model the life of Christ. They are looking for people who pursue Jesus and justice at the same time. People today are looking for a gospel that is actually good news. That’s what Dr. Pannell brings. A message of Christ that is compassionate, angered at injustice, and powerful to enact change.”
“Bill” Pannell was born in Sturgis, Michigan. He received his BA from Fort Wayne Bible College in Indiana in 1951. He went on to study Black history at Wayne State University in Detroit. In 1980 he earned an MA in Social Ethics from the University of Southern California (full biography available at Fuller.edu).
Pannell was professor emeritus of preaching at Fuller Seminary, where he taught from 1974 until his retirement in 2014. Fuller recognized his service to the school and the whole church with the January 2015 renaming and dedication of the William E. Pannell Center for African American Church Studies. Pannell previously served in leadership roles with Youth for Christ and Tom Skinner Associates. His other books include My Friend, the Enemy and Evangelism from the Bottom Up.
Ed Gilbreath, who worked as Pannell’s editor on the expanded edition of The Coming Race Wars, wrote about his friendship with Pannell in the Christianity Today article, “My Friend, Bill Pannell.” Gilbreath said, “Pannell loved Jesus and his church. As a preacher, his heart beat for the gospel and its biblically rooted values of evangelism, discipleship, and justice. His teaching was grounded in a strikingly honest understanding of how Christianity and the church really operate in the world. He was frank about how they are often accessories to the sins of racism and social injustice rather than proponents of reconciliation.
“A lack of real discipleship was at the core of our troubles, Pannell believed. ‘Christ’s parting command was that we go and make disciples of the nations,’ he wrote in his last book, an expanded edition of his 1993 release, The Coming Race Wars, ‘It wasn’t build more churches; it was make disciples. It seems fairly clear today that we have far more churches and Christians than we have disciples.’”
Terumi Echols, President and Publisher of IVP, said, “We can only imagine the far-reaching impact the life and words of William Pannell have left on the Church. We are grateful for his courage in speaking out on issues of racial justice and for his generosity in loving across differences so well. And we at IVP are truly humbled and honored to carry on that legacy through a book that will impact the Church and the culture for generations to come.”
You can learn more about the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. William E. Pannell through this documentary from Fuller Studios titled The Gospel According to Bill Pannell.
Contact: Krista Clayton, kclayton@ivpress.com
