Palmer People: Called to Serve, Lead, and Transform – Rev. Dr. Malcolm Byrd, MTS ’04, MDiv ’07, DMin ’10

Every Palmer People interview begins with some general housekeeping questions like the degree the subject earned and their graduation year. Rev. Dr. Malcolm Byrd’s response to these routine questions immediately pulls the thread of his storied involvement with Palmer Theological Seminary. He holds three degrees from the seminary, and today you can still find him teaching undergraduate courses in Bible and Theology at Eastern University. 

Having earned two other graduate degrees at Antioch University and the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Byrd did not think seminary was for him. He acknowledges he was called to ministry upon graduating college, but did not believe he could meet the spiritual standards and qualifications for serving in vocational ministry. He now describes this not as a rejection of call but a “divine deferment.” “The Lord does not rescind on the call He makes to the life of believers.”

Dr. Byrd first entered Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary in the fall of 2001 after being encouraged by friends in his Bible study. At the time he was working in local government in Philadelphia for the Department of Public Health. Later he transferred to the Mayor’s Office of Faith-based Initiatives and retired from the directorship in 2015. Earlier he thought that a Master of Theological Studies would complement his role. The concentration in Biblical Faith and Public policy under Ron Sider sounded like a great fit. “Dr. Sider was interpreting faith through the public square in a way that resonated with me.”

He had every intent to serve exclusively in lay ministry. However, in his last semester he felt convicted that he had pursued the MTS for his own achievement and career advancement rather than God’s ministry. “The Lord called me to obedience as I was graduating with my MTS.” Malcolm Byrd returned to seminary immediately the following fall to begin his Master of Divinity, which he completed in 2007. This second degree facilitated a shift in philosophy from viewing his faith as “God and me” to “God and His Church, whom I would serve.”

And serve Dr. Byrd has.Throughout his career, he has served in leadership with a global Christian organization, ministered at several prominent Philadelphia-area churches and engaged in interfaith dialogues around the globe. He is currently the President and Co-convener of NewCORE: A New Conversation On Race and Ethnicity, and the President of Forum Philly, a nonprofit social welfare organization. Dr. Byrd is currently the Pastor of the Hope’s Beacon Baptist Church of Philadelphia.

The Whole Gospel for the Whole World Through Whole Persons, says Dr. Byrd, is the prerequisite mission of the Church: there is no choice but to do it. This mission means being able to internalize the Christological foundation of the Bible. This mission is to love and overcome the rigidity and prejudice of some today in order to bring more of God’s gracious kingdom to earth in places where it’s needed the most.