Dr. Edith Winters Kimbrough
Clergywoman
A Trailblazing Clergywoman
Dr. Edith Winters Kimbrough, noted preacher and distinguished educator, is a native of Old Hickory, Tennessee. She was ordained to the Christian ministry in 1979, by her pastor, the late Dr. Kelly Miller Smith, Sr., at First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill, where she has served for fifty years, in several leadership positions, including Minister for Worship, Minister for Christian Education, Coordinator of Personal Development for the Circle of Matrons, and Sunday School Teacher. She served as Assistant to the Pastor, at Pleasant Green Baptist Church, 1996-1997, later as Minister of Worship, and now serves as an Associate Minister. She served First Street Missionary Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee as Minister of Evangelism, 2006-2012, with her son as Pastor.
Widely acclaimed, as an outstanding preacher, Dr. Kimbrough has proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ, in pulpits of churches and seminary chapels across the United States and the Bahamas. Her preaching and teaching ministries have been richly blessed, in that she has become a trailblazer for African American women ministers, in the pulpits and classrooms of Baptist Churches.
As a clergy, for forty-one years, she has experienced several firsts and has been humbled by them all. She was the first African American clergywoman to be ordained into the Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee and vicinity; the first to proclaim the gospel to the parent body, of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc. in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, August, 1991; and the first to become a Professor of Bible and Pastoral Studies, at American Baptist College, August, 1990.
She has earned degrees with honors, from several universities. At Tennessee State University, she graduated with “Highest Distinction and as University Scholar” receiving the Bachelor of Science Degree – 1959, The Master of Education, 1962, and the Doctor of Education, 1987; from American Baptist College, the Bachelor of Theology (Summa Cum Laude), 1984; from Vanderbilt Divinity School, the Master of Divinity (Honors), 1991; from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, the Doctor of Ministry in Social Crisis Preaching (Honors) -1998.
As an educator, she began her teaching career in the Public Schools of Kansas City, Kansas, August, 1959. She has also taught in the Public Schools of Sparta, Illinois, St. Louis, Missouri, and Nashville, Tennessee. In June, 1996, she retired from the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, where she served as a classroom teacher, Resource Teacher, Reading Support Teacher, Elementary Consultant, Acting Middle School Director, and Acting Elementary Director. From 1988-1995, she served as an Adjunct Professor, in Curriculum and Instruction at Tennessee State University, and served 1996-1999, as an Associate Professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning, at Tennessee State University; From 1987-1999, she served as an Adjunct Professor of Pastoral Studies at American Baptist College, Nashville, Tennessee.
Inspired to share the Word of God with others, Dr. Kimbrough has become an ardent writer. She has had several sermons and articles published, by the Sunday School Publishing Board of the National Baptist Convention, USA and the Worker, a Missionary and Educational Quarterly, for the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc. In 2003, her first book was published entitled, A Trailblazer Clergywoman Shares Her Story and Fifty-Two Sermon Briefs. She has also written weekly sermon briefs, for the Nashville Pride, a local newspaper.
Adding to her list of accomplishments, she has performed community services, as a member of the DVIC (Domestic Violence Intervention Center) Board, a member of the Crisis Call Center, a member of the YMCA Board, United Nations Association Board and of numerous other community organizations. She was a recipient of the Benjamin E. Mays Fellowship and also listed in “Who’s Who in American Colleges” and “Who’s Who in Education”. In March 2000, she was selected on behalf of four Nashville Chapters of Delta Kappa Gamma Honor Society to receive the Distinctive Community Service Award. She was installed as, the first African American President of Delta Kappa Gamma Honor Society, Alpha Nu Chapter, June 15, 2002. In November 2004, she was installed as the State President of Church Women United for the State of Tennessee. She is a member of the National Teachers’ Sorority of Phi Delta Kappa and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.
Most dear to her, however, are her two adult children, Gwenell Kimbrough-Buchanan, a middle school counselor, and Rev. Dr. Adric Winters Kimbrough, Sr., a teacher, counselor and pastor, in Nashville, Tennessee, her five grandchildren- La Chanta, Kamaria, Kahlilah, Elizabeth, and Adric, Jr., and her two great granddaughters – Londyn and Jordan.
Dr. Kimbrough is very concerned about justice and liberation in the twenty-first century. She sets the pattern for a positive approach, relates to her day in a balanced manner, and injects a note of realistic optimism. In the city of Nashville, she is daily turning the weapons of scholarship and spirituality against the forces of evil and ignorance. Her family and friends see her often blending preaching, teaching, and public service in an effective ministry.