Dr. Karri Bryant has spent decades standing at the intersection of faith, scholarship, and service. As First Lady and Executive Pastor of Creative and Experience at New Birth Church in Atlanta, a doctoral cohort founder, and a Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, she leads with both theological depth and hard-earned wisdom. Whether behind a pulpit, in a boardroom, or inside a classroom, her message remains the same: every woman carries a divine assignment, and the work is learning to claim it.
Before the titles and accolades, who was the young woman who first felt called, and what did she believe God was asking of her?
I accepted Christ when I was a very little girl. I was introduced to spirituality through my mother. I remember playing one day when I was around 4 or 5, and saying I didn’t have any friends to play with, and much like Black mothers do, she said, go and play with Jesus. It was from that moment that my curiosity was sparked. I walked down the aisle by myself at church in a little red dress and said I wanted to be baptized. Something awakened in me. I started speaking and preaching around 7 or 8 years old…