Reverend Janiece Renee Williams is a Ph.D. candidate in the Graduate Department of Religion at Vanderbilt University, where she specializes in Homiletics and Liturgics with a research focus on African American preaching, relationality, and care ethics. She holds a Master of Arts in Religion from Vanderbilt University, a Master of Divinity from Wake Forest University School of Divinity, and a Bachelor of Arts in Biblical and Theological Studies from Nyack College. Her scholarship has been recognized with the Louisville Institute Doctoral Fellowship, Vanderbilt’s Theology and Practice Fellowship, and the Russell G. Hamilton Graduate Leadership Institute grant.
An experienced teacher and mentor, Williams has served as a teaching assistant in multiple preaching and pastoral care courses at Vanderbilt and Wake Forest, a guest lecturer at Carolina Christian College, and a curriculum developer for church-based theological education. She currently serves as Visiting Lecturer in Homiletics at Virginia Theological Seminary and as Homiletician in Residence at Metropolitan Baptist Church in Largo, Maryland. A certified homiletic coach through Vanderbilt’s David G. Buttrick Peer Coaching Program, she has guided students and ministers alike in developing faithful, imaginative, and rigorous approaches to preaching.
Williams is the author of Sermon Development: A Workbook for Preachers, a bestselling resource used by thousands of preachers nationwide and widely recognized as a core training tool in Ministers in Training programs and at conferences across the country. Her writing has appeared in Homiletic: The Journal of the Academy of Homiletics and Worship the Lord: Sermons from the National Festival of Young Preachers. She has been invited to preach, lecture, and present at major gatherings, including Princeton Theological Seminary’s Black Theology and Leadership Institute, United Theological Seminary’s Doctoral Intensive, and the Hampton University Ministers Conference. In 2024, she made history as the first woman to serve on the leadership cabinet of the Pastors and Ministers Division of the National Baptist Convention USA. She is also a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, where she is dedicated to service efforts that uplift underserved communities.