Reverend Tokunbo Richard Adelekan, Ph.D. (Pastor-Teacher) is the senior pastor of The RISE Community Church in Dayton, Ohio and an associate professor of Theology and Ethics at Palmer Theological Seminary of Eastern University.
Born to an African (Yoruba) father, Tunji Adelekan, M.D., and an African-American mother, Patricia Adelekan, Ph.D., Rev. Dr. Tokunbo R. Adelekan’s life has been a pilgrimage of mind and spirit. A visionary shepherd, agent of compassion, theological ethicist, biblical expositor, revivalist, evangelist, conference speaker, congregational transformer, community developer, cultural critic, folklorist. and dramatist, Dr. Adelekan works out of the Prophetic-Charismatic wing of the Afro-Baptist faith. He is considered one of the most dynamic American scholar-preachers of his generation. Pastor Adelekan dares “things the rest of us do not see and dreams worlds that are beyond most of our imagining.” Featured in Ebony Magazine as one of the “30 Leaders of the Future” in his role as a transatlantic communicator, Dr. Adelekan has worked persistently to build cross-cultural and cross-denominational alliances between Christians in the United States, Europe, Africa, and throughout the African Diaspora.
On March 4, 1989, Dr. Adelekan gave his trial sermon at a worship service in Samuel Archer Hall at Morehouse College. His longtime mentor, Reverend Clarence James, presided over the service. After graduating from Morehouse, Dr. Adelekan went on to do graduate work at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, Andover Newton Theological School, Harvard University, and Princeton University. Dr. Adelekan was licensed on March 21, 1996 and ordained on October 19, 2000 at St. Paul Community Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York, under the pastorate of Dr. Johnny Ray Youngblood. Dr. Adelekan received his Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in June 2002.
A prolific writer, Dr. Adelekan has written a play entitled Glad Surrender in addition to numerous essays, papers, and articles. In 1998, he was elected to give the Annual Lecture for the Princeton Theological Seminary Graduate Forum. His reviews have appeared in the Koinonia (Fellowship) Forum, The Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, and the Dictionary of Mission Theology. Dr. Adelekan’s first book, African Wisdom, was released in 2004 by Judson Press. His two most recent works—A Charge to Keep (October 2014), and The Arts of Joseph: An Essay on the Art of Leadership (May 2018) published by the PNBC and MMGI Books—remain widely recognized as a major primer on the central role of the local church in urban renewal during the presidency of President Barack Obama. Dr. Adelekan is currently working on another publication—A Leaven in the Loaf—an analysis of the social reconstructionist projects of John Locke and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
As an urban missiologist, Dr. Adelekan was an early pioneer of the modern Hip-Hop scholar-activist-preacher phenomenon introducing several culturally relevant innovations into practical missiology. Under his servant leadership, Philadelphia’s Mount Olivet Tabernacle Baptist Church (MOTBC) quickly became a model for relevant and growing urban churches. The “Miracle on 42nd Street” embraces multiple intelligences and giftings and has been blessed with the incorporation of many new singles and families. The Ministries of Mercy at the church include The Vineyard Ministry, The Epaphras Ministry, The ACTS Ministry, The Philippians Ministry, The MOTBC School of the Prophets, The Teachable Spirit Youth Ministry, and The MOTBC Evangelism Ministry.
Dr. Adelekan serves as the Senior Pastor of the Rise Community Church in Miamisburg/Dayton (Ohio). The congregation’s vigorous outreach efforts include the establishment of Prayer, Bible and Stewardship (PBS), The Yoke Fellows Youth Ministry, The Day Miles Community Outreach Program, Young Entrepreneurs Summit (YES), The Jericho Road Project, Bible Alive Rise (BAR), the Vision, Integrity, Structure and Accountability (VISA) Transformation Program, and the Emmaus Institute of Non-violence. RISE Community Church’s (RCC) vigorous and innovative re-missioning efforts have enhanced its corporate ability to reach a local, regional, and international audience with the gospel of Jesus Christ—amidst the aftershocks of COVID-19.
Inspired by the prophetic image of beating swords into plows, believers are committed to reimagining the world as one that turns from death to life, where swords become plows and guns are turned into Tokunbo R. Adelekan, Ph. D. garden tools. Unapologetically Spirit-led and Scripture-informed, the RISE Community Church of Dayton is pursuing innovative ways to respond to the tangled web of trauma, social frustration, economic toxic hyper-individualism, and cynicism that creates immense problems of communication and bond building.
RISE Community Church is committed to the expansion of the Beloved Community in the dynamic Southern region of Ohio. RCC has developed the concept of “compassionate discipleship,” a missional-ethic that draws upon THE F.I.V.E.S. (Fellowship, Intercession, Vision, Evangelism, and Stewardship) and aids and abets a phalanx of disciples on the front lines of the battle against drugs, trauma and indifference.
“We are a village where God is preparing a table, in the presence of the enemies of COVID-19 and the callousness of evil, that will host every tribe and nation for His purpose.”
Dr. Adelekan is a leading figure in bridging the worlds of the academy, pop culture, and the church. This allows him to work with Christians of differing outlooks in Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, and North America. Dr. Adelekan is a pioneer advocate of contextualizing Christianity into post-modern sensibilities. In this role of prophetic “visioneering,” he helps revive and recast progressive partnerships between Baptists of different hues and heritages. A key passion for Dr. Adelekan’s ministry is leadership development, particularly the formation of the Joshua and Naomi generational leaders to serve the Kingdom in the twenty-first century. To that end, he has employed motivational and mentoring strategies that influence leaders from a broad and diverse range of generations to maximize their God-given gifts in service of the “Reign of God.” The RISE Community Church has experienced an infusion of “agents of grace,” anointed servant leaders who embrace the call of active, compassionate, Spirit-filled participation in the vital “drama” of congregational and community renewal. In all of these things, the twin engines that propel Dr. Adelekan’s ministry and personal life are “The Ministry of the Word and the Ministry of Prayer” (Acts 6:1-4, 7-9; John 17; Philippians 1:9-11; Colossians 1:9-11; 1 John 5:14-15; Ephesians 6:19; Psalm 103:20; Jeremiah 1:9, 12).
Dr. Adelekan and his wife, the gracious and lovely, Tahira Adelekan, M.D., are the proud parents of three wonderful children.
