The Reverend Dr. David McAllister-Wilson
President
Wesley Theological Seminary
The Reverend Dr. McAllister-Wilson is in his fifteenth year as President of Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.He has served for nearly 30 years in theological education and has helped make Wesley one of the nation’s largest and leading theological schools, preparing approximately 1,300 men and women for ministry each year.
President McAllister-Wilson received a Bachelor of Arts in History from California State University, Northridge, in 1983. He earned his Master of Divinitydegree in 1988 and Doctor of Ministry degree in2001 from Wesley. An ordained elder in the Virginia Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church, McAllister-Wilson's main areas of interest are revitalizing the mainline Protestant church and excellence in church leadership.
McAllister-Wilson wrote about the training and development of effective church leaders in a chapter of Christian Reflections on the Leadership Challenge, edited by James Kouzes and Barry Posner. He also contributed a chapter to A Handbook for Seminary Presidents, edited by G. Douglass Lewis and Lovett H. Weems, Jr., of Wesley's Lewis Center for Church Leadership. Most recently, he has contributed to the book: Religion, Terror, and Error: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Challenge of Spiritual Engagement, by Doug Johnston of the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy.
McAllister-Wilson has focused his preaching, speaking and consulting in an effort to revitalize the mainline Protestant church, helping to encourage men and women to consider God’s call to ministry and preparing them for leadership. With a strong interest and focus on leadership development, particularly in local congregations, he helped to establish the G. Douglass Lewis Center for Church Leadership at Wesley and has established a new presence for Wesley at Mount Vernon Square in downtown Washington to expand their programs in urban ministry and public theology.
Wesley is a free-standing seminary, one of the largest graduate theological schools in North America. Affiliated with The United Methodist Church, Wesley typically has 26 different denominations and over 20 countries represented in the student body. 43% of the student body is racial/ethnic minority, predominantly African-American. One of Wesley’s primary commitments is to build a “communion in diversity.” Wesley has shaped a faculty and seeks to foster a confident, progressive and gracious expression of the Christian faith.