The Reverend Dr. Marcus D. Cosby, the third child born to the late Mr. Rogers Cosby and Mrs. Bobbie J. Cosby, serves as the Senior Pastor of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. A proud native of Chicago, Illinois and a product of Emmanuel Baptist Church where Dr. L.K. Curry served as pastor, Cosby received the Bachelor of Arts Degree in Religion and English from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, the Master of Divinity Degree in Homiletics and Christian Education from the Morehouse School of Religion at the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta, Georgia and the Doctor of Ministry Degree in Homiletics from Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Lombard, Illinois.
Dr. Cosby is married to his high school sweetheart, Mrs. Audrey Marie Cosby, and they have been blessed with three beautiful daughters, Adrienne Marie (Rev. Dr. Micah R. Gaines), Ashley Marie and Aliyah Marie and two sons, Marcus D., II and Matthew D. Cosby. In 2022, Adrienne and Micah were blessed to bring into the world their grandson, Micah R. Gaines, II.
As the successor to the Founding Pastor of Wheeler Avenue, Dr. William A. Lawson, Pastor Cosby has been blessed to continue the ministry of this intentionally intergenerational congregation in the inner city of Houston, Texas since 2004, having served as Associate Pastor since 1998. Since that time he has led the congregation to ensure its impact both on and far beyond the church campus with the inception of the Wheeler Avenue Christian Academy; by opening a transitional housing facility for homeless single mothers in the Third Ward community of Houston; through cultivating a missional outreach in multiple villages in South Africa; and maintaining a passion for creatively impacting the lives of the forsaken and forgotten wherever they may be found.
As a consequence of his passion for qualitative preaching, Dr. Cosby has committed himself to equipping preachers for the work of the ministry. In addition to training the more than 100 ministers who comprise the Clergy Team of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, he has served as Adjunct Professor of Homiletics at Houston Graduate School of Theology and has taught the same at the Houston extension program of the ITC. In 2008, he was inducted into the Martin Luther King, Jr. Board of Preachers at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. And in 2013 he became the Founder and CEO of Preaching with Power and Authority Ministries, a corporation committed to the pedagogy and promotion of relevant biblical preaching for the 21st Century.
Additionally, Dr. Cosby is a member of the Board of Trustees of his beloved Alma Mater, Fisk University, where he serves as the Chair of the Academic Excellence and Student Engagement Committee; as well as a member of the General Alumni Association of the University. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Home Mission Board of the National Baptist Convention, USA, the Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference, the African American Pulpit, the Houston Area Urban League, Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston, the Texas Commission for Community Service and Volunteerism, and as an Advisory Board Member of The Gardner C. Taylor Preaching Archives and Listening Room in Atlanta, Georgia. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity and a Life Member of the NAACP.
Among the gifts and talents with which God has blessed Pastor Cosby, none are more meaningful and fulfilling to him than preaching and teaching. He has been blessed to carry his ministry across the United States, the Bahamas, the Holy Land and on the Mother Continent of Africa. He has lectured, preached and taught in numerous and varied settings, including conferences, conventions, retreats, revivals and on university and seminary campuses. Finally, Dr. Cosby seeks to encourage and empower all humanity through the timeless and transformative truths found in the Word of God.