Meet the
Team.

For Reverend Stephen J. Thurston, ministry was never a career he chose so much as a covenant he inherited. The grandson of New Covenant's founder and the son of its second pastor, he would become the third generation of Thurstons to lead the congregation—carrying forward a legacy of faith that has shaped Chicago's South Side for more than half a century.

Born in Chicago on July 20, 1952, to John L. and Ruth E. (Hall) Thurston, he preached his first sermon in 1971 at New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church, the church his grandfather, Elijah Thurston, founded in 1934 and his father, John, went on to lead beginning in 1968. Ordained in 1974 under his father's hand, he was appointed co-pastor the following year. When his father passed in 1979, Reverend Thurston stepped fully into the pulpit—a charge he would carry for more than four decades.

He grounded that calling in rigorous study, earning a B.A. in religion from Bishop College in Dallas (1975) and a Master of Divinity from Payne Theological Seminary in Wilberforce, Ohio (2013), with additional post-graduate work at Wheaton College and further seminary studies at Shaw University in Raleigh.

Under his leadership, New Covenant flourished. He guided the congregation through the completion of a new worship center in 2008, published his first book, ATTITUDE: The Paint Brush of the Mind, in 2007, and in 2021 marked a remarkable milestone: fifty years of preaching the Gospel.

Reverend Thurston's influence extended well beyond his own pulpit. Within the National Baptist Convention of America International, Inc. (NBCA), he served as corresponding secretary (1986–1989) and third vice president (1989–2003) before being elected president in 2003, a post he held until 2014. He also led the Illinois National Baptist State Convention as president from 1992 to 2003.

A tireless servant to church and community alike, he lent his leadership to a wide range of institutions—as trustee and chairman of finance at the Chicago Baptist Institute; co-chairman of the Religious Affairs Division of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition; a board member of the NAACP; an executive board trustee at Florida Memorial University; and a member of organizations including the Broadcast Ministers Alliance of Chicago and Vicinity, the Baptist Pastors Conference of Chicago, the National Alumni Association of Bishop College, and the Arise and Build National Church Building Conference. His civic service also included appointments to the Illinois Ethics Board, the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission, and the Economic Empowerment Forum.

His impact has drawn wide recognition. Ebony magazine named him one of its "100 Most Influential Black Americans" in 2004 and included him among the "Ebony Power 150" for religion in 2007. He received the Campbellsville University Leadership Award in 2014 and the Ministerial Pioneer Award from the Baptist Ministers' Conference of Chicago, and he holds honorary doctorates from Temple Bible College and Seminary (Cincinnati), the Chicago Baptist Institute (1986), St. Thomas Christian College (Jacksonville), and Richmond Virginia Seminary.

Reverend Thurston and his wife, Joyce (Hand) Thurston, make their home in Chicago. They are the parents of four children—Nicole, Teniece, Christon, and Stephen II, who was appointed co-pastor of New Covenant in 2004, continuing the family's enduring line of pastoral leadership.