Our History

The McCreary Center (MC) was conceived by Dr. William H. Myers in 1982 as part of his Doctor of Ministry degree at Ashland Theological Seminary (ATS).  It was officially organized and incorporated in August of 1984.  A building was constructed as an addition to the New Mount Zion Baptist Church in November 1984.  Reverend Carey McCreary who was Dr. Myers uncle was the pastor at the time.  Dr. Myers chose to name the building and the school in honor of Reverend McCreary.  For the next six years the MC operated solely on its own offering a variety of courses primarily taught by Dr. Myers and his collogues from around the country.  During that time courses were offered beginning at 35 dollars reaching 100 dollars per course.

Dr. Myers was the first African American professor hired at ATS in the 1983-1984 school year.  He started teaching there in New Testament in the bible department in January 1984.  Although the student body was 33 percent African American there were no Black Church Studies (BCS) courses taught at any point in the seminary’s over 100-year history.  In 1989 Dr. Myers taught the first BCS course ever taught at the seminary, African American Biblical Interpretation.  In that same year, he founded the first ever BCS program in the seminary’s history, and created the curricula for three components of that program, namely, the Diploma of Theology In BCS, Master of Arts in BCS, and the Doctor of Ministry in BCS.

On February 14, 1990, a press conference was held in Cleveland, Ohio announcing the new program that would begin in the new school year, fall 1990.  During the same time period the name of the center was changed to MC for African American Religious Studies to reflect its primary focus in theological education.

A partnership was entered into between MC and Ashland theological seminary whereby MC would manage the BCS program at the MC with Dr. Myers as Director.  All BCS courses at all three levels were taught at the MC, but all diplomas were issued by ATS, and all students graduated in the commencement at ATS.  This occurred until 2017 when a new president of ATS dissolved the relationship.  From its inception to 2017 more than 400 diploma of theology students graduated from the program.  More than 75% of those students went on to the seminary as bachelor exempt students, many earning multiple masters and many others going all the way through the Doctor of Ministry Program.  Dr. Crystal Walker was the first to go from   the Diploma Theology all the way to the Doctor of Ministry degree in BCS.  She would ultimately succeed Dr. William H. Myers as the President & CEO when he retired from the MC in 2019.

In 2019 after the relationship was dissolved the MC once again launched out on its own.  In 2020 under the new leadership at ATS, Dr. John Byron as Dean, reestablished a new relationship between MC and ATS.  At this point MC retained the Diploma of Theology in BCS and the master’s and Doctoral BSC courses return to the auspices of ATS (Cleveland Center), still under the leadership of Dr. Myers.  During that same period 2017 to present the diploma of theology students where no longer allow to participate in the commencement at ATS.

The MC now under the leadership of Dr. Crystal Walker, had its first commencement for the diploma of theology graduates May 21, 2022, with seven graduates.  Dr. John Byron, Dean of ATS, attended with full support from the seminary.  Dr. William H. Myers was the commencement speaker.  Dr. William H. Myers continues as the founder and director of the BCS programs at ATS.