The Philadelphia Baptist Association (PBA) is staffed by a dedicated team that is committed to serving and holding in trust the congregations, missions and ministries that make up this region of the American Baptist Churches USA.
Rev. Dr. James E. McJunkin, Jr. has served PBA congregations since 1986 as:
Executive Regional Pastor of the PBA since 2002. Dr. McJunkin provides administrative leadership to PBA’s 124 congregations with more than 60,000 members from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. He assists the PBA Board of Directors with envisioning, goal setting, and building healthy and productive relationships among its congregations. He has assisted in the development of current ABCUSA governance structure and ministries across the nation. He recently led the PBA’s support for congregations during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. He guides the PBA’s efforts to assist congregations in responding to the current racial/cultural and generational shifts.
Commissioned Missionary of the PBA 1995-2001. In this capacity James served as the Executive Director of the African American Interdenominational Ministries. There he led a coalition of 400 African American pastors across several Protestant denominations in Philadelphia. He developed and secured funding for programs that addressed issues such as Christian education, evangelism, mentoring programs, comprehensive support for high-risk youth, health care-initiatives, and HIV/Aids prevention. The organization experienced unprecedented growth under his leadership.
PBA’s Associate Executive Minister for Community Outreach and Area Ministry 1986-1995. James led and/or developed he helped ministries for social concerns and community ministries such as the homelessness, environmental justice, immigration policies, cross-cultural communication, prison ministry, visitation with people living in institutional settings and the Christmas Cheer program. During the onset of the pandemic James developed forums to train clergy helping people living with HIV/AIDS. Dr. McJunkin also led the PBA’s partnership with congregations in South Africa.
An American Baptist Pastor (staff) of the Affinity Missionary Baptist Church of Cleveland Ohio 1983-1986
Rev. McJunkin was ordained in 1983. He holds a Doctorate of Ministry degree from the New York Theological Seminary, a M.Div. from Ashland Theological Seminary in Ashland, OH, and a Bachelor of Arts from Livingston College, in Salisbury, NC.
Rev. Dr. Jill Bradway began on June 1, 2023 serving as the Associate Regional Pastor for Congregational Continuous Learning.
She is a native of Philadelphia, PA. She received her primary education in both the public and private school systems. She attended Temple University, studying Business Law and Human Resource Management. Dr. Bradway is a 2-time graduate of Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity, Rochester, NY earning the M.Div. in Theology and Preaching in 2006, and the D. Min in Transformative Leadership in 2011. She believes her doctoral dissertation: African American Women and the Imago Dei: Reclaiming God’s Vision of Wholeness, is more relevant today than when she wrote it and continues to look for ways to share it.
Dr. Bradway spent 13 years as a University Chaplain at the Rochester Institute of Technology and served as Interim Pastor for 3 churches in Upstate New York before going to Alaska. Dr. Bradway was the Senior Pastor of First American Baptist Church, Anchorage, Alaska for 3 years. She was the first African American woman to be Senior Pastor of a Baptist Church in Anchorage. And she was the first woman elected President of the Alaska Baptist Churches & Institutions State Convention and served for 1 term before returning to the lower 48 due to the COVID-19 Global Pandemic.
From 2021 to the first part of 2022, Dr. Bradway worked remotely as Lead Content Development & Research Specialist for Redhouse Performance Consulting, LLC, a DEI (diversity-equity-inclusion) firm that provides strategy, leadership engagement, policy and program development, internal training, recruiting, and other DEI related projects for large, global organizations focused on building vibrant and tolerant societies through the advancement of justice, education, public health, and independent media.
From April 2022 to May 2023, she has served as the Interim Pastor with the Silverside Church in Wilmington, DE.
Dr. Bradway has two adult daughters with whom she shares a close, loving relationship.
Rev. Julia Bruton-Sheppard 
On November 1, 2016, Rev. Julia Bruton-Sheppard began as Program Facilitator for Communication and Leader Development. Currently, this part time commitment provides support for the Intergenerational Clergy Small Group Initiative of the PBA Minister’s Council. There are four groups gathering monthly. Rev. Bruton-Sheppard supervises the work of the consultants assisting in the facilitation of the groups. Her life verse is Psalm 27:4, “I’m asking God for one thing, only one thing: To live with him in his house my whole life long. I’ll contemplate his beauty; I’ll study at his feet.” Peterson’s The Message Rev. Bruton-Sheppard, in her first career as a nurse, she found her most rewarding experience in the field of Hospice Home Care. During those 14 years God presented me with many life-lessons caring for those at the end of life. God blessed me to become a wife. She is the proud mother of 1 daughter and 3 sons. She is also the grandmother of 4 granddaughters and 2 grandsons, and a great-grand mother of a beautiful girl. In 1989 Rev. Bruton-Sheppard was licensed to preach, ordained in 1993 and presently hold the position of Associate Minister at the Mt. Carmel Baptist Church where Rev. Dr. Donald D. Moore is Pastor. Her formal education includes a BA degree in Jewish Studies at Gratz College in Melrose Park, PA; She went on to a Master of Divinity Degree at the Reformed Episcopal Seminary in Blue Bell, PA. She is a practicing Spiritual Director. By nature she is an introvert by nature and treasure quiet time. However, what brings her out of solitude is a call to help the disenfranchised and the most vulnerable. You may find her helping someone more senior than herself or joining programs that provide vital support for them. Julia is an avid traveler; she has seen many marvels in God’s world through the lens of a camera. Those images have created memories to last the rest of her life. She states, “I seek your prayers as I begin this new position as Program Facilitator for Communication and Leader Development for PBA. Because of them, I look forward to how God will continue to answer my prayer posed in Psalm 27:4.”
Ms. Janet Reedy has served as Administrative Assistant with the PBA since 1990. Over the years, she has been responsible for many portfolios including Regional Outreach, Local Church Ministries, Discipleship and World Mission Support. Currently, she provides support for the Consultants for Area Ministry & Communication and the Finance Office. She also is responsible for missions receipt and distribution, record keeping, statistical data and reports. Janet is a graduate of Gordon College and Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now Palmer Seminary), with a Masters in Religion.
Ms. Shayla McJunkin has served as a social media consultant since September 2021. She has assisted the PBA in creating a research report about the importance of social media engagement for the organization and is relaunching the PBA’s Facebook account to keep our churches connected with each other and with their communities. Shayla earned two bachelor of arts degrees in Psychology and Music Performance from Simmons University in May of 2021, and is currently in Widener University’s Institute for Graduate Clinical Psychology.