John Drew Sheard Sr.


Bishop J. Drew Sheard
Presiding Bishop, Church of God in Christ
ChurchChurch of God in Christ, Global
DioceseMichigan North Central Jurisdiction
Elected
  • 2012–present (as General Board member)
  • 2021–present (as Presiding Bishop)
PredecessorCharles E. Blake Sr.
Previous post(s)
  • Chairman, COGIC International AIM Convention (2004–2012)
Orders
Ordination1988 (as pastor of Greater Emmanuel Institutional COGIC)
Consecration2010 (as Bishop of the Michigan North Central Jurisdiction)
2012 (as a member of the COGIC General Board)
by 
  • Willie L. Harris (as pastor & elder)
  • Charles E. Blake Sr. (as bishop)
Personal details
Born
John Drew Sheard

(1959-01-01) January 1, 1959
ResidenceDetroit, Michigan, U.S.
Spouse
(m. 1984)
Children2, including Kierra Sheard
Alma materWayne State University

John Drew Sheard Sr. (born January 1, 1959) is an American pastor and minister from Detroit, Michigan, who is the current presiding bishop of the Church of God in Christ, a six million-member predominantly African-American Holiness Pentecostal denomination that has now grown to become one of the largest African-American Pentecostal denominations in the United States.

Sheard was elected as the leader of the denomination in its first ever all-virtual online election, that was held virtually online due to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 20, 2021. He is the first COGIC presiding bishop from Michigan and is the pastor of the Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ, one of the denomination's largest churches in Michigan. He also previously served as a member of the General Board, the twelve bishops who make up the national COGIC Board of directors, and as the president of the COGIC International Youth Department, the auxiliary ministry department of the denomination focused on youth and young adults, from 1997 to 2001. He was the International President and Chairman of the COGIC Auxiliaries In Ministry convention from 2004 to 2012.