Thomas L Wilder Jr

Thomas L. Wilder, Jr. is the senior pastor of the Historic Bethel Baptist Church (Collegeville) in Birmingham, Alabama. He has served in that capacity for over 30 years. He was also employed in the corporate arena for 34 years where he held numerous managerial roles mostly related to Human Resources, Customer Service, and Marketing Community/Relations. He retired from the corporate world so that he could devote full time to his ministry, continuing his education and writing.

Thomas has served on numerous boards throughout his career. Those boards include Girls Inc. of Central Alabama, United Way of Central Alabama, Shelby County Department of Human Resources, United Cerebral Palsy (now United Ability), The University of Alabama’s President’s Cabinet, Birmingham Construction Industry Authority, Addiction Prevention Coalition, and the American Association of Blacks in Energy local and national boards.

He is listed among Who’s Who in Historical Societies, Who’s Who in Birmingham, Birmingham’s Top 40 under 40, Top Fifty over Fifty, Leadership Birmingham, Leadership Shelby County, and is certified for life as a Senior Professional in Human Resources by the Society for Human Resources Management.

Thomas received his undergraduate degree from the University of Alabama in Commerce and Business Administration with a concentration in Human Resources, his Master of Business Administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and his Master of Ministry Degree from Birmingham Theological Seminary. He was given an honorary doctorate from Faith Grant College. He is presently attending the Beeson Theological Seminary pursuing his Doctor of Ministry Degree.

He is married to the former Mechelle Sippial and together they have four grown children.