A Merciful Journey

William E. Pannell (1929–2024) was a prominent black American evangelical leader in a predominantly white movement. He served as a pioneering voice for racial justice within evangelicalism, leaving a large legacy as a teacher, preacher, and author. Bill also was an advocate for black leadership in the church, mentoring scores of younger black pastors and teachers. Two of his students, Anthea Butler and Jemar Tisby, have had distinguished writing, teaching, and speaking careers in their own right, and help complete Bill’s memoir with their introduction and afterword. A master communicator, Bill was the author of a groundbreaking book on racism within the evangelical church, My Friend, the Enemy (1968). It is still pertinent almost sixty years later, as the reprinting in 2026 of a section of the book in evangelicalism’s flagship publication, Christianity Today, testifies. Later, following the Rodney King beating, Bill’s The Coming Race Wars? A Cry for Reconciliation (1993) reinforced many of the same themes. Bill lived a life committed to both love and protest. This memoir gives an invaluable “insider’s yet outsider’s” perspective on white evangelicalism and its continuing support of American racism, whether conscious or not. In our day, as white Christian nationalism has come increasingly to the fore, particularly within segments of evangelicalism, Bill’s wisdom and warning are all the more important to be heard.