New Board Chairman Elected
Rev. Dr. Michael W. Couch, D.Min.
Dr. Michael W. Couch presides over meeting of MBI Board of Directors on May 21, 2022
The Board of Directors of Manna Bible Institute is pleased to announce the election of Michael W. Couch, D.Min., as its new board chair, succeeding Rev. Dr. Robert P. Shine Sr., who went home to be with the Lord on January 4, 2022. Dr. Couch has been a member of Manna’s board for the past three years, specifically assisting on the board’s Investment Committee and as an advisor to the Education and Library Committee.
Dr. Couch graduated with a doctoral degree from New York Theological Seminary, having written his dissertation on how believers could better serve distressed families and neighborhoods through job employment. In addition to his doctorate, Dr. Couch holds a Master of Divinity from Biblical Theological Seminary, a Bachelor of Science from Cairn University, and an Associate of Arts from Geneva Bible College.
He is currently a workforce advisor at Pennsylvania Career Link where he helps to improve families and neighborhoods through job employment. He is also the duly elected executive committee person of Philadelphia’s 23rd Ward where he can assert a Christian witness and biblical perspective in the realm of civil and governmental affairs. On March 11, 2019, Dr. Couch was elected to serve as Pastor of Berean Baptist Church in the Allegheny West section of Philadelphia, a pastoral ministry he continues to hold. His expository messages are a blessing, not only to his congregation, but to the general public as well through his church’s YouTube channel.
Dr. Couch is the devoted husband of his high school sweetheart, Tonya, and the father of two sons, My’chal and Malachi. He is a proud son of Berachah Baptist Church, where Dr. Robert Shine Sr. pastored for 37 years. Dr. Couch is the author of several published books on evangelism, social justice, urban ministry, and apologetics. His latest book, I Am a Man, is now available in bookstores and on Amazon.
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Before assuming his pastoral role at Berean Baptist Church, Dr. Couch was the founding executive director of New Beginnings, an outreach ministry committed to person-to-person street evangelism. This effective team ministry presented God’s plan of salvation and guarantee of new life to more than 1,500 people per week for five consecutive years. Dr. Couch is a regular broadcast preacher on various radio and television stations throughout the mid-Atlantic states, including KYW 1060 AM, WURD 900 AM, YouTube Channel, XFinity TV 66/966, and Fios TV 29/30. Dr. Couch has a proven record of tooling faith communities into vehicles of family and community development, with experience in leading religious corporations in producing measurable family value and impact.