Bishop Kenneth Ulmer Is GONE — Here’s Who’s Running Faithful Central Now
What Really Happened to Faithful Central After Bishop Kenneth C. Almer Stepped Down May Surprise Everyone
For more than 40 years, Bishop Kenneth C. Almer was virtually inseparable from Faithful Central Bible Church in Englewood, California.
He did not simply lead the congregation.
He built it.
When Almer became senior pastor in 1982, he inherited a relatively small church.
Over the following decades, he transformed it into a major Black spiritual institution, eventually moving the congregation into the Great Western Forum—the former home of the Los Angeles Lakers.
His influence stretched far beyond the pulpit.
He preached before enormous crowds, taught at Oxford University, served as president of The King’s University, and became a prominent religious and civic figure in Los Angeles.
Faithful Central also developed connections with the entertainment world, adding another unusual dimension to the church’s history.
So when Almer announced his retirement, an obvious question emerged: What happens to a megachurch when the man who built it finally walks away?
On February 19, 2023, after approximately 41 years in the pulpit, Almer preached his final sermon as senior pastor.
The message, titled “I Did My Best,” drew from Paul’s words about finishing the race and fighting the good fight.
It was the end of an era.
But it was not the end of Faithful Central.
The church had already been preparing for the transition.
On January 26, 2023, its congregation unanimously elected Rev.
Dr. John Paul C. Foster as its fourth senior pastor in the church’s long history.
The unanimous decision was particularly significant because leadership transitions at large churches can easily become complicated by competing personalities, factions, and uncertainty.
Faithful Central avoided much of that turmoil because Foster had not appeared out of nowhere.
His preparation had been underway for years.
Foster joined the church in 2015 as its young adult pastor.
In 2019, he became assistant pastor.
Then, in 2021—two years before Almer’s retirement—he became co-pastor.
The progression gave the congregation time to become familiar with him while giving Foster the opportunity to learn directly from the man whose position he would eventually inherit.
The relationship was not merely professional.
Foster has described Almer as an extraordinary mentor and teacher, emphasizing how valuable it was to learn from him firsthand.
Their relationship meant that the succession was not simply an administrative handoff.
It was a transfer of experience.
That preparation became especially important when Foster faced his first Easter as senior pastor.
Easter is one of the biggest Sundays of the year for many Black churches, and Foster was stepping into leadership at a congregation carrying the enormous legacy of its founder.
He knew people were comparing him to Almer.
He also knew the shoes were enormous.
But Foster did not attempt to become a replica of his predecessor.
Instead, he embraced his own identity.
He even preached that first Easter wearing sneakers and a letterman’s jacket, signaling that Faithful Central had entered a new era.
The church maintained the large-scale worship experiences for which it had become known, while Foster began establishing his own leadership identity.
At the same time, Almer was not erased from the congregation’s story.
He remained connected to Faithful Central as a teacher and continued an annual tradition of returning to preach on Father’s Day.
That balance proved important.
The church did not allow its past to dominate the future, but neither did it pretend the past no longer mattered.
Foster also brought a different set of experiences to the role.
His background included extensive theological education, teaching, writing, and engagement with questions surrounding race, Christianity, identity, and the Black church.
His influence eventually extended into popular culture as well.
Foster served as a biblical consultant for House of David, the Amazon Prime drama centered on the biblical King David.
His involvement connected Faithful Central’s new leadership to the entertainment industry in a way that felt almost fitting given the church’s extraordinary history with the Forum and Los Angeles culture.
His work also extended beyond television.
Foster continued the church’s emphasis on international humanitarian initiatives, including efforts involving education and access to clean water in places such as Kenya and Eswatini.
In other words, the new pastor was not simply preserving Almer’s ministry.
He was expanding it in new directions.
Yet perhaps the most fascinating part of the transition concerns Almer himself.
From the outside, retirement might have appeared to be the triumphant conclusion of a remarkable career.
Inside, it was much more complicated.
After more than four decades of preaching, counseling, preparing sermons, leading services, and maintaining an enormous ministry, Almer suddenly had to confront life without the weekly rhythm that had defined him for most of his adult life.
He has spoken candidly about the loneliness associated with ministry and the friendships that can fade over decades of leadership.
He has also discussed what he describes as the spiritual costs of transition.
That admission reveals something rarely discussed when celebrated leaders retire: a successful succession does not necessarily make retirement emotionally easy.
Faithful Central could execute a nearly ideal transition, yet Almer could still experience the personal disorientation of stepping away from a calling that had shaped his identity.
But retirement did not mean Almer stopped working.
His focus shifted.
He remained active through the Almer Institute, an organization dedicated to addressing urban psychological trauma and helping communities respond to experiences involving violence, abuse, and chronic fear.
The institute’s work connects faith communities with medical, academic, and psychological partners and seeks to develop innovative approaches to trauma treatment and education.
Almer also remained involved internationally through the Macedonia International Bible Fellowship, continuing his work with pastors across Africa and the United States.
That makes the true story of Almer’s retirement much more nuanced.
He did not disappear.
He redirected his calling.
And Faithful Central did not collapse after he left.
It transitioned.
The reason appears to come down to four things: time, mentorship, continuity, and freedom.
Foster had years to prepare.
Almer invested personally in his development.
The church preserved a connection with its founder.
And Foster was allowed to become his own kind of leader rather than being forced to imitate the man who came before him.
That combination is rare.
The story of Faithful Central after Bishop Kenneth C. Almer is therefore not a story about a megachurch losing its identity.
It is a story about succession actually working.
A legendary pastor prepared his successor long before the congregation had to make its final decision.
The congregation trusted that preparation.
The new leader honored the foundation while building something of his own.
And the founder discovered that walking away from a lifelong calling could be far more difficult than simply handing over the keys.
Perhaps that is the most human part of the entire story.
Almer built an institution large enough to outlive him.
But when the time came to leave it, he still had to confront the same questions anyone faces when a defining chapter ends: Who is a person when the role that shaped their identity is suddenly gone? What remains when the weekly routine disappears? And how does someone learn to let go without believing they have stopped being useful?
Faithful Central found its answer through a new generation.
Almer found his through redirection.
And both stories demonstrate that a legacy is not truly measured by whether a successor can become the person who came before.
It is measured by whether the foundation is strong enough to allow someone new to build on it.
