A life shaped by Scripture and spent in service

Dr. Winfred Omar Neely met Jesus Christ at nineteen while serving in the United States Army. The man who led him to faith was a humble dishwasher. Two weeks later, the young soldier preached his first sermon. He has been preaching ever since, for more than fifty years.

Dr. Neely is an ordained minister of the gospel. He served nine years as a missionary and pastor in Senegal, West Africa, before joining the Moody faculty. In the Chicago area, he has pastored churches in the city and, while teaching full-time at Moody, planted and pastored churches in its southern and western suburbs. Those years birthed a conviction that still guides his work: faithful preaching and pastoral care belong together.

He returned to the United States to pastor churches in the Chicagoland area. For more than twenty years he taught hermeneutics, biblical studies, homiletics, and pastoral studies at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. He chaired the Division of Applied Theology and Church Ministries, and in 2020 he became vice president and academic dean of Moody Theological Seminary. He retired from Moody Theological Seminary in 2025 and continues to serve at Moody as professor emeritus of Old Testament, biblical interpretation, and biblical preaching. He also serves as an affiliate professor of preaching and pastoral ministries at Talbot School of Theology.

He holds a BA from Trinity College, an MA from Wheaton College Graduate School, a DMin from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and a PhD from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.

Dr. Neely wrote How to Overcome Worry and A Love to Live By, both from Moody Publishers. He also contributed to The Moody Bible Commentary, The Moody Handbook of Preaching, Say It! Celebrating Expository Preaching in the African American Tradition, and A Heart for the Community. Today he preaches in churches and ministry events in the United States and abroad, is a frequent guest on Moody Radio, and is committed to equipping the global church.

He and his wife, Stephne, have been married for more than fifty years. They have four adult children and a growing number of grandchildren.