J. Wendell Mapson Jr., MDiv, DMin, DDiv, is Pastor of the historic Monumental Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has earned degrees from Morehouse College, Crozer Theological Seminary, and Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, as well as considerable musical training. In 1994 he was inducted into the Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers at Morehouse College.

Mapson's The Ministry of Music in the Black Church was named by the Black Church Music Ministry Project as one "Four Books You Must Have in Your Library." Read the comments on the project's blog from August 21, 2009.