Nina G. Gunter is a preacher, teacher, author, and general superintendent emerita in the Church of the Nazarene. She was elected at the 26th General Assembly in Indianapolis, Indiana, in June 2005, the first woman to be honored with the highest office in the church. With offices in Lenexa, Kansas, the Church of the Nazarene has nearly 2 million members in 156 world areas. She served with five colleagues on the Board of General Superintendents for four years. In June 2009, the 27th General Assembly in Orlando, Florida, bestowed upon her the honor of general superintendent emerita.

At the time of her election, Dr. Gunter was serving her denomination as general director of Nazarene Missions International (NMI), a position to which she was elected in 1986. During her 20-year tenure she initiated many missions programs, and annual missions giving increased from $30 million to $62 million for a total of one billion dollars given to missions.
Dr. Gunter was called to preach at the age of 12 years. Upon answering her call to ministry at age 14, her pastor asked her to speak in the next church service. Thus began her many years of ministry.

As an ordained elder in the Church of the Nazarene, she served congregations as co-pastor with her husband in Tennessee, Missouri, and South Carolina. She has a grassroots perspective from her many years of service in NMI. For 15 years she served the South Carolina District as NMI district president. For nine years, beginning in 1976, she served as NMI council representative for the Southeast Region, from which she was elected general director.

Nina Gunter earned a bachelor’s degree from Trevecca Nazarene University (TNU) and a master’s degree from the University of South Carolina in Columbia. Dr. Gunter was honored by her alma mater, TNU, with the honorary doctor of divinity degree, the first woman to receive such recognition from the university.

She was elected Ministerial Alumnus of the Year in 1990 by Trevecca Nazarene University alumni. In 2005 she was named the T. W. Willingham “Preacher of the Year” by Nazarene Bible College. In 2006 Olivet Nazarene University accorded her the Maggie Sloan Crawford Award for her visionary leadership and example. Trevecca Nazarene University established the Nina Griggs Gunter Servant-Leader Award to recognize honorable leadership accomplishments and qualities in women and presented the inaugural award to Dr. Gunter in 2009. The award is supported by an endowment that will provide scholarships to female students of leadership.

In 2008 she was named a contributing editor to Leadership Journal. In making this appointment, Marshall Shelley, editor of Leadership Journal and vice president of  Christianity Today International, called Gunter one of the “church leaders we admire most for being faithful and innovative, contributing to Christ’s mission in the world” with valued skills for strengthening other church leaders. In this capacity, Dr. Gunter contributes advice on issues ministers are facing today, as well as periodic articles, reviews, and responses to material in the journal, on its website, and on its blog.

Dr. Gunter has written The Traveler’s Psalm, Our Defining Moment, Christian Perfection, The Cross—Seize It! Share It!, and Holy Leadership in a Hectic World. Holy Leadership in a Hectic World, her most recent book released in 2009, contains a lifetime of leadership principles filtered through the guidance of the Holy Spirit for the marketplace, home, church, classroom, or anywhere followers are looking for holy leaders. It is available by E-mailing HolyLeadership@aol.com.

She is married to Dr. D. Moody Gunter. They have two married sons, Dwight and Dwayne, and four grandchildren, all of whom serve the Lord in the Church of the Nazarene.

Dr. Nina Gunter continues to preach the Word by conducting holiness crusades, Faith Promise and missions conventions, camp meetings, retreats, and conferences. She and her husband often speak together, including his areas of expertise, especially church finance and Christian stewardship.