The Nineteenth Street Baptist Church named Rev. Dr. Darryl Roberts as its new pastor. Roberts vowed to continue the church’s legacy in the vanguard of social change and justice.
“It is a great privilege and honor to serve as the pastor of Nineteenth Street,” Roberts, 41, told the AFRO. “I want to learn lessons from their leadership of my predecessors, I can’t stand in their shoes, but I want to build on their commitment to promote inclusive leadership and spiritual growth of all of God’s children.”
Roberts received his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Ethics from Emory University. He also earned a Juris Doctorate from Boston College Law School, a Master of Divinity degree from the University of Chicago, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Grinnell College in Iowa. Roberts is a graduate of the Morehouse College of Pastoral Leadership and has served on the executive boards of Atlanta’s Concerned Black Clergy and the Atlanta Missionary Baptist Association and DeKalb County’s NAACP. He is also the recent recipient of the In The Spirit Award, the NAACP Religious Affairs Award and the Gospel Choice Chosen Award for his commitment to public service.
“My commitment to social justice is unwavering and has deep roots,” Roberts said.
Before coming to D.C., he served as the senior pastor for five years at Mount Welcome Missionary Baptist Church, Decatur, Ga. Roberts was also an assistant pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where Martin Luther King gave his first sermon.
Source: AFRO | Hamil R. Harris
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