OUR PASTOR

It was in Dover, Delaware, where she was born and raised that Dr. T acknowledged her call to ministry.  Her pastor, Elder T.L. Holsey mentored and poured into her as she embraced this calling. At the age of 15 she gave her trial sermon and has been preaching ever since.  Over the years she has served as a Youth Pastor, Associate Pastor and has previously worked as a hospital chaplain.  She has completed 5 units of Clinical Pastoral Education as well as a Compassion Centered Spiritual Health Fellowship. These experiences supported exploration and passion for pastoral care ministry. She credits her COGIC roots for her spiritual upbringing and early ministerial training. It was in her search for a church home in Atlanta that she joined Rize Community Church.  Dr. T was ordained in 2015 under the leadership of Dr. Maisha K. Handy, pastor of Rize.  It was there that she also served as the Associate Pastor. She has earned Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, GA; both with an emphasis in pastoral care. Her doctoral research culminated in the paper, A Gospel of Exclusion: An examination of Spiritual and Religious Trauma in queer Black Women. Dr. T recognizes that the church universal has not always been a safe haven for marginalized communities and is committed to providing a community where people can freely engage in theological discourse and deconstruct oppressive teachings that they may have previously been exposed to.