Dr. Shawn Jerome Singleton as born on May 1, 1971 in Jamaica, Queens, New York to Thomasina Singleton.  At a very young age he moved to Sumter, South Carolina to live with his grandparents.  He is united in Holy Matrimony to the former Sister Andrea M. Brown, and they are the proud parents of Jalen (22), Shawn II (19), Jacqueline (17) and Alaina (15). 

 

He was baptized as a teenager by the late Dr. D. W. Broughton at High Hills A.M.E. Church in Dalzell, South Carolina.

 

He was educated in Sumter County School District #2, and is a graduate of Hillcrest High School.  He has earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (Accounting) from Elizabeth City State University, a Master of Arts in Religion, a Masters of Religious Education, and a Masters of Divinity Degree from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry Degree (Pastoral Leadership) from Norfolk Theological Seminary and College.

 

He was commissioned as an Officer into the United States Army Military Police Corps in December 1993 as a Distinguished Military Graduate.  He holds the distinction of being the first ROTC Cadet for a Historically Black College to be selected to the Army’s All-Pro Team.  He proudly served his country at various duty assignments, and was highly decorated for his service, and after receiving an Honorable Discharge he settled in Virginia with his family.

 

He was licensed and ordained into the ministry at Mount Gilead Missionary Baptist Church in Norfolk, VA; where he was under the leadership and tutelage of Dr. Shelton Murphy, and while there he served as the Youth Pastor, and he birthed the “Boyz to Men Ministry,” which was focused on mentoring and guiding at-risk teenagers from single family homes.  He served as the Pastor of Bethesda Baptist Church in Virginia Beach, VA for six years, and the Pastor of Greater Mount Zion Baptist Church in Chesapeake, VA for four years; and on May 10, 2017 he was called to serve as the 16th Pastor of the historic Martin Street Baptist Church in Raleigh, NC.

 

Dr. Singleton has been recognized by Virginia Beach City Public Schools for starting the “Ocean’s Elite” Mentoring Program at Oceans Lakes High School, and the “Salem’s Elite” Mentoring Program at Salem Middle School.  He has also been a presenter at the Annual African American Male Summit, and a keynote speaker for the “Golden Fold” Mentoring Program in Virginia Beach.  He has served as the Vice-President of the Norfolk Area Baptist Association Minister’s Conference, the Program Chairman for the Tidewater Metro Baptist Ministers’ Conference of Virginia, and a Professor of Biblical Studies at Norfolk Theological Seminary and College.  He also had the privilege of traveling to South Africa as a missionary in 2009.

 

Dr. Singleton conducts seminars on marriage, church leadership and financial management, and praying & fasting, and he is currently completing his first book: “Church: It’s Not What I Do, and It’s Not Where I Go; It’s Who I Am.”  He has shown himself to be a wonderful preacher and teacher of the Word, and likes to describe himself as “a humble servant that has been blessed to do the Lord’s work one day at time and one step at a time.”

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“There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” Joshua 1:5