Our Pastor

On October 16, 1950, Emanuel Smith, Jr. was born in Greenville, Mississippi. He graduated with honors from Coleman High School in 1969 and earned a Bachelor of Science in Social Science from Mississippi Valley State University in 1973. He studied Guidance and Counseling at the University of New Orleans, earned a Master of Divinity from Union Baptist Theological College Seminary in 1995, and received his Doctorate of Divinity in 2003.

He has served the city in many roles, including Personnel Director for the Louisiana Superdome, Deputy Insurance Commissioner for Louisiana, and Director of the Small Business Development and Management Institute at Southern University in New Orleans. He is a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.

Installed as pastor on November 5, 1999, Pastor Smith is an excellent pastor, teacher, and committed community leader. Under his administration the church established the Sons of Blood ‘n Thunder recovery ministry, the Men of Honor Male Chorus, Women of Wisdom, Crusaders’ Outreach, and a Community Youth Center. When New Orleans returned after Katrina, he held the first service on September 25, 2005 without electricity and opened the church to other congregations, an effort Ebony magazine featured in 2006. He married his wife Diana in Kauai, Hawaii on June 22, 1997.