Dr. Chris Shawn Campbell
A native of Louisville, KY, and received his formal education from Harry Doss High School. He acknowledged his call to ministry April 1998, under the late Dr. T. Vaughn Walker, of the First Gethsemane Baptist Church, and was a member of the St. Stephen Baptist Church under the leadership of Dr. Kevin Cosby, where he served as the pastors preaching assistant. He is a graduate of the University of Louisville, where he holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a minor in Pan-African Studies. He was a Mae Elizabeth and Theresa Coffman Scholar at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary where he earned a Master of Arts, with a concentration in Church Leadership and Administration. He has completed Course of Study at Duke Divinity, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and was recognized in 2006 by Who’s Who Among College Students in America for outstanding academic and leadership performance. He holds a Doctor of Ministry from Duke University where his research topic was: The Case for Reparations: The Social Gospel of Walter Rauschenbusch, and A Program to Understand and Close the Racial Wealth Gap. He has served as the senior pastor of the Genesis United Methodist Church, in Louisville, Kentucky from 2010-2013. While in Louisville, he served on the Louisville Urban League task force called 15K, which seeks to educate 15,000 Louisvillians by 2020. He has served as a church consultant for Strengthening the Black Church for the 21st Century and 20/20 Leadership a partnership with the Black Church Initiative, which seeks to revitalize congregations, coach pastors, and inspire leaders to dream God-sized dreams for their ministries. He has served as the lead pastor of The Plaza Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, and interim pastor for Antioch Missionary Baptist Church. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., works closely with Black Lives Matter of Charlotte. He currently serves as the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion officer with Safe Families for Children, a Christian non-profit organization seeking to keep children out of the foster care system, while assisting families in crisis. He is married to Kennesha Denise, and they have three beautiful children Kennedy, Kamryn and Christian. In his spare time, he enjoys golf, yoga, reading, traveling and spending time with his children. He frames his life and mission by the words of Maggie Barankitse, a missionary in Africa: “Lord, let your miracles break forth every day, and let me not be an obstacle in any way.”