Stephan Patrick McKinney
Stephan Patrick McKinney is Senior Pastor of the Greater Calvary Baptist Church in Harlem, New York City, accepting the call to be the Church’s third Pastor in September, 2008. During his thirteen year pastorate, Dr. McKinney has shepherded Greater Calvary from a moribund, Sunday-only witness—with no evangelism, no missions or outreach, no discipleship training, and no p
resence in the community—into a service-oriented resource for its neighbors, with an increasing array of post-benediction ministries and programs throughout the week. Once bereft of any consequential associations in the community, under Dr. McKinney’s leadership Greater Calvary has allied itself with institutions throughout New York City and vicinity, including community and civic groups, health and wellness organizations, advocacy and justice groups, law enforcement, other faith groups, etc. Dr. McKinney is primarily a teaching Pastor. He self-consciously stands in the activist-intellectual tradition of black preacher/pastors who embodied academic excellence, moral clarity, integrity in the pulpit, and a commitment to social justice—e.g. Vernon Johns, Samuel DeWitt Proctor, Wyatt Tee Walker, etc. Since coming to Greater Calvary, he has insisted upon seminary-trained clergy assistants and biblically-literate, trained lay leadership. He has developed a comprehensive leadership program for the Church’s officers that combines in-house workshops, denominational training, and conferences and seminars specific to the diaconate and church financial officers. Dr. McKinney has also instituted curriculum-driven Bible studies at every level of the congregation—for officers, the laity, new disciples, youth and young adults, and children. In worship, Dr. McKinney emphasizes praise and sound, biblically-based preaching. He approaches worship—not as an end unto itself, but as a period of renewal for the work we are called to do the other six days of the week. Under Dr. McKinney’s leadership, Greater Calvary has literally thrown open its doors to the Harlem community. The Church’s outreach includes a one-hour midweek worship service called “WOW” (Worship on Wednesday), an annual Community Christmas Concert, a Children’s Learning Center, a youth Bible-study and fellowship called H.O.L.Y (Holding on to the Lives of Our Youth), and a one hundred percent free clothing ministry called Christ’s Closet. In the Fall of 2015, Greater Calvary launched its free after school program, which provides homework assistance, cultural immersion and snacks for nearly sixty elementary-age children. The program was approved for Summer Camp funding in June, 2016. The Church’s signature outreach effort, the annual Community Crusade and Picnic, is a one hundred percent free, block party style event that brings together service providers and vendors from throughout New York City—e.g. health and wellness, insurance, transportation, clothing, etc.—for the benefit of the community. A free lunch is provided. As with his emphasis on embracing the Harlem community, Dr, McKinney also believes in the importance of reaching out to the worldwide community. Despite its small size, since 2009 Greater Calvary—in conjunction with the American Baptist Churches of Metropolitan New York (ABC Metro NY)—has responded to every major natural disaster around the world, including the 2010 earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the 2012 Superstorm Sandy in New York and New Jersey, and the 2013 typhoon in the Philippines. The Church collects three mission offerings a year, the proceeds from which have been used to support ABC Metro NY’s construction of a hospital in northern Haiti. One hundred percent of the free-will offering raised at the Church’s annual Community Christmas Concert is given to charity. In December, 2016, Greater Calvary launched a year-long mission project to assist water relief efforts in Flint, MI, involving more than a dozen member churches of ABC Metro NY. Dr. McKinney began preaching the Gospel in 1988 under the tutelage of the late Rev. Dr. T.F. Freeman at the Mount Horem Baptist Church in Houston, TX. He was ordained to Christian ministry in 1998 by the late civil rights icon and Pastor Emeritus of the Canaan Baptist Church of Christ, Rev. Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker. His ordination was recognized by ABC Metro NY in June, 2021. Dr. McKinney is a former vice-president of ABC Metro NY, a former board member of the Mount Morris Park Community Improvement Association, a member of the advisory council of the Greater Harlem Coalition, and a founding member of the Lenox to 5th 124th Street Block Association. He has preached in Africa, Europe, and throughout North America. A Chicago native, Dr. McKinney is a 1990 graduate of Texas Southern University in Houston, TX (B.A.); a 1994 graduate of Andover Newton Theological School in Boston, MA (M.Div.); and a 1998 and 2002 graduate of Drew University in Madison, NJ, where he earned two additional master’s degrees. In May, 2010, Dr. McKinney took his earned Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Sociology of Religion, also from Drew University. He is the proud father of one daughter, Eden Patrice, affectionately known to her father as “Apple”.
