Harold Edward Pinkston, Sr.

Rev. Harold Edward Pinkston, Sr., obedient δούλοξ (servant) of our Lord Jesus the Christ, was born in Camden, New Jersey, on Wednesday, December 2, 1931, weighing sixteen pounds straight from his mother’s womb. [His African (Ashanti) name is "Kwaku"; his African (Fanti) name is "Kweku"; both signify a boy child born on a Wednesday]. He was the seventh son, and seventh of nine children (William Jr., Joseph, Moses Samuel, David, Paul, Nathaniel, and Benena Mae; the sixth son/child was a still-born), of the Reverend William Lincoln Pinkston, Sr., of East Palatka, Florida, and Mrs. Bennie Mae McDonald Pinkston of Tallahassee, Florida. He was married to Dr. Margaret Pearl Christian Pinkston (1957-2015), and from that union he became the father of two daughters (Christina René and Patricia Yvette) and two sons (Harold Edward Jr. and Timothy Mark); the grandfather of five (Christiana Patrice, Shayla Elis, Ariana Melita, Cheyenne Grace, and Ayanna Christian); and the great grandfather of two so far (Viviana and Tatyana).

Rev. Harold E. Sr., was graduated from Camden High School where he was an actor in school operettas and dramas, including “The Mikado,” “Oklahoma,” and “Connecticut Yankee.” He sang first-tenor in the concert choir and glee club, including with the Kershaw Royal Singers; he played several different brass instruments in the marching band and orchestra, including with the Pride of The Camden Elks’ Band; and he played the Hawai'ian Electric Steel Guitar, performing on many public stages and venues. He also was an athlete in football, track and field, and was a boxer in the Camden’s Police Athletic League. As a boy scout, he attained the highest rank of Eagle Scout, additionally earning the three Eagle Palms of Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Also during his teenage years, he served as a voluntary Visiting Chaplain and Counselor to inmates at the Camden County Jail and for the Camden County Police Department.

His home church in Camden was Kaighn Avenue Baptist Church, believed to be the oldest African-American Baptist church in the state of New Jersey. There, he publicly surrendered his heart and soul to Jesus and was baptized at the age of eleven, on Children’s Day, the second Sunday in June, 1942. At the age of seventeen, he preached his first sermon, “The Perseverance of Youth,” with the text based on Ecclesiastes 12:1: “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.” At the age of nineteen, in response to his early divine Call and Anointment by God to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Harold Edward preached his acceptance sermon on Palm Sunday, 1951, at Messiah Baptist Church (80 Legion Parkway, Brockton, Massachusetts), where he received his official licensure to preach. Two years later, his home church together with the Bethany Baptist Association of New Jersey, officially ordained him into the Gospel Ministry on Friday, November 20, 1953—the same day his mother passed away from a chronic HCVD/HCVA illness, transitioning while he was preaching his first post-ordination sermon on the pulpit of the late Rev. John Wise Walker, Rev. Harold E. Sr.’s ordination-catechizer. He was only twenty-one years of age, studying at Virginia Union University.

He earned several professional degrees: a Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) in English, Languages, and Literature and a Bachelor of Divinity (B.D.) and Master of Divinity (M.Div.) in Theology at Virginia Union University and its School of Religion in Richmond, Virginia; the American Association of Pastoral Counselors’ (A.A.P.C.) and Association of Clinical Pastoral Education (A.C.P.E.) Accreditations and Certifications as a Clinical-Pastoral-Counseling Specialist from the Medical College of Virginia, Richmond; a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (M.A.L.S.) from Wesleyan University, in Middletown, Connecticut; a Doctor of Philosophy degree (Ph.D.) in Literature (English), “With Distinction,” in 1970 from Temple University, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during which time as part of his doctoral studies he also studied in Africa at the University of Ghana in Accra, Ghana, the University Institute for Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana, and the University of Liberia in Monrovia, West Africa (1969, 1970); and he later went on to earn a Doctor of Theology [Th.D.] degree, “Summa cum Laude,” in 1985 from Trinity Theological Seminary in Newburgh, Indiana.

In 1970, Rev. Harold E. Sr., had the distinction of being the first and only Black tenured and full Professor faculty member at Ohio Wesleyan University, established in 1842, in Delaware, Ohio, where he taught English, Humanities-Classics, and Black World Studies until retiring in 1998 as Professor Emeritus. Prior to that, he was a faculty member and Head/Chairman of the English Department at Cheyney State College (now University) in Cheyney, Pennsylvania, while serving as Supervisor and Coordinator of Cultural Enrichment for Federal Programs in the School District of Philadelphia. He also was a member of the faculty at the Methodist Theological School in Delaware, Ohio (1970-1976); a Visiting Professor of Theology and Patristics at the Pontifical College of Josephinum, in Worthington, Ohio; and Professor of Theology, Religion, Literature and Christian Ethics at Trinity Theological Seminary (1986-1995) in Newburgh, Indiana. Later, at various times during his retirement years, he taught as an Adjunct Professor at Hampton University in Hampton, VA; Virginia Union University in Richmond, VA; and the John Leland Center for Theological Studies, in Newport News, VA.

In January of 1976, Rev. Harold E. Sr., organized and founded The Good Shepherd Baptist Church of Columbus, Ohio—his fifth pastorate—as well as The Good Shepherd School of Biblical and Cognate Learning, in 1978. After twenty-five years there, he retired from his formal and public pastoral ministry, becoming Pastor Emeritus there. Forty-three years prior to retiring from full-time ministry, he began his first pastorate in 1958 at Providence Park Baptist Church, in Richmond, Virginia. This was followed by senior pastorates of three other Baptist churches—in Scotia, New York (1963-64); Summit, New Jersey (1964-1965); and Columbus, Ohio (1970-1975).

Rev. Harold E. Sr., was first and foremost a servant of the LORD—a pastor-teacher under-shepherd by “Vocation” or “Calling”—and was, secondarily, an academician-educator by training and by profession. Family and friends of Rev. Harold E. Sr., will greatly miss this beloved pastor, counselor, educator, servant, and civil rights activist who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement A friend of GOD “set for the defense of the Gospel” and “not disobedient to the Heavenly vision” (Acts 26:19), his hope was to be remembered as a divinely chosen “Man of the Cloth” who used his tongue to preach and teach (Ephesians 4:11), his voice to praise and sing (Psalm 98:1, 105:2), his hands to heal and support (Acts 28:8), his arms to comfort and uplift (Isaiah 40:11), his heart to understand and empathize (Proverbs 3:3-4), his resources to give and share (Acts 20:35), his soul to restore and persevere (Psalm 121:7), and his mind to stay virtuous and focused (Isaiah 26:3, Philippians 4:8) on Jesus, the Christ, for the ultimate fulfillment of God’s Divine Design and Ecclesiastical Purpose in and through him. Indeed, “It Is Well With [His] Soul!”