REVEREND DR. HENRIETTA CARTER became the 27th Pastor of the Mariners’ Temple Baptist Church in 1998, following two years of serving as the Interim Pastor. Under her leadership the Church has become a strong mission supporter within the American Baptist Churches Denomination, experienced exponential growth in small-group ministries and remains culturally and ethnically diverse throughout its traditional Sunday and weekly Wednesday Lunch Hour of Power congregations. Pastor Carter leads a seminary-trained and well-equipped Ministerial Team of twelve. She has licensed eleven ministers, ordained six, and mentored many others through the ordination process.
Pastor Carter received conversion and baptism in 1975. Her initial entry into the ministry was as a Lay Evangelist at the White Rock Baptist Church, under the pastorate of Reverend Andrew B. Cooper, and she was licensed a year later. At the time Reverend Carter had earned an undergraduate degree in Economics with a minor in Education from Hunter College. Always interested in the welfare of children, she returned to Hunter College at the age of 32, earning a Master of Science degree in Elementary Education, initiating her outstanding seventeen-year career as a 3rd grade teacher at P.S. 208 in Harlem.
During her graduate studies at Hunter College, she heard the Lord whisper “seminary,” which prompted her to pursue the Master of Divinity at New York Theological Seminary. She first came to Mariners’ Temple in 1989 as a seminary intern through the Black Women in Ministry Project sponsored by New York City Mission Society. On March 11, 1990, Reverend Carter was ordained into the Christian ministry by Reverend Dr. Suzan D. Johnson Cook, the former Pastor at Mariners’ Temple. After being called by the Mariners’ Temple congregation to be the Pastor in 1998, Pastor Carter returned to New York Theological Seminary where she earned her Doctor of Ministry Degree in 2002.
Pastor Carter is a contributing author in the book Sister to Sister Devotions for and from African American Women, edited by Suzan D. Johnson Cook and Those Preaching Women Volume IV, edited by Ella Mitchell and Jacqueline Glass. She is a member of the 5th Precinct Clergy Liaison Civilian Volunteer Force, serves on the Nyack College/ Alliance Theological Seminary New York City Advisory Board and the American Baptist Churches of Metropolitan New York Ordination Council.
Among the many honors God has blessed her to receive are: The Bronx Club National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs Incorporation’s Award for Meritorious Service in Christian Leadership and Human Services, The Borough of Manhattan Community College, Office of Student Affairs, 209th Year Anniversary Award for her Spiritual Leadership and Faithfulness; Redeemed Outreach Ministries’ Self-Worth and Healing Award in recognition of her commitment to preaching wholeness to survivors of domestic violence. She was also honored by Manhattan Borough President, C. Virginia Fields, during Women’s History month (2005) for her many outstanding accomplishments and activities in service to her community and the people of the City of New York.
Rev. Dr. Henrietta Carter is the matriarch to her immediate family, which includes her son Henry, daughter-in-law Deborah; grandsons Christopher and Henry Jr., and 3 great-grandchildren, all of whom are important sources of inspiration in her life and ministry.