The Reverend Lester Agyei McCorn
Senior Pastor, Pennsylvania Avenue AME Zion Church, Baltimore, Maryland
National Director of Young Adult Ministries of the AME Zion Church
Rev. Dr. Lester Agyei McCorn is the Pastor of the historic Pennsylvania Avenue AME Zion Church, Baltimore, MD. A native of Worcester, MA, he attended the Worcester Public Schools. He received his undergraduate education in Religion and Sociology from Morehouse College (B.A.) in Atlanta and his graduate education from Yale University Divinity School (M.Div.) and Chicago Theological Seminary (M.A.). He also pursued studies for the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. He is being awarded the Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio as a Gardner C. Taylor Fellow. His doctoral thesis was entitled, “Standing on Holy Common Ground: An Afrocentric Praxis Model for Church-Based Community Development and Empowerment in Inner-City West Baltimore.” His mentors were Dr. H. Beecher Hicks, Jr. and Dr. Ivan Douglas Hicks. Dr. McCorn has been chosen to be the new mentor/professor of the Gardner Taylor Scholars, beginning in 2011.
Lester Agyei (pronounced Ahd-JAY-ee, which means “Messenger of God” in Akan language, Ghana, West Africa) McCorn began his pastoral career at the age of 20. He has served the following A.M.E. Zion congregations: Lawrence Temple(Menlo, GA), Hemphill Church (Summerville, GA), Bush Chapel (Winder, GA), St. Luke Church (Boston, MA), Varick Memorial Church (New Haven, CT), Martin Temple (Chicago, IL), Faith Church (Atlanta, GA) and Pennsylvania Avenue (Baltimore). He also served as the Presiding Elder of the Conyers-Winder District, Georgia Conference. Pastor McCorn has implemented the “Simple Church Model” and a three-year strategic plan for the development and revitalization of Zion Church. He also serves as the President/CEO of the Zion Development Corp. and the Zion M.A.D.E. Institute, an accredited academic program.
Dr. McCorn has received many awards and honors. He was an inaugural fellow and only minister, of the Rockefeller Foundation’s Next Generation Leadership Program, a group which included Van Jones, founder/CEO of Green for All and Rebuild the Dream, Civil Rights Law Professor Sherrilyn Ifilll of the University of Maryland, and Paul Schmitz, President/CEO of Public Allies. He was also a fellow of Leadership Greater Chicago. He is an inductee of the distinguished Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers of Morehouse College. He has also served as the National Director of Young Adult Ministries of the A.ME Zion Church. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity (Alpha Rho Chapter).
Dr. Lester A. McCorn is married to Charlene M. McCorn. They are the proud parents of three children, William Elijah Benjamin, Maliaka (Mal-LIE-ah-ka) Kenyetta and John-Charles Wesley. The McCorns reside in Ellicott City, Maryland.
