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OUR PASTOR Dr. Anthony Wallace Dr. Anthony Wallace was born in Akron, OH. He is the eldest son of eleven children of the late Mother Jeanne Ramsey-Harris and the late W. W. Wallace. It was prophesied before he was five years old that Dr. Wallace would be a gospel preacher by many that came in contact with him. Growing up, he exemplified a special talent in sports and music. He performed in many local groups with talented singers such as Howard Hewitt and James Ingram. His home church is Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Akron, OH where Dr. L. C. Cooper is the pastor. Baptized under the pasturage of the late A. L. Dykes, Dr. Wallace's current pastor is Dr. Ephraim Williams of the St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church of Sacramento, CA. Dr. Wallace is a family man where he and his lovely wife, Chanda, are the proud parents of three children - Marlon, Dennitra and Ashia. His education achievements include a B. S. in Accounting, a Master of Christian Education, and a Doctorate of Theology. He also has a State of California teaching credential as well as an honorary Doctorate of Divinity. He is currently a licensed funeral director at Thompson Rose Chapel, Inc. in Sacramento and a professor of Theology. Dr. Wallace is an accountant by trade and has spent some twenty-two years working as an auditor, a corporate director of internal auditing, and a vice president and CFO for some of California's major health associations. He is also a former member of the National Association of Black Accounts (NABA) and the National Association of Health Care Internal Auditors (AHCIA). Dr. Wallace is articulate and from time to time, he writes articles for the Sacramento Observer. He has served on boards of California's most prestigious companies as well as a board member for the Greater Sacramento Urban League, the Sacramento Chapter of the NAACP, and the Sacramento Association of Southern Baptist Churches (SASBC). He was featured in Jet magazine as the first African American to serve as president of the National Association of Health Care Internal Auditors. Dr. Wallace has always heeded the voice of the Lord. In 1993, after being a member of New Testament Baptist Church in Sacramento, CA for eleven years, the voice he heard called him to preach, then called him to be an associate pastor at New Testament Baptist Church under the pasturage of Dr. C. M. Cummings. He was devoted to the ministry and humbly accepted the position as Minister of Finance. In 1997, Dr. Wallace along with his wife, Chanda, daughter Ashia, and five other loving Christians founded and planted the Greater St. Stephen Baptist Church. The first service was held on March 3, 1997 at the Sacramento Red Lion Inn. Seven people were at the first service. After three months, the members purchased a building at 6380 63rd Street. Since selling that building, a new edifice of approximately 13,000 sq. ft. was built and completed in June 2006. The ministry has sinced moved from that location and is temporarily having service at the Capital City Seventh Day Adventist Church until such time we purchase some land for our new church building. Dr. Wallace also teaches various ministries all over the country on sermon preparation, hermeneutics, context syntax, word study and existing preaching concepts. Recently, he has developed a non-proft corporation called TLCC Ministries, Inc. whose main purpose is to teach life changing concepts and to help organizations to strengthen their financial position as well as their infrastructure. After many years at Greater St. Stephen Baptist Church, Dr. Wallace began to seek Christ for a church that would meet the needs of all people throughout the community. Seeing people come and go for all types of reasons, he found himself second guessing why he was called and what he was doing. He then began to re-evaluate his commitment and hs walk with Christ. After reading and understanding that Romans 8:28 was not just words but a theological fact, a great deal of prayer led him to seek Christ for direction. God began to speak to Dr. Wallace saying only two words-New Direction and he saw that 'New Direction' was a friendly more inviting name that would appear to the masses. 'New Direction' does not say denomination, but come join us for new direction. Life is better together at New Direction. Dr. Wallace teaches the uncompromised Word of God as further evidenced by his Glory Award honor at Sacramento's Black Expo in February 2006 and his recognition as one of the top pastors in the greater Sacramento area by the Capitol City Seventh Day Adventist Church in March 2007. You can also feel the Holy Spirit moving whenever you are in his presence of delivering the Word. 'The come as you are-everybody is somebody' attitude has made Dr. Wallace a true man sent by God Almighty. Because of his sensitivity, he is committed to the people of the community and the Sacramento area, which is also proven by his participation at the local area senior health care forums. Dr. Wallace is definitely a sincere man of God. |
Dr. Wallace also spent most of his young life as a junior usher and a member of Kathryn Kuhlman's widely known evangelistic organization.
