PASTOR & FOUNDER

Rev. Dr. Carolyn Hodge

Dr. Carolyn V. Hodge, born and raised in the Nation’s Capital, is the elder daughter of the late Van Blake and the late Carrie Mae Blake both of Rock Hill, SC. Nurtured in the Baptist Tradition, she served as Sunday School Teacher, Assistant Sunday School Treasurer, Church Guest Greeter, and Announcements Reader. At the age of 16 she converted to Catholicism and remained in this discipline for 16 years. As a Catholic she led the praise portion of the services and served as one of the laity of the sacraments.

As The Holy Spirit led, she became a member of the Evangel Assemblies of God Church in Camp Springs, Maryland in 1983 where she was actively involved in the People Answering the Call to Evangelism (PACE) Ministry. This ministry included witnessing to people and ministering salvation to the lost. After the Baptism of The Holy Spirit, she was called into ministry in 1986. At Evangel, she served as an Alter Prayer Counselor where she listened to the concerns of those at the altar and guided them by the Spirit through prayer.

In 1990, she became a member of the Church of the Great Commission (CGC), where she preached her first sermon, was ordained as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus, the Christ, in January 1995, and served as a pulpit minister. Further, she served as Cell Group Leader (ministering to twelve disciples); Sunday School Teacher; and was appointed to the CGC Bible College where she functioned as an instructor, teaching new members’ Christian Foundation courses. In 1996 she was appointed to the Nurture Counseling Ministry where she served as Pastoral Counselor to the church body.

To ensure that she was “rightly dividing” the Word of God, Dr. Hodge later enrolled in study at Howard University School of Divinity (HUSD) where she earned a Master’s of Divinity degree in May 1999 (receiving the Dean’s Top Graduate Award). As a result of this enrollment she served as a Chaplain in-training at the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington, DC providing a full range of Pastoral Care and Counseling to the sick and shut-in. On May 8, 2000 she received an Honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the Evangelical Theological Seminary and Bible College for her life’s work in ministry.

In 2000 she was appointed to serve as a Pulpit Minister at Cornerstone Peaceful Bible Baptist Church where she preached the Gospel, taught classes, and served as church pastoral counselor. She was called and appointed as Assistant Pastor of Living Word Ministries of District Heights, MD in 2002.

Under the unction of The Holy Spirit in 2003, she founded and currently serves as Pastor of “I AM The Living Word Ministries, Incorporated”. This ministry is based on the following Scriptures: Exodus 3:14, Rev 1:4, Hebrews 13:8, and John 8:58 (the Great “I AM”); John 1:1-18; Revelation 1:1-19 and 5:5-14 (“The Living Word”). This ministry emphasizes training for the Five-Fold servant’s and service ministry; teaching and preaching the Gospel of Jesus, The Christ; clothing and feeding the poor, widowed, orphaned; and providing aid, care and counsel to people in the community and the world-at-large with the aim of developing better citizens of the world.

Focusing on the “Spirituality, Medicine, and Ministry” track, Rev. Dr. Hodge earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Wesley Theological Seminary of Washington, DC in May 2006.

Dr. Hodge is the former Director of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) of the Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). She retired from Federal Service in 2001 with 34 years of service to the public. She says that it was not until she was completing her education in Senior Colloquy at Howard University School of Divinity that she understood that working for over 25 years in the field of Equal Employment Opportunity (Civil Rights) and assisting the downtrodden and the disenfranchised was actually “ministry”. Dr. Hodge is most grateful for all of life’s experiences that God has allowed in her life. She has learned from them all and has gained through each the understanding that God is Ever-Present with His children and Ever-Sustaining us and loving us through each of life’s event; and through each experience, God is making us stronger and maturing us all the more in Him. She continuously stands ready to be used all the more as “God’s Handmaiden”.

Her Educational Background:

BS (Education), DC Teachers College
MS (Law: Equal Employment Opportunity), Antioch School of Law
DD (Honorary – Theological Ministries), Evangelical Theological Seminary
MDIV (Pastoral Ministry), Howard University School of Divinity
DMIN (Spirituality, Medicine, and Ministry), Wesley Theological Seminary