Our Pastor

Reverend Harold is a native of Jacksonville, Florida, and a graduate of New Stanton Senior High School.

After graduating from Kentucky State University with a Bachelor of Art degree in sociology, he taught special education one year at Kentucky State Development Training School. He then relocated to Gary, Indiana, and began his vocation as a social worker at the Lake County Department of Welfare. Later, he completed the Senior Executive Program (SEP) for Child Welfare Managers, University of North Carolina, School of social work.

Pastor Barnwell is a graduate of Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary, Evanston, Illinois, with a Master of Divinity degree.

Pastor Barnwell's ministry began at Bethel A.M.E. Church, Logansport, Indiana, in 1981. In 1984, the late Bishop Samuel S. Morris assigned him to St. John AME Church, East Chicago, Indiana. God guided him and the members through financial crises, and the burning of the mortgage. The church grew both spiritually and numerically. On October 31, 2004, he was assigned to Bethel AME Church, Evanston, IL.

He is married to Vivian Beamon, who is an educator. Their family includes two children, one grandson, and a daughter-in-law.