Senior Pastor-Elect

Rev. Raymond D. Austin, Jr. is a native of Youngstown, Ohio and now serves as the Senior Pastor-Elect of New Faith Baptist Church of Christ in Columbus, Ohio. Most recently, he served faithfully as the Senior Pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Youngstown, where he led the congregation for over six years with a vision for community engagement, discipleship, and spiritual growth.

Alongside his pastoral work, Rev. Austin has served as the Program Director of Reentry at Alvis, Inc., a leading statewide nonprofit providing services for justice-involved individuals transitioning back into the community. He also served as a contract chaplain with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, where he ministered to incarcerated men through pastoral guidance, crisis intervention, and spiritual care.

Rev. Austin is the former Senior Pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Worcester, Massachusetts, and he previously launched and pastored Canaan Community Church, a student ministry hosted on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor. He is a shepherd committed to using his God-given gifts and spiritual conviction to lead people to Christ and equip them for service.

Raised in a household that emphasized the importance of faith and a relationship with God, Rev. Austin answered the call to ministry as a young man. He graduated from American Baptist College in Nashville, Tennessee with a Bachelor of Arts in Bible and Theology/Christian Education (2007) and earned a Master of Divinity from Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis (2012). He is currently pursuing a Doctor of Ministry degree with a focus on ecclesiology and pastoral formation.

Licensed to preach in 2001 and ordained in 2004, Rev. Austin has preached and ministered in churches across the country. Throughout his ministry he has demonstrated a heart for leadership, community building, and kingdom impact. He is recognized as a teacher, humanitarian, mentor, and servant-leader with a strong passion for equipping the church to meet both spiritual and social needs.

Though he has received many awards and accolades over the course of his life, Pastor Austin remains both humble and focused. He simply desires to do God’s will, allowing his everyday life to be just as much of a witness as the words that he preaches from the pulpit. In addition, he takes great pleasure in being a “family man.” He and his wife, Chinara, have a total of eight children – Ijahnae, Trinity, Raymond (III), Gloria, Ijiahana, Langston, Iyana, and EJ.