Our Pastor – Rev. Dr. Jerry Bryant, Jr.

Rev. Dr. Jerry L. Bryant, Jr. accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior at the age of 12 at New Zion Baptist Church in Magnolia, Mississippi.  Under the tutelage of Pastor Victor G. Williams of First Baptist Church of Maplewood, Missouri, Rev. Bryant accepted his call into the ministry and was licensed to preach in 1986.  He was ordained in 1992 by Pastor Richard Rollins at the First Missionary Baptist Church of Ballwin, Missouri after being catechized by several area pastors.  Rev. Bryant was called to be the 7th pastor of the Chantilly Baptist Church, Chantilly, VA founded in 1880, and was installed on May 7, 2000.  Under his pastorate, a new $2.1 million building was built in 2003 and the mortgage was burned in 2011.

Rev. Dr. Bryant has served as an Associate Minister at First Baptist Church of Maplewood and as Associate Pastor/Teacher of First Missionary Baptist Church of Ballwin.  Pastor Leroy O. Payton named him First Assistant to the Pastor at Chantilly Baptist Church in 1997, where he joined in September 1996 upon relocating to Northern Virginia.  Rev. Bryant’s ministerial experiences include being a Sunday school teacher for over 30 yrs. (teens and adults), served on the Board of Christian Education for 18 yrs. (as a member and chairman), Children’s Church Pastor/Teacher for 4 yrs., a Bible Study teacher/coordinator for over 30 yrs. and also has been a member of several choirs.  He has completed and taught the National Evangelism Movement training series of the Bethany Christian Bible College of West Los Angeles, CA. since 1986, and is currently the lead teacher of the Pastor’s Plenary class at the annual National Evangelism Workshop since 2009.  He also moderates the graduation exercises for the annual National Evangelism Workshop.  In December 2008, he graduated from the Pastoral Excellence Program, Lott Carey Foreign Missions, after engaging in three annual foreign mission immersions and remains engaged in foreign missions.

Rev. Bryant was born in Magnolia, Mississippi.  He holds a B.S. Degree in Natural Science from Mississippi Valley State University (cum laude, 1971) and a Ph.D. in Microbiology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (1978), the first earned by an African American male in the biology department.  He worked in industry and in academe as a research scientist and served on the graduate faculty of the University of Missouri-St. Louis and remains active in biomedical science education. He worked for the United Negro College Fund, Inc. as the National Director of Science Education Initiatives, where he directed the highly prestigious UNCF/Merck Science Initiative, which supports the development and training of African Americans in the biomedical research and engineering fields.  He served on the MIT Biology Department Visiting Committee of the MIT Corporation from 2004-17 and on the Advisory Committee of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Postdoctoral Enrichment Program (PDEP) since 2013, which supports the development of minority biomedical researchers.

His is married to his college sweetheart, Earnestine Howard Bryant.  They have 3 children, two daughters, Keisha, and Marlynn (deceased), a son, Keir Jason, 2 granddaughters and 2 grandson.
He continues to be prayerful as he does what the Lord has called him to do which is to preach the gospel to a lost and dying world.  His favorite scripture is:  Matthew 28:19-20.  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

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