Reverend Dr. Ronald L. Owens
Rev. Dr. Ronald L. Owens is presently serving as the Senior Pastor of the New Hope Baptist Church of Metuchen, NJ. He has the distinct honor of pastoring the church of his youth. God called Rev. Owens to his home church in 1990, after serving his first pastorate for over twelve years. During the 20 years of service, the membership has grown tremendously with more than thirty active ministries serving the community. The church has a full time staff of five and six associate ministers serving the congregation.
Pastor Owens has earned degrees from Virginia Union University, Richmond, VA; Northeastern Bible College, Essex Fells, NJ; Andersonville Baptist Seminary, Camille, GA; and his Doctorate in Ministry at the Master's Divinity School, Evansville, IN. July 22, 2006.
Dr. Owens is a former member of the Board of Supervisors for Field Ministry at Princeton Theological Seminary, and the Ad-Hoc Committee for Minority Recruitment for Robert Wood Medical School at Rutgers University. He was the past president of the Metuchen/Edison Clergy Association and former Vice-Chairman for the Democratic Party of Middlesex County NJ. Dr. Owens is the past General Secretary for the General Baptist State Convention of NJ, which represents four hundred (400) member churches. He served as Chairman of the Board for the Chad Schools of Newark, NJ were he oversaw a budget of more than six million ($6,000,000) dollars annually. He is President and CEO of the House Of Hope Community Development Corporation of NJ, serves on the board of directors for the Visiting Nurses Association for Central New Jersey, and is the first Chaplain in the history of the Metuchen Police and Fire Departments where he serves in crisis counseling in times of disaster and loss of life. He is presently the Moderator of the Middlesex Central Baptist Association, Inc. representing over forty churches.
Dr. Owens holds a life membership in Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and is a member of The Prince Hall Masons of New Jersey, where he serves in the Grand Lodge as Assistant Grand Chaplain.
Pastor Owens has received numerous awards including the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Martin Luther King award for outstanding academic achievement and community service; the NAACP Merv Alexander Political Award for his political leadership in Middlesex County; the American Association of Affirmative Action Community Service award; the YMCA of New Jersey Minority (Black) Achievers Award. He was selected as an honored member of the Heritage Registry of Who's Who in America 2004; and has a multitude of commendations and proclamations from the President of the United States, Senators, Congressman, Governors, and Mayors.
Dr. Owens is married permanently to the former Cheryl Jones, they are the parents of two adult daughters, Tracy Conner and Kimberly Bartlett (Adam and Blair, respectively), and blessed to have four terrific grandsons.
