REV. MELVIN D. BOONE
SENIOR PASTOR
Reverend Melvin D. Boone accepted his call to ministry in 2000 and served for over ten years as an associate minister at the St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church in Rockville Centre, NY., under the mentoring of the late Reverend Elliot J. Hobbs. At St. Paul he served as an Armor Bearer to the Pastor and used his gifts of preaching, teaching and exhortation, in numerous ways including the men’s ministry, boys mentoring ministry, bible study and a number of choirs. While continuing his training at the AME New York Ministerial Institute, he was ordained Deacon in 2007. He has matriculated at both the New Brunswick and United theological seminaries.
Pastor Boone is the father of three children and a native of Long Island. As a young child he began his relationship with the Lord using his gift of song to sing God’s praise in neighborhood churches. His compassion for disenfranchised people became evident at an early age as he provided leadership to student lead and community organizations. As a young adult, he served the people of Lakeview, L.I. NY for fifteen years, as a Fire Commissioner duly elected for three terms by the residents of the Lakeview Fire District; he has retired as a Detective from the Nassau County Police Department where he served for twenty years. Seventeen of his years with the Police Department were spent as an Undercover Detective. Reverend Boone has also worked as a New York State Certified Instructor at the Police Academy and a Hostage Negotiator. While with the police department he served both as the Vice-President and President of the Nassau County Guardians Association, a fraternal organization for African American Police Officers and their affiliates.
Pastor Boone began serving in the United Methodist Church at the invitation of the late Bishop Martin D. McLee who appointed him as the Senior Pastor of the Monticello and Hurleyville United Methodists Churches in Sullivan County New York in 2014. In 2017 he was appointed to the Kings Highway UMC in Brooklyn New York by Bishop Thomas J. Bickerton. Reverend Boone is a servant leader who says his faith comes from a deep personal and practical relationship with the Lord and that life has taught him to “Live into his Faith.”
“Holy Spirit has given me an understanding that I am blessed, anointed and highly favored of the Lord, and that each accomplishment is not my own, but is evidence of God’s Grace, God’s favor, and to God’s Glory I am the least likely to be chosen for service in God’s kingdom, yet God has called me into service and has equipped me to be a steward of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to teach and encourage believers, and to compel the lost to receive the grace of the Lord. I endeavor to do so with great compassion and humility, acknowledging the presence of God’s spirit in all of creation. To see each individual as having sacred worth in God’s kingdom and encouraging others to do the same is of great importance in my ministry. As the body of Christ, the church, we create sacred, safe, and fertile spaces for spiritual growth and reasonable service.
Holy Spirit has revealed to me that heaven is a multicultural experience. As I serve the Lord with gladness I envision a church where cultural difference are appreciated and celebrated yet do not take priority over the loving, heavenly culture which we shall all embrace on that day of the Lord. When we see Him we shall be like Him! In the meantime, we labor together as the Body of Christ to bring a bit of heaven into our sphere of influence hear on earth. To God be the Glory!