President’s Corner
REVEREND DR. WENDELL ANTHONY
Reverend Wendell Anthony is a native of St. Louis, Missouri. He was educated in the Detroit Public School system. He graduated from Wayne State University with a B.A. in Political Science, and Marygrove College with an M.A. in Pastoral Ministry. He also attended the University of Detroit for Advanced Study in Black Theology. Reverend Anthony is a Certified Social Worker with the State of Michigan. He became the Pastor of Fellowship Chapel in December of 1986 following the passing of Reverend James E. Wadsworth, Jr. and was installed as Senior Pastor in February of 1987.
In 2007 he received a degree of Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Marygrove College. Reverend Anthony is currently serving his 11th term as President of the Detroit Branch NAACP, the largest unit in the nation. Currently he serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for the General Retirement System for the City of Detroit, a three billion dollar pension fund. Reverend Anthony is also on the Board of Directors for First Independence Bank. He is the Founder of the Fannie Lou Hamer Political Action Committee, a grassroots community activist organization supporting issues and candidates both locally and nationally. He is also Chairman and Founder of the Freedom Institute for Economic Social Justice and People Empowerment. This non-profit organization sponsors Freedom Weekend every year and supports a network of community organizations, professionals, political, labor and faith based leaders around the country.
In 1993, Reverend Anthony organized and led a march of over 250,000 persons in the City of Detroit to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the March of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to Detroit in June of 1963. This march occurred before the historical march in August of that same year. This was the largest march organized for this purpose since 1963. In June of 2003, Reverend Anthony, along with thousands of supporters commemorated the 40th Anniversary of this march with a re-enactment march down Woodward Avenue in Detroit. In 1994, Reverend Anthony was a part of a special delegation of the National NAACP leadership to visit South Africa in support of the national elections held in April of 1994. In 1994, Reverend Anthony organized a Rwanda Relief Effort in which the Detroit Branch NAACP raised nearly one million dollars for, food, medicine, clothing and transportation vehicles to aid in the relief for the hundreds of thousands of refugees in both Rwanda and Zaire.
In April of 2000, Reverend Anthony organized Project D.R.E.A.M.Z.S. (Detroit Relief Effort to Aide Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa) to aid the victims of the flood in those nations. Again, Reverend Anthony and a special delegation personally distributed food, medicine, and clothing for purposes of aiding displaced victims of the flood. In 1995, Reverend Anthony served as a Co-Chairman for the Million Man March Committee. Detroit had the largest delegation with more than 75,000 men in attendance in Washington, D.C. Reverend Anthony is the former Co-Chair of the Detroit Fair Banking Alliance, responsible for negotiating over $7.2 billion in economic development with local banking institutions.
On June 5, 2005, Reverend Anthony led several thousand persons in a procession to the new Fellowship Chapel, otherwise known as The Village, for its grand opening and inaugural worship service. The Village will contain the new church and soon to be developed 140 units of single-family homes and condominiums as well as the James E. Wadsworth, Jr. Community Center.
Reverend Anthony is married to First Lady Monica G. Anthony. They have four daughters: Tolani, Maia, Meagan, and the newest addition – Wendelaya.