The Reverend Marion Phillips, III was licensed to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and ordained to the Gospel Ministry by the Bethany Baptist Church of Brooklyn, NY, while serving faithfully under the tutelage of the late Reverend Doctor William Augustus Jones, Jr. He was called to the pastorate of the Mt. Sinai Baptist Church December 30, 2006. Where he pastored until January 2024 after serving faithfully for 16 years.

During his tenure as Pastor, Mount Sinai created the Share Jesus NOW!, outreach efforts including Tent Revivals, Summer Festival and Street Evangelism. Additional outreach efforts include establishing the food pantry, clothing and book drives. Mount Sinai established Men’s and Youth worship services, and the Worship Team. Additionally Mount Sinai launched the
WWW.MSBC-Newark.org website, Facebook page and email and text communication systems.

 

At Bethany, Reverend Phillips served as the Minister for Christian Education overseeing the Sunday School, Young Adult, Youth and Children Ministries.  Other responsibilities included teaching Bible classes and seminars and serving as Chairman of the Board of Christian Education and director of the Daily Vacation Bible School.  Under his leadership, the Bethany Youth
Ministry held a weekend youth retreat that was attended by more than 300 youth in 2001 and assisted in establishing the Dance and Praise Teams. 

 
Prior to Bethany Baptist Church, Reverend Phillips served as the Teen Coordinator at the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Washington, DC, where Dr. H. Beecher Hicks served as pastor.  In1992, he established the annual Teen Convocation, which was attended by more than 5,000 youth. Other projects spearheaded while at Metropolitan were "Feed the Homeless Project" and the "African Extravaganza."

 

Professionally, Reverend Phillips was the founder of Parents for School Choice that assisted in the drafting and passage of the New York State Charter School legislation in 1999.  The organization collected over 88,000 petition signatures in support of charter schools.  He was instrumental in establishing the first charter school in New York State, the Walter Sisulu Charter
School in Harlem. 

Served as the Senior Vice President of Community Relations for the Empire State Development Corporation managing over $14 billion in development projects, including as the Chair of Queens West Development Corporation, President of the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation, Chief Administrative Officer of the New York Empowerment Zone Corporation and overseeing the Columbia University expansion, Harlem Community Development Corporation as well as community and government affairs.

Reverend Phillips currently serves as the Senior Vice President for Community Development and DEI for U.S. News and World Report, building the State of Equity In America programing, year round thought leader content and DEI internal and external programing.

Reverend Phillips received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mass Communications from Lamar University in Beaumont, TX, a Master of Divinity from New York Theological Seminar.  A devout community activist, he serves on several boards that specialize in and oversee education and youth projects and organizations.