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The Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Samuel is pastor of Victory for the World Church (United Church of Christ) in Stone Mountain, GA.

Member of:

United Church of Christ

Representative of:

Victory for the World

The Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Samuel is pastor of Victory for the World Church (United Church of Christ) in Stone Mountain, GA.

He is a native of Darlington, South Carolina; one of four children born to Mr. & Mrs. Bessie and Albert Samuel, Sr. He has been the recipient of many scholastic and civic honors, including A Better Chance Scholarship, which allowed him to attend high school at the prestigious Delbarton School in Morristown, New Jersey.

He graduated in 1978 from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut with a Bachelor of Arts degree in American History. He continued his academic pursuit by matriculating at the Candler School of Theology of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where he received the Benjamin E. Mays Theological Fellowship Award among others. In 1981, he received his Master of Divinity Degree. In 1996, he received the Doctor of Ministry Degree from the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. His theological focus is in the field of homiletics and social ethics.

Dr. Samuel is an adjunct professor in the Religion and Philosophy Department at Clark Atlanta University, and has served as a Teaching Assistant in homiletics at the Candler School of Theology, Emory University. Dr. Samuel is the author of Solomon's Success: Four Essential Keys to Leadership.

Dr. Samuel was licensed as a Minister of the Gospel on his 23rd birthday, August 5, 1979, at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, under the pastorate of the Reverend Doctor Joseph L. Roberts, Jr., and Pastor Emeritus, Dr. Martin Luther King, Sr. He was ordained in 1982.

His many community involvements have included service in the following civic organizations:

-The DeKalb County NAACP, Governor
-Appointment to the Georgia Council On Adult Literacy, Governor
-Appointment to the Georgia
-Commission For Service and Volunteerism
-The Citizens Panel Review Board of DeKalb Juvenile Court
-Volunteer Chaplain of the DeKalb County Jail
-A Southern Regional Chaplain of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
-Leadership Dekalb, trustee

Dr. Samuel and Victory are leading contributors to the United Negro College Fund, and Dr. Samuel leads the campaign for UNCF Church Contributions in metro Atlanta. Dr. Samuel is also a member of the Alexis de Tocqueville Society of the United Way of Metro Atlanta. Dr. Samuel is politically active and has been elected as a Georgia delegate to the last four Democratic National Conventions.

In March of 1987, Dr. Samuel organized the Victory for the World Church which has dual standing as an independent Baptist Church, and an active congregation of the United Church of Christ. Situated in a growing eastern suburb of Atlanta called Stone Mountain, the Victory Church seeks to address the total needs of the total person through a broad array of ministries and services which promote the spiritual development, educational enhancement, physical fitness and social empowerment of every child of God regardless of race, gender, culture, class or sexual orientation. In 2002, Dr. Samuel and the Victory Church completed construction on a 3000 seat Worship Center, replete with classrooms, offices, a library, a bookstore, a recording studio and a 500 seat Fellowship Hall. In addition, the Kenneth L. Samuel (KLS) Community Life Center houses a full court gymnasium, additional classrooms, offices and a computer lab. The 25 acre Victory campus also houses the Victory Christian Academy which serves grades K3 through 4th grade, and the Victory Annex and trailers which are used for counseling and community outreach.

Dr. Samuel is married to the  former Ms. Sherry Nichols. They are the proud parents of one daughter, Kendalle Marye, and they reside in Lithonia, Georgia.

Latest Content by The Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Samuel

The Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Samuel - Day1 Podcast Extra - 2006

The Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Samuel (UCC)

In this Day1 Podcast Extra, the Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Samuel, pastor of Victory for the World Church (United Church of Christ) in Stone Mountain, Georgia, shares his personal insights and experiences of preaching at the 2006 Festival of Homiletics.

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Jesus and Rejection

Luke 9:51-56

Fourth Sunday of Easter

April 24, 2005

The Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Samuel (UCC)

My brothers and sisters, make no mistake about it. There is no pain like the pain of rejection. There is no pain like the pain of offering your heart in sincerity to someone only to have your heart returned back to you broken and abandoned by the indifference or the disinterest or the disloyalty of the person in whom you have invested your affections. There is no pain like the pain of working hard to prove yourself capable and qualified to do a job only to discover that your capabilities have been surpassed by someone else and your qualifications have not been accepted. Rejection not only hurts. Rejection often harms and hinders us from trusting again, believing again, and sometimes even trying again. Most of us have had to deal with rejection at some time and in some way, but not many of us have dealt with rejection wisely and successfully.

Read full transcript...

Other Recent Content by The Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Samuel

March 06, 2005

The God Who Leaves No One Behind

The Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Samuel (UCC)

The Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Samuel is pastor of Victory for the World Church (United Church of Christ) in Stone Mountain, GA.

January 30, 2005

Love Supreme

The Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Samuel (UCC)

Dr. Samuel is pastor of Victory United Church of Christ in Stone Mountain, Georgia.