Rev. Melech E. M. Thomas

Biography

Over the past two decades, the work and ministry of Rev. Melech E. M. Thomas has traveled around the world, impacting lives, families, communities, and organizations with a passion for Jesus, justice, and joy. Rev. Melech is a graduate of Howard University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication and Culture and a Minor in Community and Economic Development. He also received his Master of Divinity from the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University, under the tutelage of Dean John W. Kinney. In 2021, Rev. Melech was one of the youngest persons inducted into the 35th Class of the prestigious Martin Luther King, Jr. International Board of Preachers by Morehouse College. He has also done additional academic study at Princeton Theological Seminary, Chicago Theological Seminary, and North Park University. 

On July 13, 2023, Bishop James L. Davis appointed Rev. Melech as the 24th pastor of the internationally recognized Payne Memorial AME Church in Baltimore, Maryland. Since Rev. Melech's first Sunday as pastor, over 125 people have made decisions to follow Christ and to join the church. From 2020-2023, Rev. Melech served as pastor of Bethel AME (Selma, NC), where he led a building campaign to completely modernize the sanctuary. Prior to this, Rev. Melech served as pastor of the Christian Love MB Church in Chicago, Illinois from 2017-2020. Rev. Melech also served as an Assistant to Father Michael Pfleger at the Faith Community of Saint Sabina in Chicago, Illinois for three years. He also served under the Rev. Dr. Frank M. Reid III at Bethel AME Church in Baltimore, Maryland, as an Assistant to the Pastor and Ministerial Intern for Community Transformation. 

In 2010, he was selected by the Hilltop as the most influential Howard University student on campus in its annual “Hilltop 24” listing of influential students. In 2011, the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference awarded Rev. Melech with the WyattLucy Fellowship, given to high achieving young adults with a heart for faith-based social justice. On October 10, 2015, he was selected by the Honorable Min. Louis Farrakhan and the Rev. Dr. Willie Wilson to give the opening Christian prayer at the 20th Anniversary of the Million Man March, making him the youngest speaker on that day's program. A Maryland native, Rev. Melech’s courageous leadership and service during the Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore were featured on the front page of the New York Times website as the “Young Leader in Baltimore.” As a writer, his essay entitled “American Idolatry and the Theopolitical Imaginations of the Black Church” was published by the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University. His June 2022 article for the AME Church's Christian Recorder on ministerial development, “Why I’m No Longer Interested in Being a ‘Preacher’”, has been viewed and shared over 100,000 times across multiple social media outlets. 

As a social media influencer, his humorous and insightful content seeks to bridge the so-called gap between the "sacred" and the "secular." Affectionately known as "Black Twitter's Pastor", his posts reach an average of over five (5) million users each month across social media platforms, impacting everyone from grandparents all the way to rappers like Glorilla, with nearly 80% of his audience between the ages of 18-34 and 25% of his audience being outside of North America. In addition to this, his prophetic voice and his insightful commentary have been sought after by local, national, and international media outlets such as The Breakfast Club, The Tamron Hall Show, The Roland Martin Morning Show on TVOne, CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, CNN International w/ Don Lemon, ABC News’ “This Week”, CBS’ “The Early Show”, PBS’ “The Rock Newman Show”, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, WGN Belgium’s public broadcasting network VTR and print publications like The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, The Boston Herald, Buzzfeed, Black College Wire, BET.- com, and The Final Call. A portion of his preaching and teaching has been used by the General Board of Discipleship of the United Methodist Church.