St. Luke Baptist Church Pastoral Staff
The ministers of SLBC serve with our Senior Pastor in their designated/assigned areas of ministry and also provide leadership to our congregation through assigned preaching, teaching and other pastoral functions as directed by our pastor.
Sonya McMillan presently serves as the Minister of Discipleship of St. Luke Baptist Church.
She is the youngest of fifteen children born to the late Leroy and Janie McMillan. A native of North Carolina, she relocated with her family to Paterson, New Jersey at a young age. She is a product of the Paterson Public Schools.
Sonya is a 1988 graduate of Rutgers-Douglas College from which she earned her Bachelor’s degree.
She has been employed in the private and public sectors; as an educator in the Paterson Public School System, an associate for Lakeridge Marketing and the Paterson Housing Police Department. She is currently employed with the Paterson Municipal Police Department.
Sonya accepted Christ as her personal Savior in 1990 and united with the Seminary Baptist Church of Paterson, NJ under the leadership of the Rev. Alfred E. Steele.
In 2002 she acknowledged her call to the preaching ministry and was subsequently licensed to preach. She is a graduate of New York Theological Seminary where she earned the Certificate in Christian Ministry (2005) and the Master of Divinity degree (2009).
She has served the St. Luke Church first as a ministerial intern in 2008 and returned in 2009. She has served in her present capacity overseeing the teaching ministry of St. Luke Church.
She also serves as a liaison to the Shiloh Baptist Association of NJ’s Congress of Christian Education.
Min. Sonya is the proud mother of Morgan McMillan.
She is the youngest of fifteen children born to the late Leroy and Janie McMillan. A native of North Carolina, she relocated with her family to Paterson, New Jersey at a young age. She is a product of the Paterson Public Schools.
Sonya is a 1988 graduate of Rutgers-Douglas College from which she earned her Bachelor’s degree.
She has been employed in the private and public sectors; as an educator in the Paterson Public School System, an associate for Lakeridge Marketing and the Paterson Housing Police Department. She is currently employed with the Paterson Municipal Police Department.
Sonya accepted Christ as her personal Savior in 1990 and united with the Seminary Baptist Church of Paterson, NJ under the leadership of the Rev. Alfred E. Steele.
In 2002 she acknowledged her call to the preaching ministry and was subsequently licensed to preach. She is a graduate of New York Theological Seminary where she earned the Certificate in Christian Ministry (2005) and the Master of Divinity degree (2009).
She has served the St. Luke Church first as a ministerial intern in 2008 and returned in 2009. She has served in her present capacity overseeing the teaching ministry of St. Luke Church.
She also serves as a liaison to the Shiloh Baptist Association of NJ’s Congress of Christian Education.
Min. Sonya is the proud mother of Morgan McMillan.
Wallace H. Gaffney, III is the son of the late Rev. Wallace H. Gaffney, Jr. and Mrs. Edwenia Ferguson Gaffney. He is a cum laude graduate of Virginia Union University in May of 2009. During his time at Virginia Union he participated in Student Government, Leadership Development, Spanish Club, and Religious Studies Club. He is a proud member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Incorporated. Min. Gaffney has been preaching, and delivering speeches since the age of 13. He received his license to the gospel ministry in 2004 by the Rev. James L. Hailstock. He is one of the founding ministers of New Day Baptist Church where he served as the Youth Minister. Throughout his young life he has had a passion for youth, serving as a preschool teacher, a counselor for drug and alcohol addicted teens, and as a day support counselor for children with disabilities. His passion continues as he is currently serving as Associate Minister of Children, Youth, and Young Adults at St. Luke Baptist Church in Paterson, NJ under the leadership of the Rev. Kenneth D.R. Clayton. Min. Wallace received his Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in May of 2012. He is currently pursuing a Master of Social Work degree at Rutgers University. Min. Wallace plans to pursue a P.H.D, and plans to enter into pastoral ministry. The words he lives by are found in Matthew 20:17 which says “ Because of your unbelief, for truly I say unto you, if you have the faith as a grain of a mustard seed you can say unto this mountain remove from here to another place and it shall remove, and nothing will be impossible to you.”
