Reverend Dr. Charles E. Booth
Preaching the Gospel was a life calling for the Reverend Dr. Charles E. Booth. He was the Senior Pastor of the Mt. Olivet Baptist Church in Columbus, Ohio. Dr. Booth traveled the world preaching and teaching the Gospel. Education was a very high priority for this pastor, particularly Christian education. He has preached on college, university, and seminary campuses throughout this country. Dr. Booth is married to Crystal Washington Booth and they have a daughter, Kennedy.
Dr. Booth earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at Howard University and his Master of Divinity degree from Eastern Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He earned the Doctor of Ministry degree from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio where he serves as a member of the Board of Trustees. In 2016 he received the Distinguished Ministry Award from United Theological Seminary.
Dr. Charles E. Booth is an author, publishing his book, Bridging the Breach: Evangelical Thought and Liberation in the African-American Preaching Tradition (Urban Ministries) in 2000. The Prophetic Voice: Words for Today was released in 2011. His most recent publication, released in 2014 - Stronger in my Broken Places; Claiming a Life of Fullness in God.
Dr. Booth is a former member of the advisory board of The African American Pulpit and has contributed writings in multiple publications, such as From One Brother to Another: Voices of African American Men; The Irresistible Urge to Preach: A Collectible of African American “Call” Stories; Outstanding Black Sermons, volumes III and IV; and Wisdom of the Ages: The Mystique of the African American Preacher. Dr. Booth’s biography and a sermon appear in Preaching with Sacred Fire: An Anthology of African-American Sermons, 1750-Present.
Dr. Booth lead his congregation by focusing on providing spiritual nurturing and information. “The pulpit is no place for personal opinion,” he said to attendees of the African American Leadership Workshop in 2007. “The pulpit is the place for propagation of the Gospel.” The Baltimore native has devoted the past 41 years to Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, where he has overseen substantial church growth. In 1993, Dr. Booth founded the Mount Olivet Christian Academy, later renamed the Gloria S. Friend Christian Academy in honor of its first administrator. The Academy, which has grades kindergarten through sixth, stresses excellence in academics, Christian education, and African and African American history. It is fully accredited by the Ohio Department of Education. During Dr. Booth’s tenure, Mt. Olivet raised $2.1 million to build the 100-seat Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Chapel, an administrative wing and 12 classrooms, and to expand the fellowship center, along with other facility improvements. Mt. Olivet is now in the planning stages of building an $8 million Family Life Center.
Dr. Booth has been a guest preacher to enlisted service men and women and their families in Germany; the North American preacher at the Baptist World Youth Conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina; and a guest revivalist and preacher at churches and conferences throughout the United States, Europe, South America, Central America and Africa. He has been the guest preacher and lecturer at the historic Hampton Ministers’ Conference in 1984, 1995 and 1999.
Dr. Booth has been listed in Who’s Who Among African Americans and in Ebony magazine’s Honor Roll of Preachers. He received the 1999 James E. Stamps Alumni Recognition Award for outstanding contributions to young people attending historically black colleges and universities; the 1999 Alpha Phi Alpha and the Alpha Lambda Rho Chapter’s Vertner Woodson Tandy Award for dedicated community service. The Columbus Ohio Education Association awarded the 2014 Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Award to Dr. Booth for his documented commitment to local and global communities around the issues of unemployment, homelessness, education, and health.