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Bethel Seventh-day Adventist Church
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 About Our Pastor 
Dr. Allen C. Martin hails from the beautiful island of St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, USA. Pastor Martin was reared in New York City and accepted the Advent message as a teenager. He attended Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama and received a Bachelors of Arts degree in Theology and Biblical Languages. His graduate work started at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan where he received a Masters of Divinity degree. He has completed post graduate studies at the renowned Post-Graduate Center of Mental Health in psychology and counseling in New York City. Dr. Martin is a graduate of the distinguished Hebrew Union College Institute of Jewish Religion with a doctorate in Pastoral Counseling. He has done further studies at Rutgers University, in New Jersey in the field of substance abuse counseling. Dr. Martin is the first Seventh-day Adventist clergy person to be certified by the New York State Council of Churches as a Prison Chaplain and is presently in the process of receiving certification as a mental health facilities chaplain. He has completed the required hours for certification to be a substance abuse counselor for the state of New York. Pastor Martin has pastored 14 churches in the Northeastern Conference and served as the Assistant to the President of Northeastern Conference in Western New York. He has conducted several successful evangelistic crusades, Revelation Seminars and Youth Counseling Forums. He has conducted seminars on Rite of Passage Programs and Ministering to At-Risk Youth for the Youth Department of the General Conference. Dr. Martin plans to complete another graduate academic program in the fields of mental health counseling and marriage and family therapy.
Dr. Martin has been actively engaged in community work throughout the course of his ministry. He served as a counselor and Red Cross chaplain at Ground Zero after the World Trade Center tragedy. He was instrumental in bringing therapeutic relief to grieving and suffering families due to this historic unfortunate occurrence. In addition to his pastoral duties, he served as an intervention specialist for the New York public school system. For three years he counseled at-risk youth including gang members and dysfunctional teenagers. As a result, a number of these troubled youth are now productive and successful adults.
Dr. Martin operated the first city-funded senior citizen program among Seventh-day Adventists at the Flatbush Seventh-day Adventist Church while serving as pastor. He actively supports the elected officials in his district and has plans to further his community involvement. He is particularly concerned about the high incarceration and unemployment rate among African-American young men in New York City. He is also concerned about economic empowerment for the people in the Brooklyn community.
Pastor Martin received the Good News Maker Award and was distinguished as a 21st Century Trailblazing Religious Leader by the Christian Times newspaper. Also, he is member of the advisory United Community Development Committee to US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand under the direction of former NYC councilmember the Hon. Dr. Una Clarke. Pastor Martin is currently serving as Senior Pastor of the Bethel Seventh-day Adventist Church in Brooklyn, NY and as the President of the Ministerial Association of the Northeastern Conference of Seventh-day Adventist.
He is married to the former Dana R. Higgins of Peoria, Illinois. Dana holds three undergraduate degrees and is a graduate of Cambridge College in Cambridge Massachusetts with a Masters in Business Management and has done post-graduate work at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois in Human Resource Management. She is the administrative coordinator for the Medicaid State Health Care Assessment Program in Lake Success, NY. Her hobbies and special interests are music, traveling and collecting perfumes from around the world.
Dr. & Mrs. Martin love the Lord and the motto of their ministry is, "We can do a things through Christ who strengthens us." Home | About Us | Calendar | Ministries | News | Online Giving | Bethel School | Photo Gallery | Daily Devotional | Bookstore | Pastor's Information | Contact Us |
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457 Grand Ave
• Brooklyn, NY,
11238-2712• 718-783-3630
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