Welcome To Pleasant Grove Church - Serving God Through Loving Connections

Reverend David Dolby - Sunday, April 18th, 5:00 pm

Pastor David A. Dolby is a native of Raleigh, NC. He is the current Pastor of Greater Christian Chapel of Apex, NC and is serving his 28th year. He is a Graduate of Shaw University and received his Master of Divinity Degree from Shaw Divinity School.

Reverend Dolby is a member of The Raleigh Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, and has numerous past affiliations in community service. Reverend Dolby has served as President, Vice President, Secretary and Scholarship Chairman for The Ministerial Alliance. Pastor Dolby has served a number of years on The North Carolina University’s Chancellors’ Advisory Council, and on African American Student and Community Affairs. While President of the Ministerial Alliance, Rev. Dolby led a successful effort in confronting Raleigh Savings and Loan in their “Red Lining Practices”.

After a Federal Hearing, Pastor Dolby was appointed by the bank to a newly created Advisory Board, which helped craft a number of new bank efforts to help the black community.

Pastor Dolby retired from Prudential Financial after 36 years as a Registered Representative. He often qualified as a Company Leader and got to travel all over the country to the Leaders’ Convention, as far away as Hawaii.

Reverend Dolby now heads Dolby Financial, where he specializes in 401K rollovers. In 2005 he qualified for the Coveted Million Dollar Round Table which honors the top 5 percent of Insurance Men in the World.

Reverend Dolby is married to the former Joanne Burrell of Raleigh, and they have three children and three grandchildren.

Reverend Dr. Wesley Elam, Sr. - Monday, April 19th, 6:45 pm

Preached his initial sermon in May of 1989.
Ordained as a minister of the gospel in December 1989.
Born and reared in Isle of Wight County, Virginia and attended public school there.
Graduate of Georgie Tyler High School in Windsor, VA and Virginia State University in Petersburg, VA.
Decorated Vietnam Veteran.
Received a Doctor of Humane Letters Degree from the Apex School of Theology for his many contributions to the ministry and to the community.

Married to the former Sylvia Holtzclaw since August 3, 1967.
Father of two children, Ayesha and Wesley.
Grandfather of twin girls, Madisyn and Makenzie.
Called to pastor North East Baptist Church in April 1991.

o Current Moderator of the New Hope Missionary Baptist Association (which consists of 38

churches in the surrounding counties of Wake, Durham, Orange and Chatham, NC).

o Formerly served in the New Hope Missionary Baptist Association as District II Vice-Moderator

and as President of the New Hope Union.

Current Member of the Board of Directors of Central Children’s Home and the Apex School of Theology.

Reverend Johnnie M. Bethea - Tuesday, April 20th, 6:45 pm

Rev. Johnnie M. Bethea is the pastor of Henderson Grove Missionary Baptist Church where he has served as pastor since 2001. He has been married to Merion Barnes Bethea for over 26 years. Rev. and Mrs. Bethea have two wonderful sons who are both attending college at UNC Greensboro.

Under the leadership of Pastor Bethea Henderson Grove has grown spiritually and physically. Growing numbers at Bible Study and Sunday School has prompted the addition of a modular classroom on church property. In October of 2009, an 8:00am service was added to accommodate a growing congregation.

Pastor Bethea is currently serving as president of the Ministers, Deacons and Deaconesses Union of the East Cedar Grove Missionary Baptist Association.

Throughout the years Rev. Bethea has held several different offices within this association. He was ordained in 1998 by the same Association.

Pastor Bethea has over 20 years experience in the engineering field. He has worked at John Deere, Parsons Telecom and Kennametal Inc. in their design and development departments.

Pastor Bethea is the CEO of Henderson Grove Community Outreach Ministries Inc (HGCOM). HGCOM was established to Lift, Assist, and Reach residents of Durham, NC and the surrounding communities by empowering men, women, boys and girls to improve their economic and social status in life. Our REACH program, which focuses on At-Risk youth, provides weekly tutorials with access to computers and the internet.

Because of continued growth Pastor Bethea is now leading a building campaign that will construct a new sanctuary and classrooms to our current grounds. To God be the glory for the great things that He has done.