A Visionary, Pastor, Preacher, and sought-after speaker, the Reverend Dr. Robert Charles Scott is a native of Monticello, MS and a resident of Charlotte, NC. He is married to Pier Charisse Scott and they are the parents of Charis Jordyn Scott. He is the Senior Pastor of St. Paul Baptist Church in Charlotte, NC a historically significant congregation with nearly 5000 disciples serving in the Charlotte/Mecklenburg County region since 1900. He is the fifth pastor in St. Paul’s history. He preached his initial sermon at the age of 11; licensed at the age of 12; and ordained at the age of 18 at the Oak Grove Missionary Baptist Church (Monticello,
MS).
He is the son of Mrs. Dorothy Newsome (formerly Scott) and Mr. Robert Funches. Dr. Scott is a 1986 honor graduate of Monticello High School. He attended Jackson State University in Jackson, MS where he served his peers as president of the Student Government Association. In May 1991, he graduated with honors from JSU with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science/Pre-law. He pursued his seminary education at Duke University Divinity School, Durham, NC and graduated in 1994 with a Master of Divinity. He earned his doctoral degree (at the age of 29) from United Theological Seminary (Dayton, OH) in December 1997 under the mentorship of the Reverend Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker. He did his doctoral dissertation on The Dialectical Method of Preaching as Pastoral Care in the African American Church and graduated with high distinction and was the youngest person in his group.
Although he accepted the calling to preach at an early age, Dr. Scott contends that his acceptance preserved him until he got older and gained a better understanding of himself and the ministry. During this transition, he was greatly influenced by the late Reverend Dr. Samuel DeWitt Proctor, his professor and advisor at Duke; the late Reverend Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker, his doctoral mentor at United; and the Reverend Dr. Charles E. Booth, his spiritual father.
The Reverend Dr. Robert C. Scott is an officer of the prestigious Hampton University Ministers Conference serving as Assistant Secretary. He is on the Board of Trustees for United Theological Seminary (Trotwood, OH), where he was honored as one of the recipients of the 2016 Distinguished Alumnus Award. He is also a Board member of American Baptist Home Mission Society (March 2009-present) where he sits on the Finance Committee. He is a general board member of General Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. He is a teacher in the Minister’s Division for the National Baptist Congress of Christian Education, USA, Inc. He is the chairman for the Scholarship Commission for National Baptist Congress of Christian Education, USA, Inc. He was the Centennial District Representative for the Eighth District of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. (April 2010-April 2013). At the Centennial Celebration of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, he was a recipient of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Century of Excellence Award in Religion. He received the International Omega Man of the Year Award (International Conclave, Raleigh, NC July 2010).
Dr. Scott was inducted into the Morehouse College Board of Preachers (April 2006) and was selected in the inaugural edition of the top twenty young preachers under 40 to watch by The African American Pulpit—Summer 2001 (an international preaching journal with an emphasis on Black preaching).
He has mentored doctoral students at United Theological Seminary (Dayton, OH) with Dr. Charles E. Booth and Dr. Jesse T. Williams. He has preached at the National Baptist Convention, USA Inc. on several occasions (most recently for Foreign Mission Night at the Memphis meeting). He was a keynote speaker for the National Urban League meeting (Summer 2007). He was the featured young preacher for the J. H. Jackson/Caesar Clark preaching forum for the National Baptist Convention, USA Inc. (September 2003, Kansas City, MO). He was one of the key organizers of A Call to Oneness, which organized over 20,000 African American men to march against violence and crime in St. Louis, MO (June 1, 2008). He was a Board of Trustee Member for Eden Theological Seminary, Webster Groves, MO (2000-2011) He is a Board member for Doorways (2000-2016, which provides housing for persons with HIV/AIDS in St. Louis, MO). He served as the part-time director of the Baptist House of Studies at Eden Theological Seminary, Webster Groves, MO (August 2012-September 2016).
Dr. Scott was an associate minister at Orange Grove Baptist Church under Reverend Carl Kenney. He has served as pastor of Zion Temple United Church of Christ (Durham, NC) and Union Baptist Church (Lexington, NC). He served as the senior pastor of Central Baptist Church (St. Louis, MO) from November 1999 to September 2016. It is his desire to be a vessel of God and declare to a broken humanity that God the potter wants to put us back together again.