Old First Presbyterian Church

As Chief Evangelism Officer of Setting the Captives Free Ministries, The Reverend Doctor Carol Lynn Patterson is committed to preaching, teaching and demonstrating a liberating gospel. 

A teacher by nature, Doctor Carol is the creator of God’s Glory… Our Story, a biblically based and culturally relevant curriculum that parallels salvation history with Black history. She is frequently invited to preach and teach for churches, associations and conferences with emphases on evangelism, social justice and discipleship.

The author of Deceit, an empowering and liberating novel about resilience after setbacks, Doctor Carol is praying fervently for a best-selling book that becomes a Grammy winning audiobook, Pulitzer Prize winning play, an Oscar winning movie and an Emmy award-winning television series that reminds people they are never stuck in any circumstance.

In the midst of a successful career in multicultural marketing communications, Carol received a call to preach the gospel. In preparation for the Communications profession, she attended Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey and majored in Advertising and Public Relations. Upon acceptance of her “divine invitation to do PR for another client,” (as her late mother described it), Carol enrolled in the Master of Divinity program at Drew Theological School. When she completed her MDiv, Minister Carol became the first woman to be ordained at Calvary Baptist Church of Morristown, NJ. While serving as a member of the pastoral team, Reverend Carol earned a Master of Theology degree in New Testament Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary. To better prepare for the vocation of pastoral ministry, Reverend Carol entered the Doctor of Ministry program at Drew, where her contextual ministry project and doctoral thesis Gathered for Worship and Word: Scattered to Witness to the World helped Calvary Baptist Church deepen its discipleship and evangelism training, as well as strengthen its witness.

She has been recognized by EBONY Magazine as an Outstanding Woman in Marketing & Communications, the Morris County Branch of the NAACP with the Community Leaders Social Justice Award and Business News NJ as one of the Top 10 Women in the State.