J.L. Carter has been the devoted and committed Senior Pastor to Ark Church for more than 27 years. Under his leadership Ark Church has experienced many successes in ministry. Ark Church continues to grow and is recognized as an anchor in the East Baltimore, Maryland community where crime, blight, urban flight and substance abuse are significant. Dr. Carter continues to serve the people with excitement that never runs low. He is a graduate of the Samuel Dewitt Proctor School of Theology, Virginia Union University, Richmond, Virginia. He holds a Masters of Divinity Degree and has received his Doctor of Divinity Degree, United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio. He successfully completed three year Certificate Program, Boston University, Honoring and Exploring the Sabbath. He is the recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree from Morris College, Sumter, South Carolina and proudly serves on the Board of Trustees at that institution. In 2011, Dr. Carter was inducted into the Martin Luther King Board of Preachers, Morehouse College, in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Carter loves to travel internationally and continues to take at least two international trips a year. He has extended his ministry to Haiti and has devoted time and resources to helping to rebuild that country and its people. A great joy for Dr. Carter is going where he has never been before and getting the opportunity to experience other cultures, other languages and other types of people. He is married to Cora and they are the parents of four adult children and the proud grandparents to Jabarite, Chad and Bradley.