Elder Cleveland Bates
Elder Cleveland Bates
C leveland Bates is a native of Chesapeake, Virginia and a product of the Chesapeake, Virginia Public School System. After graduating from Great Bridge High School, he continued his education at Norfolk State University in pursuit of a degree in Business Administration. He continued his education sometime later, graduating from Nyack College in Washington, DC with a degree in Organizational Leadership. He is a graduate of Calvary Bible Institute, which is a three-year program under Greater Mt Calvary Church, Washington, DC. He is currently pursuing a degree in Psychology and Counseling at Regent University, Virginia Beach, Virginia.
He served 20 + years at the Greater Mt. Calvary Holy Church, Washington, DC. During his time at Calvary, he was very active in ministry. He served on Calvary’ s Audio Ministry, song with the Male Chorus and the Voices of Calvary Choir. He, served as a Deacon Board Cell Captain and was the cofounder of Bended Knee Men’ s Prayer Group, and was the Director of Men’ s Ministry for 10 + years. In addition, he was a member of Calvary’ s Evangelistic Board before accepting the pastorate. He has recently accepted the appointment of International Director of Men’ s Ministry for the Mount Calvary Holy Churches of America organization.
Pastor Bates has served as shepherd and leader of the Rose of Sharon Revival Center, Norfolk, VA for the past eight years. Under his leadership, he has made a tremendous impact on the Park Place Community, Norfolk, VA. For the last six years, he has collaborated with the City of Norfolk to provide an avenue for the youth of the community. His collaboration provided opportunities for the youth to display their talents. He has brought empowerment to the community in various facets such as: voter registration, health screening and book drives and literacy programs. In addition, He unselfishly provides funding for community base youth activities and is an advocate and counselor to many. His leadership skills are that of a transformational leader and he continues to develop new leaders. He enjoys traveling and has had the opportunity to travel and preach in countries as: Israel, Lagos Nigeria, Nairobi Kenya, Barbados, Trinidad, Jamaica, St. Maarten, and the Bahamas.
In 2014, one of the many highlights of this ministry was when“ Blessed Lifestyle Magazine” chose him as one of the top 25 inspirational leaders in the Hampton Roads, Virginia area. Also, honor was bestowed upon Rose of Sharon to be nominated as“ Church of the Year.”
He is committed to serving people, whether in the pulpit or as an advocate of those who are disenchanted within the community. His commitment to excellence motivates him to always use every gift and resource God provides to him. His love for the people of God causes him to reach out and love those who are deemed by others to be unlovable. Pastor Bates never meets a stranger, but treats all people with dignity and respect. His favorite saying is“ people do not care how much you know, they want to know how much you care.” A kind word and a pat on the back are his trademarks. He consistently shows the love of God to all people regardless of where he finds them. He is an anointed deliverer of the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and a teacher extraordinaire. His desire is to always be faithful to the task that the Lord has given him, to continue to grow in the knowledge of God and to always preach the unadulterated Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the author of a phenomenal book titled“ BOOM: Busting out of Mediocrity. Even as this book continues to gain working on another manuscript with a goal to publish in the fall of momentum in sales, he is 2016. God is working through and in this anointed humble serv