Our 1st Lady

Our 1st Lady

Meet Dr. Shirley Demory Wise

Dr. Shirley Demory Wise, First Lady and co-founder of Faith Ministries Church is a native of Jackson, NC. It was there, in her early childhood, that she received the old fashion values which she brought with her at the age of eight when her family moved to Baltimore., MD. 

Dr. Wise has always been a pioneer. In Baltimore, she was among the first and few African American girls who graduated from the Western High College Preparatory School for Girls. From there, she enrolled in and graduated from Coppin State College of Baltimore, Maryland with a Bachelor of Science Degree. She continued her pioneering prowess at Coppin as an honor student, a Charter member of Coppin's Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and a participant in the pilot program Project Mission to inner city elementary school children. 
She taught many years in the Baltimore City Public Schools as a tenured teacher going on to earn a Master of Science Degree from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland. In May of 2015, Rev. Shirley Wise received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Eastern Theological Seminary in Lynchburg, VA.

In 1988 Rev. Wise, kept on paving the way as she dropped a bombshell on our nation's believers with her book:
Sick and Tired of Being a Minister's Wife. ‍ It is one of the few books on being a minister's wife which admits and gives advice on the struggles of being a minister's wife, while at the same time offering guidance on how to deal with God's man and God's people. Her latest book about conflict in the church: When the Stuff Hits the Fan has also been a great inspiration. Thanks to these publications, her preaching and countless seminars and workshops, a whole generation of ministers’ wives has grown up with a guide to assist them through the maze and mine fields of ministry.

Rev. Wise has served as the First Lady of three churches. Ebenezer Baptist Church, Providence, RI, Shiloh Baptist Church, Columbus, OH and currently Faith Ministries Church, also of Columbus, OH. She is more than a First Lady. Across the years, she has been a leader, a teacher, a counselor, a singer, an administrator and most of all a powerful ordained preacher of the gospel.

As the driving force behind its founding, she has played an indispensable role in building Faith Ministries Church into a multimillion dollar interdenominational ministry on 29 acres of land. Presently, she serves as the Executive Assistant to the Pastor of Faith Ministries Church and leader of the Women’s Ministry.

She and her husband, Dr. C. Dexter Wise III, have four children: Sybil, Sheri (James), Shonna (Isaiah), Ceylon (Ashley) and nine grandchildren: Angela, Anye’, Maya, Mariah, Ceylon D. V, Isaiah, Zechariah, Caleb and Nehemiah.

We praise God for Dr. Shirley Demory Wise as a pioneer, a preacher, a partner, a parent and a pivotal part of kingdom building today. She truly is a fearless woman of courage and a modern day model of faith.

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