The Reverend Elijah Llewellyn McDavid III is a passionate disciple, dynamic preacher and cultural architect. He is proud to serve as the fourth pastor of the Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This dynamic congregation sits as a beacon of hope in north Minneapolis and is committed to sharing love throughout the Twin Cities. Under McDavid's leadership FMBC became the first faith-based COVID-19 vaccination site in the state of Minnesota.

 

McDavid received a Master of Divinity from the Union Theological Seminary (Columbia University) in New York City. While a student, he held the distinction of being a James Forbes Scholar. McDavid is also a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Morehouse College in Atlanta.

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Before accepting the call to FMBC, McDavid served on the pastoral staff of the Alfred Street Baptist Church of Alexandria, Va.; the First Corinthian Baptist Church of Harlem; and the First Iconium Baptist Church of Atlanta. He also worked as content director for ROHO, a multimedia source for sermons and inspiration. While at ROHO, he managed content development for more than two million subscribers.

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McDavid is the only child of Elijah and Lynne McDavid Jr. and was raised in Arlington, Va. He is blessed to walk in the spiritual lineage of his grandfather, the late Rev. Dr. Coolidge Johnson, a pastor and civil rights leader in South Carolina. McDavid received the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Savior in 2004 at the Second Baptist Church of Falls Church, Va., where he was baptized by the late Rev. Dr. James E. Browne. While at Second Baptist, McDavid benefited from mentoring by the late Deaconess Sandra Eskridge and the late Chad Terry who also nurtured McDavid’s gifts for public speaking. Years later he yielded to God’s call and in July 2012 became the youngest person to be licensed to ministry in the 200-year history of the Alfred Street Baptist Church.

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McDavid holds memberships in the historical Black men’s fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and the prestigious academic honor society, Phi Beta Kappa Society, and is an alum of the Institute for Responsible Citizenship. He has been blessed with numerous distinctions and honors including winning the 2014 Otis Moss Jr. Oratorical Contest, a 2013 inductee into the Academy of Preachers, and in 2009 was honored by former President Barack Obama at the White House Father’s Day Barbecue. McDavid’s love of serving and inspiring people has afforded him opportunities to speak across both the United States and abroad, including in Sierra Leone and Singapore.

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In addition to his love for ministry, McDavid is an avid runner, accomplished pianist, and parttime restaurant critic.