Meet Our Presiding Elder
Rev. Walter McDonaldPresiding Elder Walter R. McDonald is a native of Corsicana, Texas. He is the son of the late Mr. & Mrs. F. T. McDonald. A member of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. A graduate of Corsicana High School, he received the Bachelor of Science Degree from Paul Quinn College and the Master of Divinity Degree from Truett Seminary Baylor University. He believes that through our relationship with Jesus Christ and the cultivation of the spiritual disciplines, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to be change agents. Presiding Elder McDonald’s ministry has been focused on the empowerment of the spiritually disenfranchised and the socially marginalized.
As an ordained Itinerant Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, he has served as pastor in the Northeast Texas Conference, North Texas Annual Conference, Central Texas Annual Conference and the Northwest Texas Annual Conference. Under his pastoral leadership, many souls have been saved and |
added to the church of the living God. He has served as chairperson of the Board of Examiners in the Central Texas and Northwest Texas Annual Conferences. In addition, he serves as staff chaplain at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas.
He founded the Richard Allen Community Development Corporation, which is a 501© (3) organization designed to meet educational, benevolent and religious needs of the community while pastor of the Anderson Chapel A.M.E. Church in Killeen, Texas and expanded the Mona Fields Learning Center. As the pastor of Baker Chapel A.M.E. Church in Fort Worth, Texas the following was accomplished: the creation of the People of the Anvil 501© (3), the liquidation of the nearly a half-million-dollar mortgage on the B.L. McCormick Educational Wing and renovation of the sanctuary and other areas of the church. Rev. Walter R. McDonald facilitated the development of ministries to meet needs within and beyond the walls of the church with partnershipswith Tarrant Churches Together for a computer equipped Ready, Set, Go Center for Youth, the Community Food Bank and Union Gospel Mission to feed, clothe and minister to the homeless/needy, all accomplishments attributed to a vibrant Commission system.
In November 2017, under the leadership of the Right Reverend Vashti Murphy McKenzie, Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the state of Texas, Rev. Walter McDonald was appointed Presiding Elder of the Greater Dallas District AMEC. Under the leadership of Presiding Elder Walter McDonald, ministries are being developed to resource Churches to work in collaboration in the areas of evangelism, discipleship, mission and stewardship.
Presiding Elder Walter McDonald has served on the following Boards and Committees: The Board of Directors of Tarrant Area Community of Churches, The Texas Christian University Brite Divinity School Black Church Studies Board and the Compilation Committee 2016 Book of Doctrine and Discipline of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He has affiliations in the following organizations: NAACP-Life Member, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and Prince Hall Masonic Lodge.
A wonderful family blesses Elder McDonald. He is married to Carol Rischer McDonald and they are the parents of three children, Gayla and Jordan and the Late Justin McDonald and six-grandchildren.
He founded the Richard Allen Community Development Corporation, which is a 501© (3) organization designed to meet educational, benevolent and religious needs of the community while pastor of the Anderson Chapel A.M.E. Church in Killeen, Texas and expanded the Mona Fields Learning Center. As the pastor of Baker Chapel A.M.E. Church in Fort Worth, Texas the following was accomplished: the creation of the People of the Anvil 501© (3), the liquidation of the nearly a half-million-dollar mortgage on the B.L. McCormick Educational Wing and renovation of the sanctuary and other areas of the church. Rev. Walter R. McDonald facilitated the development of ministries to meet needs within and beyond the walls of the church with partnershipswith Tarrant Churches Together for a computer equipped Ready, Set, Go Center for Youth, the Community Food Bank and Union Gospel Mission to feed, clothe and minister to the homeless/needy, all accomplishments attributed to a vibrant Commission system.
In November 2017, under the leadership of the Right Reverend Vashti Murphy McKenzie, Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the state of Texas, Rev. Walter McDonald was appointed Presiding Elder of the Greater Dallas District AMEC. Under the leadership of Presiding Elder Walter McDonald, ministries are being developed to resource Churches to work in collaboration in the areas of evangelism, discipleship, mission and stewardship.
Presiding Elder Walter McDonald has served on the following Boards and Committees: The Board of Directors of Tarrant Area Community of Churches, The Texas Christian University Brite Divinity School Black Church Studies Board and the Compilation Committee 2016 Book of Doctrine and Discipline of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He has affiliations in the following organizations: NAACP-Life Member, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and Prince Hall Masonic Lodge.
A wonderful family blesses Elder McDonald. He is married to Carol Rischer McDonald and they are the parents of three children, Gayla and Jordan and the Late Justin McDonald and six-grandchildren.