Rev. Dr. Napoleon Harris V

Antioch Baptist Church, one of Cleveland’s most storied congregations, has called the Rev. Dr. Napoleon Harris, V of Nashville, Tennessee as its next senior pastor. Harris will become the church’s 12th pastor since its founding in 1893.

Harris returns home to the city of his birth and where his father, Napoleon Harris IV, has served as the longtime pastor of Second Metropolitan Baptist Church. 

“Antioch is a cornerstone in Cleveland’s Fairfax community and has had a long and rich history of groundbreaking, transformative ministry,” says Harris. “Antioch has been home to amazing innovative leaders from innovative clergy to inspirational lay leaders, and I hope to continue in the rich scribal ministry of the Rev. Dr. Marvin A. McMickle.”

McMickle was the congregation’s senior pastor from 1987 to 2011 and has served as its interim pastor for the last two years. He will continue to serve as Pastor Emeritus of the roughly six hundred member congregation.

Rev. Dr. Harris, a Cleveland native, will be installed in early August. Most recently, he has served as pastor of the historic First Baptist Church of South Inglewood in Nashville, TN. Previously, he served at Shiloh Baptist Church in Norwalk, CT.

He is a graduate of Tennessee State University with a B.A. in elementary teaching (2003) and M.Ed. in administration (2004), and Ed.D. in leadership and administration (2011). In 2008, Harris received his M.Div. from Vanderbilt Divinity School. A bi-vocational pastor, Harris has served as an elementary school teacher and special education high school teacher. He is also a member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated.

Harris, his wife, Sherma Douglass, and his two young daughters will relocate to Cleveland this summer.

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