Horace Sheffield, III
Called to preached in June, 1965 at eleven years of age, while listening to the preaching of Dr. Martin L. King, Jr., who was in Detroit at the invitation of his father to raise money for the Lowndes County Movement, Rev. Horace L. Sheffield, III, was licensed to preached on October 18, 1978 at the First Baptist Institutional Church of Detroit, Michigan and was subsequently ordained there by his spiritual father and ministry mentor the Reverend Dr. Howard B. M. Fauntroy, Jr.
Rev. Horace L. Sheffield, III, is a published writer having co-authored two plays with Ms. Yolanda Denise King, the daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., one of which is entitled “Stepping Into Tomorrow” which was also co-authored by Ms. Attallah Shabazz, the daughter of Malcolm X. Additionally, Rev. Sheffield, along with Ms. King and Ms. Shabazz were the co-founders of Nucleus, Inc., a New York based Theatrical Company, which toured the country performing positive messages for endangered youth. The company also included such performers as Gina Bellefonte, Ella Joyce of Roc, and S. Epatha Murkupson of NYPD Blue.
In addition to writing plays, Rev. Sheffield has also published articles and other materials in The Michigan Chronicle, The Detroit News, The Michigan Front Page, The African American Parent Magazine, and a variety of other periodicals, television and radio programming, as well as numerous newsletters and community circulars.
Presently, Rev. Horace L. Sheffield, III, is the Pastor of Detroit’s New Destiny Christian Fellowship, known for “Transforming Communities By Changing Lives..” where, under his leadership, the congregation successfully completed the construction of a new edifice. In addition to his congregational duties and pastoral work, Rev. Sheffield, in concert with the local church community, organized The Safe Center, Inc., a faith based non-profit of the church, which now serves over 1,000 clients a month and boasts an annual budget in excess of $ 500,000.
Rev. Sheffield is also the Executive Director of the Detroit Association of Black Organizations (dabo) where he established and administers their Detroit Cares Alternative High School, an alternative education high school, Project Self-Sufficiency, a program providing GED instruction and job training for youth, and manages all of the other various social and economic programs of the agency.
Rev. Sheffield also served on the staff of Detroit’s Mayor Dennis W. Archer, was a former Board Member of St. John NorthEast Community Hospital, is President of the Michigan Chapter of the National Action Network (NAN), is Chairperson of the Detroit Ecumenical Ministers Alliance, is a National Board Member of the Black Leadership Commission on Aide, is a National Board Member of the National Cares Movement under the leadership of Susan Taylor, and is a Life Member of the NAACP. Rev. Sheffield hosts his own weekly radio show known as “On The Line” every Saturday on AM 910 The Word.
Rev. Sheffield has two children Horace Lindsey Sheffield, IV, a musical producer, and Minister Mary Christine Sheffield, an elected member of the Detroit City Council. Rev. Sheffield lives by the motto and credo that once served as his father’s.
“All the world is my homeland, and all of its people with their many tongues and many religions are my brethren. And the fight for full justice and freedom for all of them is my religion, and my indomitable strength in this flows from my unshakable belief that this is God’s will!”
Rev. Sheffield, when asked how he would like to have his life best described has stated, “When fate shall capture this mortal flesh and my soul shall soar to reap it’s imperishable reward on distant shore may it be said by those who knew Horace L. Sheffield, III, best that ‘he loved God and people and sought to love and to serve both”.
