Apostle Ruby C. Gilliam
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A native of the Eastern Shore of Virginia, she serves as the Senior Pastor of Divine Wisdom Christian Center Baptist Church in Randallstown, Maryland. Under the anointed leadership of Bishop Dwayne C. Debnam, she was licensed to preach in May 1998, ordained August 2002, installed to the office of assistant pastor in 2006 and installed as a senior pastor in September 2009.
Pastor Ruby, as she is affectionately called, was a member of the Morning Star Baptist Church, Catonsville, Maryland for 30years. She served in various ministries. In 2003, she accepted a pastoral staff position as the minister of Christian Education. That position opened doors to many other experiences including Minister of Membership Development and Director of the Center for Excellence. As God continued to shape her ministry assignments, in 2006, Dr. Henry Green Senior Pastor of the First Christ United Baptist Church, asked her pastor to release her to serve as the assistant pastor of their church. In 2008, Pastor Ruby organized Divine Wisdom.
Dr. Gilliam has a zeal and passion for helping people grow spiritually, mentally and personally, while encouraging them to live full and healthy lifestyles. Her passion is developing and empowering the laity to lead. In 1999, she organized The Jubilee Women’s Retreat to encourage women to use their giftedness beyond the church walls to empower communities. Her service as a teacher, consultant, dean, catechizer, and presenter, amongst other capacities, has played an integral role in her carrying out her commitment to the development of church leaders, including preparing mission pastors to organize and plant churches beyond the walls of the traditional church protocol. In addition, she has ministered in South Africa and Guatemala.
Dr. Ruby’s passion for training and developing clergy and church leaders ignites her vision to help members move from being in the pew to being actively involved in the life of the church. She believes that God has gifted His servants with unique opportunities to provide a range of diverse ministries in the Christian culture of today. She contends, that leaders and laity should have the opportunity to receive quality education and ministry development beyond that of Christian Education and Discipleship. Realizing the need, as well as, understanding that everyone is not called to a seminary experience, Dr. Ruby established The Leadership Academy in 2015. The Academy offers course study for deacons who are called for ordination, preparing ministers to write and preach initial sermons, catechizing ministers for ordination and developing and training new pastors. The pastoral response continues to increase.
Dr. Ruby’s passion for establishing ministries for kingdom work often attracts nontraditional pastors and ministry leaders. In 2008, she followed God’s Call and organized Divine Wisdom. Since that act of obedience, she has assisted with church plants and set apart other mission churches and ministers beyond the church walls. As a result of this work, in July 2019 Ruby answered God’s Call again. She said. “Yes” to another kingdom assignment to work as an Apostle in the Lord’s Church serving as the leader of the Alliance of Covenant Seekers.
Dr. Gilliam has earned a Technical Certification in Data Processing from the Automation Training Institute, St. Louis, Missouri; Associate of Arts in Information Technology from the Community College of Baltimore County, Catonsville; Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Towson State University; Masters of Arts in Legal and Ethical Studies from the University of Baltimore, Certification in Christian Education; Master of Arts in Church Ministers from St. Mary’s Seminary & University Ecumenical Institute of Theology, Baltimore, Maryland; and a Master of Divinity Equivalency and Doctor of Ministry from Ashland Theological Seminary, Ashland, Ohio. Her doctoral work is “Women in Prophetic Leadership: From the Call to the Pastorate.” She is a graduate of the Pastors of Excellence, Ashland Theological Seminary (2014).
Ruby and her husband Deacon Grant love the Lord. They enjoy team ministry as they serve the people of God together. They have three children, Gwen, Bryan, and Kris, seven grandchildren, and four great grandchildren.
As God provides opportunity for Apostle Ruby to minister, she encourages persons to write visions, pursue their dreams and never give up. She knows that God is faithful, He will open doors that no one can shut and if she is running a little late, God will hold them open until she gets there. Ruby’s life testimony is she loves God, His people and His work. She knows that “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work, and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” (Hebrews 6:10)
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