Meet Our Senior Pastor

Dr. Sheridan Todd Yeary is the Senior Pastor of the Douglas Memorial Community Church in Baltimore, Maryland. He also serves as the Chief Executive Officer of DMCC’s two community development corporations – Camp Farthest Out, Inc. and Douglas Village, Inc. Dr. Yeary is the former Associate Director of the Center for Black Studies at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois.

A third-generation preacher/pastor, Dr. Yeary serves the faith community of Douglas Memorial as the fifth pastor in its 90-year history. Dr. Yeary is often sought after to offer commentary, public testimony, and insight on a variety of public policy and leadership concerns, and has presented in a variety of forums, including the Faith Leaders Round Table at the Congressional Black Caucus (2011, 2012), the Martin Luther King, Jr. Lecture Series on Racial Reconciliation at Hamline University (2003-2004), the Brown v. Board of Education Summit at College of DuPage (2005), and the African American Family Summit at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln (2002-2006). Dr. Yeary’s presentation on the role of religion in promoting diversity at the spring 2006 convening of the Oxford Roundtable at the University of Oxford in England was later published in the Oxford Round Table’s Forum on Public Policy journal.  Currently, Dr. Yeary holds an adjunct faculty appointment in the College of Public Affairs at the University of Baltimore, teaching courses that explore faith and public policy and the legal construction of race.

Dr. Yeary holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Management from National-Louis University, a Master of Divinity Degree from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, the Graduate Certificate in African Studies from Northwestern University, and the Doctor of Philosophy Degree (Ph.D.) in the area of Religion in Society and Personality from Northwestern. Dr. Yeary is a member of the 2012 class of the Board of Preachers of the Martin Luther King, Jr. College of Preachers and Laity of Morehouse College.  Dr. Yeary’s travels and research are centered in Ghana, West Africa, focusing on the relationship between traditional African values and the African American experience.

Dr. Yeary’s interests include mentoring youth and young adults, community activism, urban public policy and the development of processes of productive transformation that liberates all people. Currently, he serves on the boards of the Center for School Mental Health and Behavioral Health System Baltimore, and the Advisory Board to the College of Public Affairs at the University of Baltimore. Dr. Yeary is a member of the Ministerium of the International Council of Community Churches and currently serves as the international liaison between the Council and constituent churches in Ghana, West Africa.  Additionally, Dr. Yeary was recently appointed to the board of trustees of Baltimore City Community College by Governor Martin O’Malley.  As part of his community activism, Dr. Yeary serves as the Political Action Chair of the Maryland State Conference NAACP, on the national Religious Affairs Committee of the NAACP, and is a principal with Community Churches for Community Development.

Dr. Yeary is currently writing two books – “The Black Church and HIV/Aids”, and “Protecting Blackness: Faith, Pilgrimage and the Resilience of the African American Self.” He is married to the Rev. Rhonda S. Boozer-Yeary, and they are the proud parents of four children – Robert Aaron, Simone Kathlene, Jordan Amani, and Joshua Asante.