Kings Chapel AME Church cordially invites all to their annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration on Monday, January 15 at 11 a.m. The march will begin at 10 a.m. on MLK Drive and end at the church, which is located at 1810 San Antonio Ave., Many. This year’s featured speaker is the dynamic Rev. Dominique Grate, who serves as assistant vice president for development at Jarvis Christian College in Hawkins, Texas.
Grate was born June 8, 1990, in Long Branch, New Jersey and is the son of retired Maj. Willie James Grate Jr. and Felicia A. Grate. He matriculated through Richland School District Two schools in Columbia, South Carolina. He graduated from Richland Northeast high School in 2008. After finishing high school, he obtained his Bachelor of Arts from the University of South Carolina, where he studied under the world-renowned Dr. Stephanie Mitchem, majoring in African American studies with a minor in history.
In 2008, he received his call to serve in the ordained ministry of the African Methodist Episcopalian Church. As a 2013 inductee into the National Academy of Young Preachers, Grate studied at Wake Forest University’s School of Divinity, where he was an Ed and Jean Christman Fellow, graduating in May 2015. He is a lifetime member of the NAACP, Columbia Urban League Young Professionals, Nu Sigma Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, My Carolina Alumni Association, Rotary International, and Capital City Lodge #47 (Prince Hall). Grate has pastored three congregations at the Historic Trinity AME Church in Manning, South Carolina; New Mt. Zion AME Church in Lexington, South Carolina; and Calvary AME Church in Batesburg-Leesville. His ministry passions include rural ministry, humanitarian missions, and historic preservation.
On May 22, 2023, he began a new chapter in his life by transitioning from full-time pulpit ministry to higher education, where he serves as the assistant vice president for development at Jarvis Christian University.
Outside of work, he enjoys playing the board game RISK with friends, reading non-fiction, and watching Netflix and Hulu. He is a middle child, with his older brother Steven residing in Nashville, Tennessee, and younger sister Kayla in Charlotte, North Carolina.