Reverend Kelvin D. Ellison, Sr. | Pastor is a native of St. Louis, Missouri. He is a graduate of Dunbar Elementary School and Beaumont High School, where he excelled in football and baseball. He is married to Tina Ellison for 35 years and is the proud father of 6 children and 8 grandchildren. 

Reverend Ellison was called into the gospel ministry in 1981 to preach and was licensed in March 1982. He was ordained in August 1984 under the leadership of Reverend Dr. E. Stanley Howlett of True Light Missionary Baptist Church.

Reverend Ellison served as para pastor of True Light Missionary Baptist Church from 1984 to 1985. He then moved on to serve as an associate minister of Memorial Missionary Baptist Church under the leadership of the Reverend Seanes Boyce from 1985 to 1986. 

Reverend Ellison moved with his family to the Washington, D. C. area where he united with Antioch Missionary Baptist Church and served as assistant pastor from 1986 to 1996. Upon returning to St. Louis, He united with Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church under the leadership of Bishop Courtney A. Jones, where he served as assistant pastor from 1996 to 1999.

In April 1999, Reverend Ellison was called to pastor the Union Baptist Church of Alton, IL. Of which is the oldest African American church in the State of Illinois at 186 years old. Under his leadership, the church has grown spiritually as well as physically. In 2006, he started an extension school of Faith Bible Institute where 14 students enrolled of which he, too, was a part of. In 2009, all 14 students graduated with a diploma in Biblical Studies.  

Pastor Ellison has served as president of the Alton Interdenominational Alliance and is currently the Region 1 Pastoral Liaison of the Wood River Baptist District Association of Illinois, which is the oldest standing African American Association to date.

Pastor Ellison is a powerful communicator who has been sought to preach, teach, and lecture at churches across the country and within the Wood River Baptist District Association.

Pastor Ellison has been in the gospel ministry for over 45 years, where he lives by the motto: “I didn’t write it, but I have been commissioned to teach it.” He also lives by the motto:“If you ever need me, call me and if you don’t believe me, try me.”