Our Pastor

Gilbert L. Barney is a courageous and prolific leader, an innovative thinker, and an articulate and passionate preacher. He is Founder and Lead Pastor of Courage Through Christ Disciple Assembly, a new and growing church plant located in Charlotte, NC. He grew up from humble beginnings in the city of Toledo, Ohio, where his grandmother instilled in him a knowledge and love for Christ and his mother instilled in him a commitment to a life of learning and leadership. At the age of 9 years old Gilbert was baptized and gave his life to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He was first called to pastoral ministry at 19 and he ran from the call. He was called again to pastoral ministry at the age of 26 and once again he ran from the call. He officially accepted his call to ministry and pastoral leadership at age 33. He was trained and ordained by his Pastor, Dr. Dharius Daniels at Change Church at the Ewing NJ Campus on September 18th, 2022. Gilbert is a 2022 graduate of Duke Divinity School at Duke University where he received his Master of Divinity degree with concentrations in Preaching, Missional Innovation, Baptist Studies, Black Church Studies and Biblical Exegesis. He also served as President of the Duke Divinity Student Council (DSC) and Program Chair of the Black Seminaries Union (BSU) while studying at Duke. Gilbert is also a graduate of Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with concentrations in Public Policy and Economics in addition to holding an Associates of Science degree in Business Administration from Rowan College in Burlington New Jersey. Gilbert is currently in a residency program for Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) at Atrium Health Cabarrus.