Reverend Kenneth Golphin, Presiding Elder

Presiding Elder Kenneth Jerome Golphin, a Grady baby, was born on August 27, 1957, to Rev. Willie and Mrs. Constance Golphin. The family lived in the Adamsville neighborhood before moving to Dawn Drive behind Gordon High School, where Elder Golphin graduated in 1975! Elder Golphin received a full academic scholarship to attend Concordia College in Moorhead, MN.

 In the summer of 1969, Elder Golphin accepted Christ as his personal Savior at Rocky Head United Methodist Church, where his father served as pastor. In 1983, while working as a Federal Air Traffic Controller in Memphis, TN, he accepted his call to preach, preaching his initial sermon at Wilson Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church (ΑΜΕ) on August 21st of that year. Elder Golphin was ordained an Itinerant Deacon in 1987 and an Itinerant Elder in 1988 in the AME Church. Elder Golphin is a 2005 Graduate of Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, with a Master of Arts in Christian Leadership.

 Elder Golphin has an impressive pastoral career, having served on and chaired countless Community Boards and Organizations, and Denominational Ministries. He is the recipient of numerous awards over a four-decade span, to include Distinguished Citizen of Mayfield, Paducah and Louisville, Kentucky; Kentucky Colonel; Captain of the Belle of Louisville; Duke of Paducah, Kentucky; and in the AME Church has received the Outstanding Leadership Award, and served as Past President of the 13th District Presiding Elders’ Council, Recording Secretary on the General Secretary/Chief Information Officer staff, and Delegate to the General Conference.

 The scripture that most represents Elder Golphin’s personal and ministerial philosophy is Jeremiah 12: 5: “If you have raced with people and are worn out, how will you compete with horses? If you fall down in an open field, how will you survive in the forest along the Jordan?”

 Elder Golphin was married to the late Dianna Brown Golphin for 40 years and is the proud father of Chastity, Kendra, Chauncey, and James, and pawpaw to one beautiful granddaughter: Evalynn.