The Rev. Dr. Alvin C. Hathaway, Sr. was called to Union Baptist Church as Assistant Pastor in 2004 and elevated to the position of Pastor of this historic servant church in 2007. He succeeded the legendary Rev. Dr. Vernon N. Dobson, noted theologian, community activist and civil rights leader, and holds the distinction of being the 10th Pastor in the church's 168-year history.
Reverend Hathaway earned a Ph.D. in Philosophy of Religion from The North Carolina College of Theology, his Doctor of Ministry degree at the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio, and his Master of Arts in Church Ministries and a Certificate in Urban Ministry from Saint Mary's Seminary and University. He is a graduate of The Harvard Divinity School's Summer Leadership Institute.
He earned certificates in textual exegesis, hermeneutics, and homiletics from Georgetown College, Regent's Park College at Oxford University, and the American University of Paris, and from the George W. Truett Theological Seminary for his study at Instituto Maria S.S. Bambina in Rome, Italy. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies from The McKendree School of Religion and studied Philosophical Theology at what was then Coppin State College, where he was the first President of its Philosophical Theology Club.
He is the recipient of numerous fellowships and honors, including the National Civic League 2001 Pforzheimer Fellow, the Maryland Historical Society 2005 Lord Baltimore Fellow, 2012 induction to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Board of Preachers at Morehouse College, the 2018 William Donald Schaefer Award, and the 2019 Judge Alexander Williams Award.
Rev. Hathaway is the President and CEO of Beloved Community Services Corporation, Union Baptist Church School, Inc. and Act Now Baltimore. He co-chairs the Promise Heights Program of the University of Maryland School of Social Work and serves on the boards of the University of Maryland Medical Center, Greater Baltimore Committee, Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, Family League, The Ecumenical Institute, Harbor Bankshares, Greenline Ventures, and Urban America. He co-founded the African Ancestry Neuroscience Research Initiative.