Chief Pastor Christopher Nelums
Pastor Christopher Nelums is a native of Columbia, South Carolina. He is one of three children born to John and Rosa Nelums. He is married to the former Janet L. Dickerson. They have four children and sixteen grandchildren. He is affectionately known to his grandchildren as “Papa”.
Pastor Nelums was educated in the public schools of Richland County. He is a graduate of Keenan High School. He attended Midlands Technical College, Dickerson Theological Seminary (Allen University) and graduated from Benedict College with a BS degree in Religion and Philosophy. He is also a certified grant writer. He was a 2004 and 2008 candidate for the state senate for Richland County. In 2018 he was a statewide candidate for Commissioner of Agriculture. Pastor Nelums has been an entrepreneur since 1985 and has founded several businesses. He is also a part of the Masonic Order.
In 1990, Pastor Nelums entered the ministry of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He served as a pastor with the AME Church for over 20 years. In 2010, Pastor Nelums expanded Speak to My Heart Ministries, Inc. and opened the first Speak to My Heart Ministries Church in Winnsboro where he serves as Chief Pastor & Overseer. The church is committed to working to improve the lives of all people. The ministry desires to impact this generation to make a change in the mindset of the people, to revitalize communities and stimulate spiritual, physical and economic growth. Pastor Nelums has a deep concern and love for children. This is evident through his establishment of summer enrichment programs as well as afterschool programs at Speak to My Heart Ministries. He believes that the best way to effect and promote change is to focus on the children.
Pastor Nelums believes that God directs his steps through ministry and he knows that the “Work is All Divine”.
Pastor Janet Nelums
Pastor Janet Nelums is a native of Columbia, South Carolina. She is the last of five children born to Pastor Emeritus Leon R. Dickerson and the late Ethel L. Dickerson. She is married to her high school sweetheart, Pastor Christopher Nelums, and they have four children and sixteen grandchildren to include four sets of grand twins.
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Pastor Janet was educated in the public schools of Richland County. She was an honor graduate of W. J. Keenan High School. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from the University of South Carolina. Post graduate studies took her to Columbia International University focusing her course work in ministry. She retired in 2018 from Richland School District One after twenty- eight years of service as the bookkeeper of Keenan High School.
At an early age, God instilled in Pastor Janet a heart of compassion and a humble spirit of servitude to help others. The work He began in her blossomed into this ministry. In 2005, she founded Speak to My Heart Ministries, Inc., focusing on uplifting and encouraging people. She has done numerous women’s conferences and fellowships, and youth empowerment sessions. In November 2010, God took the ministry to another level with the establishment of Speak to My Heart Ministries Church in Winnsboro, SC where Pastor Christopher Nelums is the Chief Pastor and Overseer and she is the Assistant Pastor.
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Pastor Janet believes that in order to do God’s will she must allow Him to take full control of her life and order her steps…her thoughts…her speech…her actions. For it is in God that she lives and moves and has her very being. Her motto for her life and her ministry is “For God’s Glory Humbly I Serve”.