“Don’t be a lying Christian!” “I am unapologetically Christian.” Both statements are spoken with conviction from Alvin Summers, the proud Pastor of Oak Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Martin, TN for eleven years. Pastor Alvin Summers has preached a prolific gospel to masses of all types. One of Summers’ dreams is to have a church not of black people or of white people but one church of God’s people. Pastor Summers is well educated and is extremely experienced in doing the work of the Lord.

At an early age, Alvin Summers was put in a position of leadership. From church accompanist to Minister of Music, to Administrator, he has been involved in many facets of organized church work. Through out the years, he has had the privilege of being mentored by dynamic men of God in various places. Now Pastor Summers has assumed the role of being a role model and a mentor to both men and women alike. A man after God’s own heart, he encourages all to “love God for real.”
In July 1986 Pastor Summers accepted the calling to preach on the steps of First Baptist Rockport in Malvern, Arkansas. On the second Sunday in September he preached his first sermon at New Hope Baptist Church in Texarkana, TX of which he was a member. He obtained his license soon thereafter. In August of 1991, he received his ordination papers.
With over 20 years of ministry experience Pastor Summers is wise beyond his years. He has been blessed to preach in numerous places from Tennessee, Texas, Louisiana, Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and Kentucky. He is a graduate of Memphis Theological Seminary with a Masters of Divinity degree. Summers has served as Dean of Students at Bethel College in McKenzie, TN. While there he also served as the director of the Bethel College Balladeers traveling and spreading the gospel through song. Additionally, Summers was recognized for his leadership by the Outstanding Young Americans and Who’s Who among College Teachers and Educators in America as well as a Honorary Kentucky Colonel.
Alvin's quiet humility gives way when he is given the opportunity to give praise and worship to God, whose calling has brought him so far. "I am unashamedly Christian," he declares. "I've lived my whole life trusting God. God won't let me down. I'm going to stay with him because he's mighty good to me. My thing is I just want to be somebody that God can be proud of," he continues, insisting, "I'm not perfect; I wrestle with the same male issues the whole world wrestles with. I just don't want to renege on the investment God made in me. If I've got a strong enough witness in the way I live and the way I operate, God will take care of the rest, because if God is for you He is more than the whole world against you- He just commissioned me to be the best Christian I can be."
Pastor Alvin J. Summers was born to lead. He is a faithful husband to his wife Colleen, and father to Cice and Autumn. But most of all, he has taken upon himself the duty to study to show himself approved before God a workman that needth not be ashamed, but one that tries to rightly divide the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15