Pastor Ray Houston

Pastor Ray grew up between the Baptist and C.M.E. Churches in Milwaukee, WI, as both of his grandfathers were prominent pastors in different denominations. By age eight, he was a member of Saint Matthew C.M.E. Church, where the late Presiding Elder B.S. Gregg was pastor. He later became a member of Bethel C.M.E. Church under emeritus Presiding Elder Grover Mitchell. Pastor Ray was nurtured by the late Pastor Leo Champion, Reverend Donald Pagel, Pastor James C. Carpenter Sr., Bishop Spencer Jones, and Bishop Thomas Barclay. He was first licensed in October 1990 and ordained in April 1997.

He is a testimony of God's divine grace, mercy, and favor — proof that God is yet alive and able to heal, restore, and rectify. After 27 years of hardcore drug addiction, being homeless and helpless, and after losing a million-dollar business he had built from the ground up because of his addiction, Pastor Ray is now determined to help others overcome the strongholds of substance abuse and the devastation of a dysfunctional lifestyle.

Over 25 years ago, facing a horrific addiction and a baby daughter he was determined not to lose to the State, hurting and broken, he came to Christ just as he was and found love and deliverance in the arms of Jesus. The journey of him and his baby daughter, Cheriamor, is chronicled in his book “There Is Life After Drugs. How Bad Do You Want It?” He was the junkie who raised his daughter, and today that daughter is a college graduate, consultant, and minister who has never experienced the evilness and devastation of addiction.

Pastor Ray now serves as Pastor and Director of True Believers Outlook Ministry. He is a Pastor, CEO, Author, Life Coach, and Motivational Speaker, and a member of Toastmasters International, currently serving as Vice President of Public Relations of The Four Seasons Branch. He serves as a volunteer minister at McLean County Jail as well as Lincoln Correctional Center, and is a graduate of the Assemblies of God School of Ministry, having served as an assistant pastor in Chicago, IL.

He is married to Pastor Colleen Bennett Houston, director of G.R.O.U.P. (God Reaching Out Using People). Together they co-pastor and co-direct the ministry's outreach homes.

Arthritis and life's challenges have been a struggle, but at 70 years old, Pastor Ray is committed to coming back to reclaim everything that was stolen from him by his former addiction.