Meet Our Pastor

Reverend Dr. Glenn B. Dames, Jr. has worked diligently as a humble servant, preaching the Gospel and leading God’s people for over 25 years.

Pastor Dames began his spiritual journey as a young boy and has since presided over a number of prestigious congregations. At the early age of 12, he accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and at 15 he responded to his calling to preach the Gospel. Since then, Pastor Dames has served the church as Youth Pastor of the Historic St. James A.M.E. Church in Orange Park, Florida, Third Street Bethel A.M.E. Church in Richmond, Virginia and Brown Memorial A.M.E. Church in Washington, D.C.

His first full-time charge, he served for over five years as Senior Pastor of the Mt. Pisgah A.M.E. Church in Starke, FL. Following his service at Mt. Pisgah, Pastor Dames led the people of St. James AME Church, Titusville, FL for 10 years. In November of 2016, Bishop Adam J. Richardson appointed Rev. Dames to serve as the senior pastor of Allen Temple AME Church in Tampa, the flagship church of the West Coast Conference.

A native of Jacksonville, Florida, Rev. Dr. Dames is a graduate of Edward Waters College in Jacksonville and The Turner Theological Seminary at the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta, Georgia where he earned the Master of Divinity. Rev. Dames also has earned the Doctorate of Ministry at the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio.

Humility, compassion and integrity best describe the ministry of Pastor Dames. Experiencing tremendous growth throughout his career, Pastor Dames has been responsible for initiating after-school tutorial programs, remodeling and redesigning church buildings and expanding the church’s witness through web technology, billboards and other media.

Pastor Dames’ ministry extends beyond the four walls of the church and into the community. Known affectionately as the Community’s Pastor, Pastor Dames is active and visible in our schools, hospitals, jails, homes, and all facets of city and county government.

In his first year at Allen Temple, he took his message from the pulpit and pews to the people where Allen Temple had regularly fed the homeless, fed hurricane Irma victims and adopted an entire low income housing community providing a plethora of social services to include health and wellness testing, education, reading remediation, weekly mentoring with young men of color and tutoring. Under his leadership, his church’s ministries have spent countless hours reaching out to our college community; University of South Florida (Tampa), University of Tampa, and Hillsborough Community College.

Pastor Dames has recently been inducted into the Turner Theological Seminary Hall of Fame, Atlanta, GA. He is a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, a participant of Save African American Boys, a member of the Boy Scouts of America as an Eagle Scout, a member of the Sons of Allen of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and the former North Brevard Branch NAACP President. Highlighting his commitment to social advocacy, his fight against injustice and love for education, he has been featured in USA Today, Florida Today, Democracy Now, Space Coast Living Magazine, and many other publications. Pastor Dames was also one of the recipients of the 2015 LEAD Brevard’s “4 under 40” awards, the Florida Institute of Technology (F.I.T.) Rev. Harvey L. Riley, Bridge Builders award, and the Florida Education Association (FEA) Martin Luther King, Jr. award for Civil Rights.

Although Reverend Dames is very proud of all his achievements and involvements, he is mostly proud to be a loving father to two beautiful girls, Detra and Jailynn Dames, and son, Glenn B. Dames, III (Trey).