President Emeritus

Bishop Reginald S. Hinton

Bishop Reginald S. Hinton, Sr. was born on August 29, 1955, in Apex, North Carolina to the late Carlyle and Clarine Hinton, the third of seven children.  He received Jesus Christ as his personal Savior on June 24, 1979, at St. Mary’s Original Free Will Baptist Church.  He was nurtured by Elder Elijah Newkirk, Elder Effie Harris, Elder Rosie Burt, and Bishop O. L. Conyers.  In August 1981, he answered God’s call into the ministry and preached his initial sermon on October 18, 1981.  He was ordained at the Annual Conference in November 1982.  He was elected pastor of Mo

unt Pisgah Harnett Original Free Will Baptist Church in July 1982, accepted the pastoral call in September 1982.  He has served as the president of the Cape Fear Young People’s Christian League and Vice President of the Cape Fear Sunday School Convention.  In 1986, Bishop Hinton was elected Second Vice President in November 1986 under the leadership of the late Bishop Henry McLean.  In 1989, he was elected First Vice President under the leadership of Bishop Cliffous Artis, and in November 2000 Presiding Bishop of the Original

Cape Fear and Southwestern Free Will Baptist Annual Conference, serving until November 2017.  He is currently President Emeritus of the Annual Conference and serves as the First Vice President of the Original Free Will Baptist General Conference.

Bishop Hinton lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with his lovely wife Janet McClain Hinton, who has been his life partner since June 10, 1978.  They have one son, Reginald, Jr., a daughter-in-love, Ebony, and one granddaughter, Kennedy.  He has five spiritual daughters, Audra Henry, Quanika McMillan, Iris McKoy, Christy Douglas, and Krystal Surles, along with several spiritual sons.

Bishop Hinton’s favorite scripture is Philippians 3:10, 13-14, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.” “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”