Rev. Selena M. Johnson has been serving in the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church since 2012. Pastor Selena, as she likes to be called, has served four very unique and wonderful congregations since that time. She is a second-career pastor who worked as an architect for 20 years. She currently serves as senior pastor at Mt. Zion UMC (Georgetown) in Washington, DC, where she was appointed in July of 2019. Mt. Zion, founded in 1816, is the oldest African American congregation in the nation’s capital!

Kaleb Oates has served as the director of music ministries since 2017. He is a native of Detroit, Michigan and a talented musician and educator. At age 14, he started directing youth and adult choirs in addition to starting formal music lessons on the piano.

Kaleb was a 2022 Musician-of-the Year Honoree in By Faith Magazine and has performed with music ensembles across the country.

He is a graduate of the esteemed Howard University and has furthered his studies at American University. Kaleb loves the Lord, has a passion for excellent service, and is empowered by his favorite scripture, Phillipians 4:13 - “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me”

As United Methodists, we are on a mission to make disciples for Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world! . We are part of the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference and within that conference, a local church in the Greater Washington District. As part of this world-wide connectional church, we strive to make our local ministries excellent, knowing that our reach extends far through connection

Born and raised in the District of Columbia, Lynda received her bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1971 from American University Washington DC. She went on to pursue and earn a master’s degree (MSW) from Howard University School of Social Work in 1986. Recently in May of 2019, she received a Doctorate Degree in Education from Howard University’s School of Education.

Lynda’s sister Gwen graduated from Howard University in the 1950’s and her brother Vincent graduated with an MBA from Syracuse University. Her son James is attending the Howard University Chadwick Boseman School of Fine Arts.

Dr. Young has worked in the Howard University Provost office for four years and the Dean’s office in the Howard University School of Communications for over eleven years. Most recently, since 2019, she was the office coordinator in the Dean’s office in American University School of Communication.

Among her other experiences, Lynda also has spent several years in DC’s Four-Star hotels such as the Fairmont Hotel in Georgetown in the catering and banquet departments as a conference Service manager.

However, it is in higher education that she has remained committed to because she is aware of the importance of education to the Afro-American community and believes that working in a collaborative fashion with other university departments and administrators to bring about a reasonable solution for all students and parties is a very worthwhile and rewarding endeavor.