APOSTLE STANLEY M. BUTLER
Our Apostolic Father/Founder
A lifetime of devoted ministerial service was a predictable outcome for Stanley Maurice Butler. It is evident that his creator gifted him with personal attributes and determination that would assure a triumphant prophetical journey.
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His keen insight presents impactful personal engagement with those he encounters, enabling him to envision and share blessings of awareness, hope, empowerment, and joy. A passion for learning sharpened his perspective and assured preparedness for the intellectual and spiritual rigor of an ordained and enduring pilgrimage. His life-long education, from Baltimore City public schools to Harvard University, has fostered conceptual mastery, while feeding his ecumenical curiosity. The result, an Ecclesiastical presence that is as commanding, as it is comforting.
Pastor Butler’s unmatched love for the word of God is obvious. His theological reasoning exhibits unique timing and sensibility to deliver explosive revelations for enraptured congregations, emboldened by faith to triumph over their inhibitions.
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The Senior Apostle’s ministry began with licensing and ordination at New Shiloh Baptist Church in Baltimore, under the esteemed Rev. Dr. Harold A. Carter Sr. His first sermon, "Don't Jump Down," from Luke 9, was delivered on September 27. 1970. His inaugural pastorate at Union Bethel Baptist Church in King George County, Virginia, was only a beginning, as International outreach through the Southern Baptist Convention included England, Ireland, Japan, and Scotland, which produced a measure of satisfaction, but also confirmed that additional work was waiting.
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Christian Life Fellowship Baptist Church, Randallstown, MD, founded in August 1980, was a thriving congregation, with many young families, while Temple House, in West Baltimore, was a transitional men’s housing program shaped by Apostle Butler and Elder Clifford Knight. When Temple House residents observed that the place was “like a sanctuary,” a companion ministry was born, Sanctuary Church, a source of bread for the body and bread for the soul. A place for communion and sustenance at The Lord's Table, where extravagant hospitality awaited all who entered.
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Seeing the light of God in others, assured mentorship, and licensure for a host of clerical sons and daughters. Father Butler’s vision for a 21st century city ministry, Market Place Fellowship and Churches, includes, 13 pastors and churches in Florida, Georgia, Virginia, and Maryland and has expanded into the Urban Ministry Institute and Training Academy.
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Sr. Apostle Butler is celebrated in ministry by his wife of 38 years, Lady Glenda Butler and his 4 children, 13 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren. Lady Butler is happy to have been a part of a ministry that focuses on giving more than receiving.
Growing pains within the church and within its pastor made him restless to accomplish more.
For many years now, Apostle Butler has issued the ongoing call and promise, "Come with us and we will do you good," out of Numbers 10:29. And for no lack of his own intention and the Lord’s intervention, whatever ministry to which he has put his hand has done just that.
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