Meet Our Pastor 

 

Rev. Tawanda Berry Harris  is a native of Lake Wylie, SC.  She was raised by her loving grandparents, the late Robert Clyde Berry and Mary Louise Berry.  She is the daughter of Mary Berry.

 

In 1998, she graduated from Clover High School in Clover, South Carolina.  In 2011, she received her Associates of Arts degree at Cleveland Community College in Shelby, North Carolina.  In 2018, she received her Bachelors of Science at Lee University, in Cleveland, Tennessee.  Rev. Harris is currently enrolled at Liberty University in pursue of her Masters of Divinity Degree. 

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Rev. Tawanda Berry Harris preached her initial sermon at her home church, Liberty Hill African Methodist Episcopal in Church in Lake Wylie, SC under the leadership of the Rev. Thelma T. Gordon in June of 2009.  In January 2015, Rev. Harris received her Deacons Ordination under Bishop Kenneth Monroe in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion church.  In January 2017, Rev. Harris received her Elders Ordination under Bishop Mildred B. Hines in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. 

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Rev. Harris was appointed the first female Pastor of the Mount Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Fort Lawn, SC on June 18, 2016 until October 29, 2022.  While serving as the Pastor at Mount Vernon, the church has excelled and every ministry grew tremulously.  On October 29, 2022, Rev. Harris was appointed as the pastor of the Pineville AME Zion Church in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

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Rev. Harris is married to Mr. Dion Harris and is the mother of 3 children, Christen, Ray and Makinna and 3 bonus children: Aaron, Alania, and Adrian.  She currently resides in Gastonia, North Carolina. 

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She currently works at the Gaston County Department of Social Services (DSS) as a Family and Children’s Medicaid redetermination worker. 

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Most importantly, Rev. Harris is a humble servant of God.  She is a faithful servant of God and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.  Rev. Harris is fiery praise and worshiper, wonderful teacher and preacher of the gospel who believes that we should of our best to the Master in everything that we do. She models the quote from one of our founding forefathers of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, John Wesley,  “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can. “