Pastor Donald G. Cherry was born in Greenville, N.C. to James Cherry and Mary Teel, one of four brothers — including his late beloved twin brother, Ronald — and three sisters. The family first lived in the close-knit downtown section of Greenville.
“It was a village then. My parents taught us to respect the members of our family and neighborhood,” Pastor Cherry recalls. “It was an important community process that contributed to who I am today.”
Pastor Cherry’s family later moved to west Greenville, where he attended C.M. Eppes School. When public schools integrated, he transferred to J.H. Rose High School, from which he graduated.
Church participation was ingrained in Donald Cherry and his siblings early on.
“My parents took us to the A.M.E. church every Sunday, but back then, all the different churches participated in community and youth activities together,” he says. “A church is not about certain people; it’s about all people. We seem to have lost that understanding today, but that’s how they did back then.”
At age five, an accidental ingestion of rat poison nearly killed Pastor Cherry and left him struggling for years in recovery. It led young Donald to discover the presence of God in his life.
“As I grew older and stronger, I began to understand that without Him, I might have died,” he says. “When I walked along the street by myself, I often talked with God, and began to study his word.”
Pastor Cherry served as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army’s 82d Airborne Division. The challenges he faced in military service, including a serious injury resulting from a jump he made, strengthened his relationship with the Lord and uplifted him spiritually.
“The mistakes we make, even the devastating things that happen in our lives, serve to uplift us and bring us closer to God, even when we don’t recognize it at the time,” he says.
In 1978, Donald Cherry formally accepted Christ as his savior and got baptized at Mt. Calvary Church on Hudson Street in Greenville. In 1996, a friend’s invitation to join him in Bible study led to a personal call to ministry. He was formally ordained in 2004 through Sycamore Chapel Baptist Church of the Eastern Missionary Baptist Conference.
“I’ve always known that Christ and I have been walking together, and I felt that He was calling me to the ministry,” Pastor Cherry says. “Being a Christian is more than just words; it’s about our actions and our relationship with God through service to our community.”
As a dutiful citizen and parent of two adult daughters, Pastor Cherry also has served the City of Greenville’s Weed and Seed program and the Greenville Police Community Relations Committee; the Pitt County Sheriff’s Project Safe Neighborhood; and currently sits on the board of directors of the Pitt County Council on Aging.
Pastor Cherry met The Rev. Dr. Rodney Coles’ in 2008 and was impressed by his community outreach ministry and his service to Greenville’s poor and hungry. Since then, they have been ministering together to individuals and communities in need throughout Pitt County.
Pastor Donald Cherry has been the pastor of Children of God in Christ Church since 2019.
“Our church is the community,” he says. “God wants us all to help others, wherever they are in need. That’s what it’s all about.”
Pastor Cherry believes that faith springs from a personal relationship with God that leads each of us to our true purpose.
“To know God is to know yourself, trust Him with all your shortcomings and mistakes and continue to walk upright to the best of your ability while helping others to do the same,” Pastor Cherry says. “God does not seek the things of this world. He made the things in the world for us, but he made us for him. It gives me a great feeling and a sense of personal blessing to serve Christ and do God’s will.”
