Stewart To Be Installed As First Baptist Pastor

First Baptist Church of Covington will celebrate the pastoral installation of the Rev. Rosetta V. Stewart, who will become the church’s 18th pastor and the first African-American woman pastor, on Saturday, Oct.23.

The installation service will take place at the First Christian Church and Family Life Center in Covington. The guest installation preacher will be the Rev. Terry D. Streeter, pastor of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, Washington, D.C. Music will be rendered by the Resurrecting Praise Community Choir.

Rev. Stewart is the daughter of Deaconess Leatha Stewart and the late Deacon Dennie W. Stewart. Rev. Stewart graduated from Covington High School (class of 1968) and Dabney S. Lancaster Community College (class of 1970). After leaving Covington, Rev. Stewart completed her B.A. Degree in Psychology (class of 1975), M.A. Degree in International Relations, (class of 1981), and completed her doctoral coursework, all from the University of Maryland in College Park, Md. Instead of completing her Ph. Degree, Divine interventions led her to the Howard University School of Divinity in Washington, D.C. where she received her M. Div. Degree (class of 2003) and was awarded The W. O. Carrington Foundation Award as “a student who demonstrates a high degree of excellence in her preparation and sermon delivery, characterized by exegetical and theological integrity.”

Rev. Stewart was licensed to preach in 2003, and received her Certificate of Ordination in 2004, from the Metropolitan Baptist Church ( formerly of Washington, D.C.) under the pastorate of the now Senior Servant Emeritus, Rev. Dr. H. Beecher Hicks Jr.

In 2018, Rev. Stewart became the associate pastor at First Baptist under the pastorate of Rev. Willie Cannon Upon Pastor Cannon’s resignation in 2019, Pastor Stewart continued to perform the pastoral duties for the church and community until she was called to become the pastor of First Baptist Church.

Rev. Stewart taught elementary education in Washington, D.C. and in Alexandria City Public Schools (VA) where she retired in 2017. She has three children, Keniti, Brady, and Danowlin, and a total of 15 grandchildren. Rev. Stewart is now a registered Virginia resident