ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Updated May 11, 2007
The author of these archived articles is Chester M. Wright. His father was a career officer in the U.S. Navy and his mother was an active member of a United Pentecostal Church when he was born on February 18, 1946 in Pensacola, Florida. By the time he was 18 he had lived and had attended various UPC churches in every major geographical area of the United States.
At age 7 Chester attended a UPC church in San Diego, California and first sought to receive the Holy Ghost at age 9 in Memphis, Tennessee. He was filled with the Holy Ghost and baptized in Jesus name at age 12 in Jacksonville, Florida. At 14 he publicly acknowledged a call to preach the Gospel in a youth camp in Old Town, Maine and delivered his first message at a youth service in Cranston, Rhode Island. He graduated from high school in Oxon Hill, Maryland and in June of 1964, he entered the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. There he attended the Naval Academy Chapel services as there was no church of his faith anywhere in the greater Annapolis area.
While at the Naval Academy, Chester witnessed to and led seven Midshipmen to receive the Holy Ghost and be baptized in Jesus name. In June of 1967, he preached his first “sermon” in a church service in Blytheville, Arkansas. After graduating from the Naval Academy in June of 1968 and entering flight training, he married the former Alice F Singletary on November 1, 1968 in Pensacola, Florida. The United Pentecostal Church granted him a Local License on November 14, 1968 in Ocala, Florida.
Then, on December 4, 1968, Chester awoke with a pain in his shoulder. Three days later he was diagnosed with “right-winged scapula,” a paralysis of the muscle group which controls the shoulder blade. He was placed on limited duty for a year, during which time he was able to preach several revival meetings. The Florida District of the United Pentecostal Church granted him General License in November, 1969 and the following month the U.S. Navy medically retired him as a Lieutenant JG (Junior Grade).
From December, 1969 to September, 1970, Chester and Alice evangelized full-time in Mississippi, Florida, and South Carolina. On September 12, 1970, they moved to Annapolis, Maryland to pioneer a new church under the auspices of the Home Missions Division and the East Central District of the United Pentecostal Church. At that time he was 24 and she was only 19, and there were no people of their faith in the entire vicinity of Annapolis. In May of the following year Chester was ordained in Morgantown, West Virginia.
Today, Antioch, The Apostolic Church in Annapolis has over 1000 members with regular Sunday morning church attendance averaging around 850. From the ministry at Antioch, 21 autonomous churches have been started and more than 90 ministers have found their calling, including 3 serving full-time on foreign fields. The church incorporates a full-time staff of 11 and has sponsored the Antioch Christian School (grades K-12) since 1978. There are currently 18 different Sunday morning ministries of Antioch which meet at locations in Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, Baltimore City, Prince Georges County, and Calvert County. New ministries are in the process of being opened in Washington, DC and the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
Chester now serves as the Bishop of the Antioch Church and his eldest son David serves as the senior pastor. Through almost 39 years of ministry Bishop Wright has served as District Sunday School Secretary, District Sunday School Director, Sectional Presbyter, District Home Missions Director, Northeast Regional Home Missions Director, Maryland-DC District Superintendent, Co-Chairman of Global Conquest / Global Vision, District Revival Coordinator, and Chairman of Focus-DC. He has been privileged to minister on every continent except Australia. In conjunction with Brother William Sciscoe, he worked to establish and has conducted Manna-Fest, a ministry which promotes revival, end time harvest, faith, and spiritual ministry through power-packed meetings across the country and overseas. He is currently serving once again as the District Superintendent of the Maryland-DC District of the United Pentecostal Church International.
Chester has authored and published The Missing Half of the Church, Care Ministry Guidebook, and Care Group Leaders Handbook. His latest work Relationship or Religion, Your Choice will soon be published and available and three other works are currently being edited and prepared for printing.
Bishop and Sister Wright have two sons and two daughters(-in-law) and five grandchildren. Other than Jesus, their family is more important to them than anything else.