Our Pastor
Reverend Carl McCluster serves in his 28th year as the Senior Pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He is the President of Faith Community Development Corporation, the faith-based Community development Corporation chartered by Shiloh Baptist Church. Pastor McCluster is a former Chairperson and current member of the South End Neighborhood Revitalization Zone in Bridgeport, working on Development, Planning and Education issues in the South End Neighborhood and city of Bridgeport. He is also the former Director of Economic Development for the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of Greater Bridgeport and Vicinity (78 member Churches representing 16 Denominations). Reverend McCluster serves as a Lecturer on Financial Affairs and Director of Housing & Development for the Connecticut State Missionary Baptist Convention. Pastor McCluster has also served as the Economic Development Coordinator for the New England Missionary Baptist Convention (9 States throughout New England). He is a former Board Member of the Greater Bridgeport Chamber of Commerce and Neighborhood Housing Services of Bridgeport, as well as the United Way of Greater New Haven and H.O.M.E. Inc, a non-profit community housing development agency in the same city.
Pastor McCluster is also the Managing Director for F.R.E.E.D.O.M. (Faith Restoration Empowerment & Economic Development Outreach Ministries, Inc.)a National consulting firm empowering faith-based Organizations, Community Economic Development Corporations and Communities with offices and/or projects and affiliates in Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Connecticut, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Little Rock, New Orleans, Oakland, Orlando, Providence, San Antonio, Washington, D.C. and other locations throughout the United States.
F.R.E.E.D.O.M.’s client portfolio profile includes consulting for FDIC, HUD and The Federal Home Loan Bank as well as myriad national and regional financial institutions and serving as a Trainer for Neighbor Works America, the largest HUD national housing intermediary. Pastor McCluster’s secular work experiences include Assistant Vice President for the former Manufacturers Hanover Investment Banking Division, Xerox Corporation and Proctor & Gamble Corporation. A former U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet, Reverend McCluster received the Meritorious Service Medal when he was honorable discharged from the United States Army.
Reverend McCluster holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Economy from the Colorado College and Master of Public and Private Management Degree Candidate Status from the Yale School of Organization and Management, and a Master of Divinity Degree from the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University. He has 3 Children, Christopher, Matthew and Bethany, and is blessed to be married to the anointed Woman of God, Sharon Magapu-McCluster.