Rev. Dr. Ronald L. Owens is presently serving as the Senior Pastor of the New Hope Baptist Church of Metuchen, NJ. He has the distinct honor of pastoring the church of his youth. God called Rev. Owens to his home church in 1990, after serving his first pastorate for over twelve years. Since being at New Hope, the membership has grown tremendously with many active ministries serving the community. The church has a full time staff of three and seven associate ministers serving the congregation.
Pastor Owens has degrees from Virginia Union University, Richmond, VA; Northeastern Bible College, Essex Fells, NJ; Andersonville Baptist Seminary, Camille, GA; and his Doctorate in Ministry at the Master's Divinity School, Evansville, IN.
Dr. Owens is a former member of the Board of Supervisors for Field Ministry at Princeton Theological Seminary, and the Ad-Hoc Committee for Minority Recruitment for Robert Wood Medical School at Rutgers University. He was the past president of the Metuchen/Edison Clergy Association and former Vice-Chairman for the Democratic Party of Middlesex County NJ. Dr. Owens was the General Secretary for the General Baptist State Convention of NJ, which represents four hundred (400) member churches. He served as Chairman of the Board for the Chad Schools of Newark, NJ were he oversaw a budget of more than six million ($6,000,000) dollars annually. He is President and CEO of the House Of Hope Community Development Corporation of NJ, and is the first Chaplain in the history of the Metuchen Police and Fire Departments where he serves in crisis counseling in times of disaster and loss of life. He is a Past Moderator of the Middlesex Central Baptist Association, Inc. representing over forty churches. Dr. Owens in September of 2015 had the honor of being appointed to the Board of Directors of the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc., which represents 8.5 million members and 30,000 Congregations world-wide, by its president the Rev. Dr. Jerry Young. Dr. Owens had the responsibility of overseeing the Northeast Region which include 13 states from Vermont to Virginia.
Dr. Owens is a Life Member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and a member of The Prince Hall Masons of New Jersey, where he serves in the Grand Lodge as Grand Chaplain Emeritus.
Pastor Owens has received numerous awards including the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Martin Luther King award for outstanding academic achievement and community service; the NAACP Merv Alexander Political Award for his political leadership in Middlesex County; the American Association of Affirmative Action Community Service award; the YMCA of New Jersey Minority (Black) Achievers Award, elected to the Heritage Registry of Who's Who in America 2005-2006 and has a multitude of commendations and proclamations from the President of the United States, Senators, Congressman, Governors, and Mayors.
Dr. Owens is married permanently to the former Cheryl Jones, they are the parents of two adult daughters, Tracy Conner, and Kimberly Owens, and blessed to have four terrific grandsons and three great-granddaughters.
