Chaplain Swindell Edwards

Biographical Sketch

Reverend Dr. Swindell Edwards was born in Middlesex, North Carolina and is the son of the late Mr. Frank and Barbara Edwards.  He is the Great Grandson of the late Henry and Neppie Stancil. He is the fourth child of five children. He is married to a beautiful, powerhouse, woman of God and Pastor, Sharon Edwards. He received his early education in the Nash County public school system in North Carolina. Reverend Edwards brings to the ceremonial position of Chaplain thirty-eight years of ministry with a rich and varied career of academic and ecclesiastical leadership.

He was nurtured in the Christian Methodist Episcopal (C.M.E.) tradition and now serves as the Regional Clinical Chaplain II for the Mountain and Central Regions of North Carolina Department of Public Safety.
He approaches his teaching and preaching with a keen sense of the centrality of spiritual empowerment and quality for the work of “Kingdom Building.”  Throughout his years of professional service, he tries to promote the demanding and delicate balance of mature personal piety and rigorous intellectual preparedness for excellence in ministry.

He received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology from St. Augustine’s College, Masters of Divinity from Duke University, Masters in Public Administration from Valdosta State University, and Clinical Pastoral Certification from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and his Doctorate from Jefferson International in Raleigh, NC.
 
He has tremendous leadership ability, Shepherding three Christian Methodist Churches and one United Methodist Church.  He served ten years active duty in U.S. Naval Chaplain Corps and two years in the Naval Reserve as Chaplain with the U.S. Marines.  He served as Campus Chaplain at Edward Waters College of Jacksonville, Florida; Case Manager for the Department of Children and Families in Jacksonville, Florida; Senior Chaplain at the Gateway Center for the homeless, Atlanta, Georgia, Assistant Chaplain at the Jefferson Correctional Institution of Monticella, Florida, and Lanesboro Correctional Institution, Polkton, NC.  He now serves in the position of Regional Clinical Chaplain II for NCDPS.

Chaplain Edwards lives by the quote, “You are hereby divine action and you are here for a purpose, and you have got to make a contribution to the society and culture in which you live.  If you do not have a sense of self-hood, then you do not have the basic thing to ever become anything.” By Lerone Bennette, Jr.