Pastor Barbara Gunn is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She accepted the Lord Jesus as Savior in her teens and by her early twenties, she knew God had special plans for her. She openly confessed the call to preach the gospel in 1985 at which time she was licensed at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, Pittsburgh where Dr. J. V. A. Winsett pastored.
Barbara had been working as a corporate level manager for Dun & Bradstreet for 14 years when she was called to her first pastorate in 1989. With the call to First Baptist Church of North Vandergrift, Pennsylvanian, Barbara became the first woman in Western Pennsylvania to be called to an established Baptist Church.
During her more than 11 years tenure there, Pastor Gunn went on to become the first woman Director of Evangelism for the Pittsburgh Baptist Minister’s Conference, and in 1999 was appointed the first female Deputy Executive Secretary for the Allegheny Union Baptist Association. Pastor Gunn’s theological training was done at American Baptist College, Geneva College Center for Urban Ministry, and Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary where she received her Master’s Degree in May 2008.
An avid traveler, Pastor Gunn has done mission in the country of Haiti, West Indies. She has also preached in Manheim, Germany and Jerusalem, Israel. In 2003, Pastor Gunn was invited to do a preaching crusade along with 121 other pastors in St. Peterburg, Russia. She is an Adjunct Instructor for Geneva Center for Urban Biblical Ministry and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.
In February of 2000, Barbara was called to her second pastorate – Mount Carmel Baptist Church in North Versailles, Pennsylvania. During her pastorate at Mount Carmel, her accomplishments have been many. The mortgage on the church was paid off four years early, a new elevator was built and installed; the church parking lot has been paved; the offices of the church were renovated including adding another bathroom; and a new sound booth was built along with purchasing and installing new computers, sound, and audio equipment. Clergy advancements include ordaining fourteen preachers, five deacons and dedicating thirteen deaconesses. In 2003, Pastor Gunn envisioned and established “An Ounce of Prevention” (ANOP), a nonprofit organization designed to bring awareness and support to underserved at-risk families in North Versailles and the Mon-Valley area.
In September 1994, the Lord called home her beloved husband, Luther, after 28 years of marriage. Pastor Gunn has one beloved daughter, Mrs. Kelly McDaniel, and two beautiful granddaughters, 16-year-old Faith McDaniel, and Jule McDaniel, a Civil Engineer. To God be the glory for the things He has done.