Apostle Dr. Michelle Sledge is the pastor of Kingdom Entity Apostolic Ministries and the faith lead for the PHW mini-grant funded initiative that provides wellness programming to the food pantry of the church’s Resource Center located at 1062 East Avenue, Hassell, N.C.
The church started in Greenville, but relocated to Hassell after purchasing a church building in 2015. “We looked at the church. We loved the church and loved the community. Went around to the neighbors and asked them what they wanted to see happening in their community.”
While a move to a community with less than 100 residents may seem like the larger story, Sledge’s move to North Carolina is an intriguing one. How Sledge came to North Carolina is the result of a series of events where one could have easily questioned “Where is God in this?”
“[God] had been telling me for a while [to move south]. In 2011 I had a stroke and was in a nursing home for 8 months. My sister in Gastonia encouraged me to come down and I just never went back,” said Sledge who left Brooklyn, N.Y. in 2012.
“I had to learn how to walk all over again.”
Now she continues to not only walk, but is taking major steps as she and the congregation addresses food insecurity in the community where she has also served as the town’s mayor since 2017.
“Our goal is to reach as many people that are in need of our services that we can; whether they can get to us or we can get to them.”
