Rev. Dr. Evalina Huggins Is Leaning Into Ministry

“Listen, I have never sought to do ministry for accolades or affirmation, which is why I have almost found it impossible to go around and talk about the kind(s) of ministry that God has gifted and graced me to share. The bottom line is that I’ve always sought to improve what I was given, and I discovered that each accomplishment, assignment, and appointment made me better.””

Evalina Huggins is a driven, passionate, energetic, authentic, intelligent, and compassionate Servant Leader who has provided stellar leadership for over 40 years in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. But did you know that in 1984, while attending Atlantic Christian College in Wilson, NC, Bishop James Clinton Hoggard sent her on loan to the Christian Church Disciples of Christ, where she was both ordained and sent to Pastor in that denomination while maintaining her credentials in Zion? I am writing this article because many want to know who Dr. Huggins is. Where does she come from?  And what’s next in her life and ministry? I hope this article will compel you to get to know her for yourself, and I am sure your encounter will be fruitful, fulfilling, and maybe even funny. You may even walk away with these descriptive words to describe her: authentic, honest, genuine, and down to earth.

For some, Dr. Evalina Huggins may have appeared out of nowhere. Still, for those who have their ears to the ground and can feel the pulse and heartbeat of Zion, then you know she is an outstanding Pastor and progressive Presiding Elder whose work can be seen and felt across the length and breadth of the church. And, before I go too far, she is a preacher par excellent.  Without fanfare, Dr. Huggins has been an agent of change, transformation, and hope for people in the church and communities where she has been blessed to serve. When I asked her why she does not share all the accomplishments she has achieved as a leader, her response was, “Listen, I have never sought to do ministry for accolades or affirmation, which is why I have almost found it impossible to go around and talk about the kind(s) of ministry that God has gifted and graced me to share. The bottom line is that I’ve always sought to improve what I was given, and I discovered that each accomplishment, assignment, and appointment made me better.”  

Who is this lady? Where did she come from? And what’s next for her? Well, let’s start with who she is… Dr. Huggins, or “Easy E” or “Revalina” to some, is the only daughter of Elvin and Martha Huggins. She graduated from TC Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia. She matriculated at Atlantic Christian College in Wilson, North Carolina, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Religion and Philosophy. She minored in Spanish, History, and Coaching Athletics. With the aid of Bishop James Clinton Hoggard and his ecumenical ties, she attended Lexington Theological Seminary, where she received a Master of Divinity degree and a degree in Counseling (a dual degree program). She went to Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, to work on her Doctorate but found herself pursuing a Doctor of Education degree at the Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, IL. She received her Doctor of Ministry degree from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC. Lastly, she obtained an Associate’s degree in Mortuary Science from the University of the District of Columbia.

Ultimately, she received a Doctor of Ministry degree from Wesley Theological Seminary. In 2012, she returned to the University of the District of Columbia for an Associate’s degree in Applied Sciences, graduating with a Mortuary Science degree.

Dr. Huggins reached the Supervisory Level in Clinical Pastoral Education while working at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington, DC, where she was assigned to work with the criminally insane. She is also Certified in Missouri as a Qualified Mental Health Professional, licensed in Maryland as a Professional Counselor, and licensed in Washington, DC, and Maryland as a Funeral Director and Embalmer with privileges in Virginia. All of her life experiences have led to the publication of three books entitled “A Few Days of Rest: Exploring Sabbath in Life and Ministry,” “Press Your Claim: A Paradigm for Preaching out of Personal Experiences,” “The Work and Ministry of Class Leaders – A Historical and Contemporary Perspective.”  Dr. Huggins is currently the compiler of the first Presiding Elders Manual for the office of the Presiding Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.

If this is not enough, did I tell you she has written and managed over 7 million dollars in grants since 2020? She has received National, State, and local grant funding for the local church, the Baltimore District, where she is the Elder, and the Mid-Atlantic Episcopal District. These grants have helped to fund the restoration of the church she is currently pastoring. She is undertaking a 10-million-dollar restoration, rehabilitation, and expansion project funded 95% by grant and community funding. In the district, she received several grants that assisted in planting a new congregation, provided resources for her Evangelism department, supported the WHOM Society, and assisted several of her small congregations with programmatic support. In the Mid-Atlantic Episcopal District, she has written and served as the project manager for five grant awards through the University of Maryland Department of Health. These funds have allowed her to employ pastors and lay persons across the Episcopal area to engage in COVID referrals, education, and event planning for various health disparities. These funds have also assisted local churches significantly, allowing them access to alternative income streams to do ministry.

Despite the multiple projects she manages, along with giving oversight to 19 churches in her district, mentoring young preachers, serving on the Conference and Connectional level, working as Chaplain of the Presiding Elders’ Council, serving as a reader across Zion for her doctoral thesis, building and restoring a new church, and Pastoring; Dr. Huggins like so many of us is the glue that holds her family together. She loves to travel, cuddle with her two English Bulldogs, Tank and Thor, and make Zion and Emani happy. With no biological children, she is pursuing legal custody of her great-nephew and niece, Zion and Emani, who have brought much joy to her life over this past year. This is a lady who learned to “lean into life and ministry.”

Where did she come from? Dr. Huggins was born to sharecropper parents in Columbia, South Carolina. She and her three brothers learned the value of hard work early in life. She discovered that while the cotton and tobacco fields, soybean crops, and wood-burning stoves were rough on family life, it was the family supporting and loving each other that brought them through “Jim Crow” and the racism she first encountered in the deep South. When I asked her what that was like, she said, “I watched my father, a strong black man, lower his head in the presence of Whites or move to the opposite side of the street if they were walking,” and my mother be forced to take care children that were not her own. I did not understand it then, but I do now, given the climate that we live in today.”  This has given her a strength and resilience that most people don’t understand or misunderstand. From a distance, Dr. Huggins wears her strength, but up close and personal, you will find her to be one of the most compassionate, giving, and genuine people you will ever encounter. What stands out to every person who meets her is her comedic personality. She loves to laugh and to make others laugh, which is also a trait that endears her to others.

Where did she come from? Well, I’m glad you asked. Dr. Evalina Huggins is a product of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, where she has been nurtured all her life. While a native of Columbia, South Carolina, she grew up in the Alleyne AME Zion Church in Alexandria, Virginia. It was here that her grandparents, Sunday School teachers, and youth workers made sure she attended church and became involved in the church. Like so many of you reading this article, the BUDS of Promise and other WHOMS departments and the Christian Education work both in the local church and the district where her faith formation began. Dr. Huggins admits that her parents did not attend church faithfully, but the church was where she was affirmed. The church seemed to recognize the gifts in her and began to cultivate those gifts by giving her opportunities to be involved and, ultimately, to lead her peers.

Dr. Huggins’ involvement in the church helped to motivate her to accept her call at 15 years of age under the late Henry Hampton Sink, then Presiding Elder. At the direction of Bishop Charles H. Foggie, she was asked to “wait” and continue to grow spiritually by serving as an Exhorter.  Under the leadership of Presiding Elder James W. Page, she was referred the very next year to Bishop James Clinton Hoggard, who issued her the local preachers license in 1982 and, subsequently, the very next year, her traveling preacher license, given that she was preparing to go off to college. In 1984, Dr. Huggins left for college and came home to find that Bishop Milton A. Williams was the new Bishop who ordained her a Deacon in 1986 and an Elder in 1987. “I always believed the Lord has his hand upon my life and ministry from the very beginning and always gave me leadership that helped to develop me,” says Dr. Huggins. And the rest is history.

Who is she? Well, she has served in seven pastorates and at the District and Conference level in almost every capacity. Secretary of the Philadelphia and Baltimore Conference for 24 years, Instructor for conference studies, Home Missions treasurer, Mid-Atlantic Leadership Dean, Conference Trustee, and so on... But if you ask her the most excellent highlight of her ministry, she will say, “the honor of having someone call you Pastor.” Dr. Huggins has been elected to eight consecutive General Conferences as a delegate, so she has learned and traveled the church. Simply put, she is a phenomenal woman. Who is she, a WOMAN who has learned to lean into all God promised for her life and ministry?

What is next for the Rev. Dr. Evalina Huggins? “I wish people would stop asking me that question because none of us know what is next in our lives except God. I have learned to take one day at a time and make the most of the day that God has given. There have been times when I have been able to do this without compromise, and then there are other times when I have failed myself and God miserably, but aren’t you glad we serve a God who favors us repeatedly…”. More than anywhere else in my conversation with Dr. Huggins, I felt her heart here as she was willing to share with me that while God has gifted and graced her to serve as a Preacher and Pastor, she understands God’s choice to use her with her flaws, faults, and failures, is nothing more than the grace of God extended towards her.  

“Easy E,” as she is affectionately known, is focused on rebuilding and restoring the Scotland A.M.E. Zion Church. She must still manage and write grants designed to help others. She has nineteen churches in her district that needs her continual leadership and collegiality. She has a Presiding Elders’ manual to complete before the General Conference. She has teaching and preaching obligations which demand her attention. She has members that need the care and love of their Pastor. She must work even harder to ensure community engagement is not lost among everything else she has to do. She has councils and boards that require her voice and leadership. She has a family that sees her as the Spiritual matriarch. She has Zion and Emani, who need her love as much as she needs theirs. And finally, she has “Tank” and “Thor,” her English Bulldogs, who need to go for a walk… Dr. Huggins says, “Whatever God has destined for me next, I’ve got to trust him through the process while leaning into the ministry God has set before me.”