Pastor Mark Riddix, III

Reverend Mark Riddix III is a third generation pastor, licensed in the church of his upbringing, Mount Zion Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland. He was educated in the Baltimore City School System at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute. Upon graduation, he attended Oral Roberts University, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance. He attained his Master of Arts Degree in Theology with a concentration in New Testament Studies from Saint Mary’s Seminary & University. Pastor Mark has completed all of the requirements for his Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance. He is currently pursuing doctoral studies working towards a Ph.D. in theology.

He currently serves as the Pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church. He has served as the youth minister, taught youth bible studies, conducted a youth finance & investment club, and coordinated youth activities. He participated in the Mentoring Training Program to gain the necessary skills to mentor young men in the church and community. He preached his initial sermon in 2002 and was licensed to preach on September 20, 2004. He was ordained on May 24, 2007. Pastor Mark was named the Pastor on November 6, 2011 and was officially installed as the Senior Pastor on July 29, 2012.

Pastor Mark is passionate about community cohesiveness, social justice and economic empowerment. He gave up a successful investment business to pursue the calling of God for his life. He has written a personal finance column for Baltimore and Washington metropolitan newspapers and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Black Enterprise, New York Daily News, Afro American Newspaper, Minyanville, Investopedia, Yahoo Finance, and Google Finance. He has led financial planning workshops, entrepreneurship conferences, investment meetings, and money management seminars to help individuals become better financial stewards of their resources. He has a heart for the homeless, impoverished, elderly, fatherless, and individuals in need. His goal is to help people realize the fullness of the dignity that God has ascribed to each person and to help them walk into their God given purpose and calling helping to advance the kingdom of God on the earth.

He believes that the twenty first century church exists to address many of the needs that ail contemporary society. The church is called to be a Christ centered community that is a beacon of light in a dark world. He sees the church as a living breathing transformational agent sanctioned and empowered by God to impact the community through its visible presence in the world. The church is a center of learning, enlightenment, growth, healing, and wholeness. The scripture that encourages Pastor Mark the most in the area of ministry is found in Luke 4.

“The Spirit of Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
Luke 4:18 & 19