| Rev. Carl Wayne Scott Gilliard was born in Savannah, Georgia. Rev. Gilliard was raised in the Chatham County Schools, where he attended A.E. Beach High School. He later attended Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia. It was here that his community career began, working as the national youth coordinator for then presidential candidate, the Rev. Jesse Jackson. During this time, he met his "mentor for life" Rev. Dr. Hosea Williams. While working with Rev. Williams, he had the opportunity at a young age to work with national leadership such as the late Rev. Dr. Ralph Abernathy, Rev. Joseph Lowery, NBA Hall of Famer Walt Bellamy, former wrestler Thunderbolt Patterson and the late Mrs. Coretta Scott King. Under the direction of his mentor, Rev. Hosea Williams, and after the loss of two friends to senseless murders, Rev. Gilliard returned to Savannah to take action against the violence that was plaguing the city. Rev. Gilliard knows how to relate to today's generation because he formed one of the first positive rap groups in the nation entitled "Candylove." Candylove toured nationally and became the first rap group to render public service announcements for the United Negro College Fund, Coca Cola, the Georgia Department of Family Services, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Nelson Mandela and the National Stop the Violence Campaign with Tommy Lasorda of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Continuing his work in Savannah, Rev. Gilliard was responsible for forming the largest youth organization of its time, Project L.O.V.E., Inc. He was also the founder of the Chatham County Youth Commission, the Saturday Morning Academy and the anointed Savannah Drama Club. Rev. Gilliard led several anti-crime initiatives, including prayer vigils, after school programs and the campaign for life. In 1991, more than 800 citizens elected him as chairman of a citizens' roundtable called "Unity In our Community" and in 1996, Rev. Gilliard was appointed to the Children's Task Force on Violence. Rev. Gilliard believes in the teachings of another pastor, the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., when he talks about the "Drum Major Instinct". Rev. Gilliard was the first AfricanAmerican writer for Connect Savannah, and he has also written four national gospel plays. He has hosted the number one talk radio show in Savannah for ten years on WSOK's "Tell It Like It Is" in addition to hosting television shows on Cable 7's "The Savannah Edition" for ten years and programmed Gospel Inspirations on UPN on 103.9 FM and on AM 1400 for five years. In 1995, Rev. Gilliard, accepted the "Call of Ministry" and was ordained to walk with the highest form of leadership for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He later served as pastor of The Miracle Christian Life Center for six years until he was recently appointed by the National Office of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to be the current president of the Georgia Coastal SCLC. In 2009, he and his family sponsored a citywide Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless and working poor. After seeing the overwhelming response from the community, it became apparent that attending to the needs of the poor and homeless only once a month was not enough. He founded Feed the Hungry Inc., a non-profit 501(c)3 state corporation whose mission is to feed, aid and restore dignity to the working poor and homeless by moving individuals and families toward self-sufficiency. Since 2009, Feed the Hungry has served over 450, 000 servings of hot meals and fresh produce. In 2011, Rev. Gilliard opened the doors of the Family Life Center which has had a powerful impact on the community by providing after school programs, re-entry programs, weekly food giveaways, nutrition cooking classes, emergency food giveaways, free furniture to needy families, weekly worship services and conferences. The Family Life Center is now one church with three locations. In 2012, Rev. Gilliard launched a multimedia communication company called Urban Media and also established the Gilliard Foundation. This is a media company and foundation that produces documentaries and television specials on history. Rev. Gilliard has received numerous local and national awards including more recently being named one of the Top 100 Most Influential Men in Georgia in 2009 and the SCLC Drum Major Award. Rev. Gilliard currently is featured every week on the Magic Morning show with his highly rated "Word Up Segment". He also has a weekly broadcast entitled the "FLC Encounter" on three FM stations and one AM station. He recently received a Doctrine of Divinity from the New Generation School of Seminary, and his organization, Feed the Hungry, now serves 10 cities in Georgia and four in South Carolina. |