Rev. Marc Antoine Lavarin serves as the Pastor-Elect of the First Calvary Baptist Church in Durham, North Carolina. As a proud Bostonian, Pastor Marc completed his undergraduate studies at Northeastern University, graduating cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science, concentrating in Public Policy and Administration. Upon graduating, he was selected to be a part of Teach for America’s Massachusetts cohort, where he taught 5th and 6th-grade History. While teaching, Pastor Marc earned his Master of Education degree from Boston University. After two years of teaching, Pastor Marc submitted to the call of ministry by completing his Master of Divinity degree at Duke University where he received the Martin Luther King Jr. and Dean scholarship. Upon the completion of his degree, Pastor Marc was ordained at the Evangelical First Haitian Baptist Church of Worcester, Massachusetts, under the direction of his father, Rev. Antoine Lavarin.

Prior to his call to First Calvary, Pastor Marc served as an Assistant Minister at the historic Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, VA, under the leadership of the Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley. Currently, Pastor Marc is completing his Doctorate of Ministry degree in Educational Leadership from Virginia Theological Seminary concentrating on the influence of the Black Church on K-12 education. Pastor Marc is a published author, with his newest contribution “Let the Schoolhouse Say Amen: The Pedagogical Congruency Between the Black Church and Critical Literacy”, set to be published by Information Age Publishing Company. Pastor Marc’s passion lies at the intersection of faith, education, and policy, where he hopes to inspire communities to be moral and ethical agents of change.
 
Pastor Marc is married to his best friend, Barbara Lavarin, who hails from Brooklyn, NY, and is an ordained minister and gifted poet. Together they hope to inspire communities and people to discover their potential and purpose! Pastor Marc is a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.