Pastor Selena Brown to be Keynote Speaker at 2026 ESU MLK Celebration Breakfast

East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania has selected Pastor Selena Dionne Brown, Campus Pastor of The Greater Shiloh Church, to be the keynote speaker for the 2026 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Breakfast. The 29^th annual celebration honoring Dr. King is scheduled for Monday, January 19, 2026, at 8 a.m. The theme of this year's breakfast is "Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of home." The breakfast will be held at Terraview at Stroudsmoor Country Inn.

Pastor Selena Dionne Brown is the Campus Pastor and Director of Youth and Community Involvement for the Greater Shiloh Church-Stroudsburg Campus under the leadership of Sr. Pastor Phillip and Co-Pastor Kristina Davis. Born in Durham, N.C. and raised in Jamaica, N.Y., she has served diligently in various areas of ministry for over 30 years.

After returning to Durham in 1997, Pastor Brown served at the New Life Christian Center under the leadership of Pastors Andrew and Cheryl Singletary until she moved to Pennsylvania in September 2004.

An entrepreneur and licensed cosmetologist by trade, Pastor Brown was in search of a permanent church where her family could worship when she was invited by one of her clients to attend a Women of Excellence Conference at the Greater Shiloh Church in 2005. It was at that conference that Pastor Brown heard the voice of God as He confirmed that she had been led to what would be her permanent church home.

In 2011, after years of serving in Youth and Women's Ministry, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and Sr. Pastor Davis, she accepted the call to preach the Gospel and began her ministerial and education requirements. On December 20, 2015, she was licensed as a Minister of the Greater Shiloh Church.

In 2018, Pastor Brown retired from the field of cosmetology to accept a fulltime position in ministry and was appointed Director of Youth and Community Involvement. Throughout her tenure at Greater Shiloh Church, Pastor Brown serves in the ministry as a Sunday School teacher, Women's Ministry liaison, Bible Class teacher, Youth Ministry leader and Community Involvement liaison.

In September 2019, Pastor Brown was ordained to the office of Campus Pastor of the Greater Shiloh Church. Pastor Selena Brown has been anointed and appointed to preach God's Word in and out of season, without looking for fame or fortune.

Pastor Selena Brown is the mother of three adult sons, Dernard, Joshua and Daniel.

Reserve a Space Today

Reservations are now being taken for the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Breakfast at a cost of $45 per person, $20 per student and $450 for a table of ten. Proceeds will benefit the Mary Gertrude Smith Boddie Scholarship Fund at ESU, which provides financial assistance to undergraduate students who show a commitment to social justice through community and/or university service. In 1904, Ms. Boddie was the first African American student to graduate from what was then known as East Stroudsburg State Normal School and ultimately became East Stroudsburg University in 1983. Reserve your seat today.

As a result of the breakfast, four Boddie Scholarship awardees will each receive a $4,200 scholarship award for the Spring 2026 semester. Scholarship winners are selected based on their ability to demonstrate their commitment to Dr. King's philosophy of non-violence, equality, justice, cultural diversity, and respect for humanity.

Breakfast organizers are asking regional business organizations to consider becoming a sponsor of this community event. For more information on sponsorship opportunities, call the ESU Foundation at 570-422-7000.

For more information about the Celebration Breakfast or for special accommodations, contact Lyesha Fleming, director for the Center for Multicultural Affairs and Inclusive Education at (570) 422-3896 or email [email protected].