Reverend Reginald G. Barnes, Sr. is the General Secretary of the General Board of Personnel Services for the CME Church and is a 5-year member of the Board of Directors of the General Board of Personnel Services and a Trustee of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church Retirement Plan.

Reverend Barnes has served as an effective pastor with 22 years of experience having led the Midway CME Church in Shady Dale, GA for two years, St. James CME Church in Columbus, GA for six years, West Side Community CME Church, Atlanta, GA for five years, the historic Brown Memorial CME Church, Louisville, KY for seven years and the Polk Chapel CME Church, Memphis, TN for two years (where he presently serves). Within the Connectional Church, he has served on the Committee on Ministerial Examination of the West Georgia Region, Chair of the Joint Board of Finance of the GA North Region, and Chair of the Joint Board of Finance of the Kentucky Region. A Georgia native, he was reared in Atlanta at the Butler Street CME Church. In 2008, he earned the M. Div. degree with honors from the Phillips School of Theology at the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta where he also served a year as the student representative on the Board of Trustees. In 2023, he received the honorary degree, Doctor of Human Letters from Texas College.

A 1991 Hampton University honors graduate with a BS in Economics, Reverend Barnes was employed over 12 years in commercial banking with most of this time spent with Bank of America and SouthTrust Bank. In these roles he excelled as a credit analyst, underwriter, loan officer and business development advisor and managed a loan portfolio of over $30 million. These skills were honed by his additional affiliation with the NAACP’s Community Development Resource Center as the Business Development Officer for Georgia and with Business Georgia (a SBA firm).

Reverend Barnes is married to the former Shonda C. Collier, and they are the thankful parents of two children, Dr. Amanda (Arkel) Eastern, and US Army Specialist Gary Barnes. He served has president and on the Board for CLOUT (Citizens of Louisville Organized and United Together) in Louisville and served as co-chair of their Community Safety and Equity committee. Under his tenure as president of CLOUT, he was instrumental in getting Metro Council to commitment to $10 Million in funding for Louisville’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund. Additionally, he is a founding member of CPR – Concerned Pastors of Russell in Louisville, Vice Chairman of the Zion Community Project, Inc. in Memphis, TN and he is a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.