Every Sunday morning, you’ll find Pastor Gilbert M. Mack, Jr. ’87 preaching to hundreds of people at Winchester, Virginia’s Mt. Carmel Baptist Church. Looking into the faces of the 500 members, you may not guess that this is an historically African-American church.

In the 10 years since he became pastor, Mack has made it his mission to embrace multiculturalism. He has been so successful that an additional 700 Hispanic members now hold their own services in Spanish.

“One of my biggest accomplishments is being able to empower people to move to a point of multicultural worship and life,” says Mack, now a Ph.D. candidate at Friends International University. “We’ve established a footprint and examples for others to follow.”

Mack was a former basketball player, ROTC cadet and Sociology major at McDaniel. He never intended to become a preacher, although he admits he was inspired by a class taught by Professor of Religious Studies Emeritus Ira Zepp.

After graduation, Mack was trained as a maintenance platoon leader in the Army Reserves and worked at Firestone Tire Company. That is, until one Sunday morning when everything changed.

“There was a lot missing in my life and I went to hear a friend sing at First Mount Olive Free Will Baptist Church in Baltimore,” says Mack. “That’s when I had a spiritual awakening.”

Mack went on to study at Howard University School of Divinity and become a youth pastor in Washington, D.C. After joining Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in 1997, he began inviting other cultures to attend the services. The church has grown so rapidly that it moved in 2005 to a new building on an 8-acre campus. He has just created a non-profit community development corporation to address affordable housing and at-risk children. And he is in the process of establishing a Christian academy that specializes in performing arts.

All this from a man who claims he was not so spiritual in college. Yet, Mack admits his experience on the Hill sowed the seeds of his future.

“Having the exposure to college was a culture shock, coming from the inner city of Baltimore with a single mom on welfare,” says Mack. “But after the culture shock wore off, I was exposed to different people, things and opportunities that gave me the confidence that I could do anything.”