The Rev. Bridget L. Mitchell was born on April 26, 1969 to James W. Mitchell Sr. and Donna M. Mitchell in Kansas City, Missouri. She has two siblings, Tracy and James Jr. (deceased), mother to two daughters Sierra and Shelby, and grandmother to five.
Answering her call to ministry, under the leadership of The Rev. Stacy R. Evans, Rev. Mitchell attended the Board of Examiners and was ordained a Local Deacon in 2009, and subsequently, a Local Elder in 2011. She comes from a preaching family that have produced ministers of God in several denominations. Her great-grandfather, Bishop Arbra Thomas, was her greatest influence in the preached Word, and as one who grew up in the African Methodist Church, Rev. Mitchell has held various local and conference positions in YPD, Lay, and Missionary. However, Rev. Mitchell’s first love is music. Her natural talent led her to study gospel choir directing under the leadership of Sherman Johnson, Professor Michael Charles, Minister Robert Burns, and others in the 1980s. She has been assistant Minister of Music at her home church, Gregg Tabernacle where she directed three choirs, directed the Midwest Conference Youth Choir, formed the Unity Choir of Boonville, and sang with many groups around the Kansas City and Boonville areas. Rev. Mitchell is a classically trained flutist.
Rev. Mitchell, or Pastor Bridget as she is affectionately called, is the proud pastor of St. Matthew’s Chapel AMEC in Boonville Missouri and the former pastor of Campbell Chapel AMEC in Glasgow, Missouri. She is active in both communities and serves as Vice-President of the Boonslick Ministerial Alliance, the Mid-Missouri Ministerial Alliance, committee member on the Diversity Task Force and Bullying Committee Boonville School District, secretary of the Mid-Missouri Concerned Clergy Coalition, and served on the executive board of the CCBC (Concerned Citizens for the Black Community). Currently, she holds the position of secretary to Presiding Elder Roger D. Jackson and is the treasurer of the Midwest Conference Women in Ministry.
Educationally, she holds an Associate of Arts degree from Penn Valley Community College and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Ashford University where she graduated Magna Cum Laude on October 13, 2019. She also was admitted in the Alpha Sigma Lambda honor society while at Ashford University. Rev. Mitchell will be pursing her MDiv at St. Paul School of Theology in Overland Park, Missouri. Rev. Mitchell is a most sought-after preacher, revivalist, and psalmist in Mid-Missouri and other AME districts. She has been invited as a special preaching guest at many conferences and a frequent radio guest discussing today’s politics, social and theological issues on KOPN radio station in Columbia, Missouri. Even in all that she does, God comes first. Rev. Mitchell’s favorite saying is, “Thank God I don’t look what I’ve been through.” Rev. Mitchell is a preaching woman of God seeking to do her best.
