Rev. Tobias K. Houpe was licensed to preach the Gospel of Christ in 2011, ordained in 2017, and is one of the assistant ministers at Faith Ministries Church in Columbus, Ohio under the leadership of Rev. Dr. C. Dexter Wise, III. Rev. Houpe is a native of Columbus, OH. He received Christ into his life and was baptized as a youth at Shiloh Baptist Church by Rev. Dr. James Wesley Parrish. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from, The Ohio State University (OSU) in 1983. In addition, Rev. Houpe studied extensively in the department of Black Studies and held memberships in several Black Student organizations, and represented the College of Fine Arts in the Student Government during his senior year. As a college student at OSU, Rev. Houpe began a Bible Study for fellow college students and pioneered a ministry at the Training Institution of Central Ohio (T.I.C.O.), a maximum-security juvenile prison. He has also mentored and led several street gang members to Christ. Upon graduating from OSU, Rev. Houpe joined the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC) and functioned as Campus Director for Clark Atlanta University at the Atlanta University Center (AUC), and expanded his ministry to include Tuskegee University. Rev. Houpe remained with CCC for 10 years and completed his international ministry studies in Bakersfield, CA via Crusade’s Agape International Training (AIT) in 1993. After leaving the ministry of CCC, Rev. Houpe started his own 501c3 international ministry, called the African American Christian Connection (AACC). Rev. Houpe has served as a missionary for over 35 years. His continued dedication and adventurous spirit as a missionary have been inspired by a quote from missionary CT Studd, “Some want to live within the sound of church and chapel bells, but I want to run a mission a yard from the gates of hell.” In 1989, as a staff member of CCC, Rev. Houpe made his first international missions trip to South Africa when the nation was under Apartheid and in a state of emergency. He relocated to Cape Town, South Africa in 1994 during the nation’s first all-race election. Upon his return to the United States and in the latter part of 1994, Rev. Houpe used his writing skills to help facilitate his work in the ministry. He became an investigative journalist and columnist for the Call & Post and Columbus Post newspapers and has been the guest on several radio broadcasts, and a local TV talk show. Rev. Houpe has subsequently made several return visits to the new South Africa. He also partnered with a Christian Native American missions team in 1995 and took part in 14 summer mission projects in Arizona and New Mexico on Navajo Reservations and was honored to have one of the children named after him. As a missionary, Rev. Houpe has had an extensive international travel schedule. Some of the countries that he has visited include Turkey, India, Italy, England, the Dominican Republic, and several nations throughout the continent of Africa. In 2003, Rev. Houpe was requested by then Ohio Senator Ray Miller to work as his Legislative Assistant, where he served at the State House for a short time, prior to returning to journalism. Rev. Houpe served as a Youth Pastor in Lancaster, OH from 2008 - 2010 at Maple Street United Methodist Church, a church that reportedly had been founded by members of the KKK. He is the current leader of Faith Ministries International Ministry, Special Assistant to the President (Rev. Dr. C. Dexter Wise, III) of the International Fellowship of Faith Ministries (IFFM), which has chapters in 50 nations around the world and growing. Rev. Houpe was recently appointed as the Director of Missions for Tel International which is a missions agency located in Dallas, TX. He is also working on writing 3 books, one of which is an autobiography focusing on his experiences as an African American Missionary. Also, a book and lecture series on the topic of racism, entitled “Hoodwinked,” addressing the origins of American racism/white supremacy and its’ current day ripple effects, and racism/white supremacy in the hijacking of Christianity and its’ role in slavery, Jim Crow, and colonialism. In 2007, Rev. Houpe took on a life partner and married Kingston, Jamaican native, Althea Bernardette Leslie, who also joined him on many of his mission projects on the Navajo Reservations prior to their marriage. Sister Houpe is also known as Rev. Houpe’s, “better three-fourths.” Rev. and Mrs. Houpe currently reside in Pataskala, Ohio.