Pastor

Dr. Carieta Cain Grizzell, born in Washington, D.C. presently serving as Pastor of Fair Oaks United Methodist Church-Fair Oaks, California, received her Bachelor of Arts Degree at Antioch University – Yellow Springs, Ohio; and both her Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry Degrees (1984 and 2014) respectively at San Francisco Theological Seminary – San Anselmo, California.

Pastor Grizzell began her preacher ministry in 1984 and has for many years worked to improve the quality of life for youth and young adults, providing a wide range of programs and has organized Community Development Corporations wherever she has served as pastor. Her Doctoral Dissertation is Twenty-Four/Seven Church: Bridging the [W]holistic Gap in African American Congregations. She believes that the Church should be the center and focal point in the community that serves and meets the total needs of the people providing [w]holistic ministries that include the social, economical, educational, physical, psychological, and emotional aspects as well as the spiritual.

Prior to being appointed as Pastor of Fair Oaks UMC., Dr. Grizzell has served as Pastor of Christ Our Redeemer-East Palo Alto, California; St. Paul-Vallejo, California; and Allen Chapel-Cheyenne, Wyoming, Grant Chapel, Wichita, Kansas, and Murph-Emmanuel AME Church, North Highlands where she recently retired from the AME Church. She has also served as Associate Minister of Bethel AME and Managing Director of Allen Community Development Corporation of San Francisco; and Parish Associate of Ingleside Presbyterian Church and Executive Director of Ingleside Community Center, San Francisco.

Dr. Grizzell has been the recipient of many civic and congressional awards and honors for her exceptional work in the community, including the 2014 NAACP Freedom Fund “Clergy of the Year” Award for her work in the area of social and racial justice. She also received the 2011 AcadAME Pastor of the Year Award from the 5th Episcopal District and the 2017 Jarena Lee Award in the California Conference. She has contributed two chapters in a Collaborative Project of Highly Recommend Professionals, Pastors and others working toward Spiritual and Mental Healing on the impact and affects of sexual abuse entitled: “And He Restoreth My Soul”, by Darlene J. Harris, WestBow Press, Bloomington, IN 2011. In April 2019, she was featured in Dr. Henry Louis Gates’ PBS Documentary at Mother Emanuel- Charleston regarding her great-great grandfather, Bishop Richard Harvey Cain in Reconstruction – America After the Civil War.

She strongly believes that God can do anything but fail and has in her own life experienced the miraculous power of God through Jesus Christ. She is married to The Rev. Martin F. Grizzell and together they have seven children and thirteen grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.