Aaron Wheeler Sr.

Pastor Aaron Wheeler Sr. is a native of the Cleveland area who is currently pastor of the Mountaintop Missionary Baptist Church in Columbus.  Prior to founding Mountaintop, Rev. Wheeler pastored the New Jerusalem Baptist Church in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, and Reeb-Hosack Baptist Church in Columbus.

Pastor Wheeler has enjoyed a diverse career.  He headed the Cleveland office of former Congressman Louis Stokes in the late 1970’s, served as a member of the Warrensville Heights (Ohio) City Council, worked as a banker, probation officer, and chaired the NAACP Legal Redress Committee in Virginia Beach, Va.

Governor Bob Taft appointed Mr. Wheeler chairman of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission (OCRC) in September of 2000. Mr. Wheeler has logged an unprecedented amount of time at the OCRC office serving in that capacity and traveled to each of the six OCRC regional offices where he has energized civil rights workers and investigators with his motivational speeches.

In July 2001, Pastor Wheeler organized the “1 Cincinnati” meeting of 30 top clergy people in Cincinnati, calling for unity against crime, violence and social upheaval in that city.

Rev. Wheeler is an expert on street gangs who spent five days and nights in a tent in a gang and crime ridden section of Little Rock, Arkansas to combat gang violence.  He served as a consultant to HBO for the television documentary, “Gang Banging in Little Rock,” and authored the “Gangs in Rural America” study for the Rockefeller Foundation.

Benjamin Hooks awarded Pastor Wheeler the NAACP National Award of Merit for “placing the quest for justice above any personal concern,” and the late mayor, Coleman Young, presented him the Key to the City of Detroit for his contribution to positive change in the business community.

As chairman of the “Lighthouse Project,” an ecumenical ministry, Pastor Wheeler works to reduce family and gang violence.  He served for five years as executive assistant to the safety director of Columbus and was chaplain to that city’s police and fire departments.  He is the past vice president of the International Conference of Police Chaplains.  He currently lectures across America through his firm Wheeler & Company.

Pastor Wheeler has a bachelor’s degree in social work from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and attended Moody Institute of Chicago and the Southern Baptist Seminary of Dallas.

He and his wife Barbara reside in Columbus with their four children.