Pastor Walter L. Humphrey has served as senior pastor of Moriah Christian Fellowship Baptist Church in Oakland , CA for more than 24 years. Pastor Humphrey is a business owner, president and founder of Lighthouse Ministries Housing and Community Economic Development Corporation, co-founder and co-chairman of Bay Area Inner City Leadership Alliance (BAICLA) (www.baicla.org), and co-founder and co-chairman of National Coalition of Clergy and Community Together (NCCCT) (www.thenccct.org).

Born in Homer, Louisiana Pastor Humphrey relocated to California in 1977, after attending Grambling State University where he majored in Biology. He furthered his education in the ministry at Simpson Seminary in Redding, CA and Bay Cities Bible Institute in Oakland. After serving as a guest teacher for Survine Bible Ministries, he was awarded an honorary doctorate degree in June, 1995.

In 1982 Pastor Walter L. Humphrey began serving as Senior Pastor of Moriah. The third pastor of Moriah, he had served faithfully under both of the previous administrations. A kind and humble servant of the Lord, Pastor Humphrey is also a dynamic, energetic, and inspirational leader with a love for all people.

Under Pastor Humphrey's anointed leadership, Moriah has developed multi-faceted programs focusing on ministering to the needs of the whole man: Body, soul and spirit. In 1988, land was purchased at 34th Street and San Pablo Avenue . In 1994, Pastor Humphrey led the church in a building fund drive and our present edifice was successfully completed in 1996.

Most of the social service ministries were incorporated under Lighthouse Ministries Housing and Community Economic Development Corporation in 1999. This nonprofit outreach ministry helps in areas of low-income housing, recovery education, youth mentoring, hunger relief, job training, and computer technology.

Pastor Humphrey has a passion for reintegrating ex-offenders into society and strengthening the family. His work “in the trenches” of Oakland and the Bay Area includes collaborating with others who share his enthusiasm to develop and implement programs focusing on the restoration of men exiting the prision system to their families and the community. Mentoring ex-offenders addresses a critical problem in Oakland and the Bay Area. The Bay Area Inner City Leadership Alliance, of which Pastor Humphrey is co-founder, presents a model that is a demonstration of how several faith-centered residential mentoring programs can combine forces to address the core problems of providing ex-offenders with a supportive community, focus and integrate services at the residential level and develop a sustainable base of funding.

Pastor Humphrey has received numerous honors and awards for his work in the ministry and as a community activist. A much sought-after speaker, he continues to travel across the country preaching the Gospel and speaking on behalf of the disenfranchised. Wherever God has led Pastor Humphrey, He has also greatly used him for His glory. Through his obedience to God, lives have been changed and made better and countless numbers of individuals have been led to confess Christ as their Savior.