Ray H. Streets Sr.
Pastor Emeritus
Ray Streets, Sr. served as the Senior Pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church for more than 45 years and is now Pastor Emeritus. Before being saved during his teenage years, he was involved with church work. He later began his walk with the Lord when his pastor, Carmen Robinson, a Canadian serving in the Primitive Methodist Church in Sutersville, PA, led him to a personal faith in Jesus Christ. He also challenged Ray to prayerfully consider serving the Lord in some kind of career ministry.
His preparations for ministry began at Bob Jones University, in Greenville, South Carolina, where he received his Bachelor's degree in the Bible in 1950. During this time, Ray also attended the University of Pittsburgh during the summers of 1948, 1949, and 1950. He continued his education through correspondence studies at the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, and the University of North Dakota. Prior to his arrival at Emmanuel, Ray Sr. served at the Bates Fork Baptist Church in Greene County, PA from 1950 to 1953. He has also been on several missionary tours: to Haiti with World team five times, to Quito, Ecuador with World Radio Missionary Fellowship five times, and to Guatemala with GMU three times. He worked as the Interim Pastor for one summer in the English Fellowship Church in Quito, Ecuador, has served as the Chairman of Christ for a Greater Johnstown Evangelistic Crusade, and was the former Dean of the Greater Johnstown Bible Institute.
Ray is in the ministry because he believes the Lord Jesus Christ called him into ministry. His life verse can be found in Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." On his theological outlook, Ray says, "I'm a Bible-believing Conservative, committed to Biblical Christianity, believing in unconditional love, and committed to world-evangelism.
Ray is married to Jane Panke, who is also a 1950 Bob Jones
University graduate. Her studies also took her to Penn State University,
Indiana University of PA, and St. Francis College in Loretto, PA where she got
accredited as a public school teacher. Jane taught for 28 years in
Richland Township Elementary School. Ray and Jane have three children:
Ray, Jr. & David, Lead Pastors,
and Deborah, one of Emmanuel's Secretary's.