Rev. Elvin Clayton was appointed to Walter’s at the New England Annual Conference on June 14th by Bishop Mildred Bonnie Hines.
He had been the Pastor of Redeemer’s A.M.E. Zion Church, Plainville, CT for the last 18 years.
 
His first Pastoral assignment was in 1987 to St. Paul A.M.E Zion, a small mission church in Hamden, CT which moved to New Haven in 1996 with Shaw Memorial.

While in Plainville he was a member of the Council of Churches, Board member of the Plainville Food Pantry and Chaplain of the Plainville Fire Department for the last eleven years. He also served on the Internal Review Board of New Britain General Hospital for three years.

He continues to serve as a member of the Yale Clinical Studies Program meeting with doctors, nurses and people of the community to encourage more minorities to get involved in clinical research. 

This is important because all ethnic groups react differently to medications. Therefore we must be involved in the research to determine what medications are best for us. He has been involved with this program for four years.

He also serves as Treasurer of the Hartford District and Director of Operations for the Episcopal Residence.

Earning a Certificate after completing the Black Ministries program at the Hartford Seminary, Rev. Clayton continued his studies at Slidell Seminary in Louisiana and received a Certificate of completion at the Institute of Church Administration and Management (ICAM) on the campus of the International Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta, GA. He also completed the Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) Program at Hartford Hospital.

Rev. Clayton is an accomplished lead guitar player. He started playing at age 9, playing with Gospel Quartet Groups – the Bell Tones and Soul Lifters and later with R & B Bands –the Technicons/Family Connection.

Born in Waterbury, a guitar is what brought him to the A.M.E. Zion Church. After playing for a graduation party for one of Rev. Harrison D. Bonner’s daughters, he was asked to help organize and play for the youth of Mt. Olive, Waterbury. The rest is history. He eventually became a Steward, then Preacher Steward and preached his trial sermon on October 18, 1983.

He has been married to Vanessa E. (Gatling) Clayton for 25 years. Together they have 5 children: Elvin Jr. who lives in Jacksonville, NC; Quincy, Ledyard, CT; Eric, Santa Clara, CA; Wenonah, Denver, CO; and Christine, North Hollywood, CA. They are the proud grandparents of 5 and have 1 great-grandchild.