Dr. Pete A. Palmer is the husband of one wife, Dahlia Palmer and the Lord has blessed them with one son, Dr. Troy Levy who serves in Allegheny East Conference and is the senior pastor of the New Life SDA church in Gaithersburg, MD. Their son Pastor Levy is married to Rachelle and they have given Elder and Sister Palmer the greatest joys in their lives, Benjamin, Kenneth, and Isaac their three grandchildren.
Dr. Palmer earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics at the University of Maryland. He completed a Master of Divinity Degree from Andrews University Theological Seminary. He earned his Ph.D. at Andrews University after defending his dissertation, Childhood Trauma and Faith Maturity in Seventh-day Adventist Pastors and Seminarians. Dr. Palmer is advancing the goal of creating trauma-informed congregations.
Prior to joining the gospel ministry, he taught math at the Dupont Park S.D.A. School in Washington, D.C. After joining the gospel ministry Elder Palmer continued teaching at Baltimore Junior Academy in Baltimore, MD, the Larchwood SDA School in Philadelphia, PA and at Pine Forge Academy, our historic black boarding academy.
His pastoral ministry began at Berea Temple SDA Church in Baltimore as an associate pastor in 1997. He next pastored at the Willow Grove SDA Church, the Grace Tabernacle SDA Church in Norristown, PA, the Berean Fellowship SDA Church in Philadelphia, PA and lastly spent nearly 10 years at the Germantown SDA Church, where through his visionary leadership a 48,000 square foot school was purchased. He is currently the senior pastor of the Trinity Temple SDA Church in Newark, New Jersey.
Dr. Palmer is a fourth generation Seventh-day Adventist, who comes from a family of denominational employees. His father, Kenneth Palmer, is a retired Superintendent of Education for the Allegheny East Conference of S.D.A. His mother, Pamela Palmer, also served denominationally as a teacher, and later served as a member of the Allegheny East Conference’s Executive Committee.
He has spoken internationally in the Caribbean, in East and West Africa and in South Korea. In December of 2004, he was privileged to be part of the evangelistic team in The Gambia, West Africa which held one of the largest Seventh-day Adventist baptisms in that country up until that time.
Dr. Palmer was elected Vice President for Administration for Allegheny East Conference of Seventh-day Adventist in the 2017 constituency session and served as President of the Allegheny East Conference in the wake of the tragic loss of Elder Henry J. Fordham and his beautiful wife Sis. Sharon Fordham.
Dr. Palmer believes strongly that young people will be in the forefront as the three angels’ messages are proclaimed for the last time before the second coming of Jesus. There are three things he wants you to know, first, he loves Jesus, second, he loves his family, and third he loves the people of God, especially young people.