Meet The Pastor
Reverend Adunnola Waterman French
The Reverend Adunnola O. Waterman-French is a native of Guyana, South America. She is the daughter of the Rev. Millicent Waterman and the late Wesley Waterman. She is married to Brother Donald French, Nurse Practitioner & New York City Department of Education Adult Educator in Nursing. Together they have two sons, Jeshua and Judah. Rev. Adunnola is currently a District 75 Assistant Principal, in the New York City Department of Education, at the Connie Lekas School – a school for students with multiple and severe disabilities. She is a member of the Delta Beta Zeta Graduate Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated.
Rev. Adunnola attended the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana as a 1997 Pew Younger Scholar. Additionally, she holds a Bachelor of Social Science degree from Allen University, Columbia, South Carolina (Class of 1998 - graduating summa cum laude and Valedictorian) and a Master’s degree in Divinity from New York Theological Seminary, New York (Class of 2006). Rev. French has also earned a Master of Science in Teaching (with a concentration in Students with Disabilities) from Pace University, New York – Class of 2009. In June 2017, Rev. Adunnola completed the Advance Certificate in School Building Leadership towards the Masters of Science in Administration.
As a former member of St. Peter’s AME Church in Georgetown, Guyana, Rev. Adunnola served as local YPD Director, President of the Allen’s Christian Fellowship and an Episcopal District Representative for the then Richard Allen Youth Council later renamed Richard Allen Young Adult Council at the seat of the 1996 General Conference. She served as a delegate to the Women’s Missionary Quadrennial in 1991 and a youth delegate to the 1992 and 1996 General Conference while in the 16th Episcopal District (Guyana/Suriname Annual Conference). Prior to migrating to the United States, Rev. Adunnola worked in the airline industry as a Flight Attendant and a Reservation Clerk.
Rev. Adunnola migrated to the United States and fellowshipped at Bridge Street AWME Church in Brooklyn, NY. She became a member of People’s Institutional AME Church in Brooklyn, under the leadership of the Rev. Henry A. Belin, III, and served as YPD Director, member of the Board of Christian Education and Instructor to New Members. In 2001, under the leadership of the Rev. Wayne A. Johnson, Sr., she formally answered the call to ministry and was licensed to preach. In 2004, she was ordained an Itinerant Deacon and in 2006 an Itinerant Elder, becoming the second female ordained Itinerant Elder at that church. Rev. Adunnola has served as an Associate Minister at Allen Memorial AME Church under the leadership of the Rev. Benjamin Singleton, Jr. from 2009 to 2014.
In February of 2014. Rev. Adunnola served as a Supply Pastor for Saint Paul AME Church, Brooklyn/Westchester District of the New York Annual Conference, 1st Episcopal District. She was then appointed by Bishop Gregory G.M. Ingram to serve as the first female pastor in April of 2014 for Saint Paul - Brooklyn. The church would later be officially recognized as Saint Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church. In June 2018, Rev. Adunnola was appointed pastor of Bethany AME Church in Yonkers, where she served for five months. In June 2019 at the First District Planning Meeting, Bishop Gregory GM Ingram appointed the Rev. Adunnola to serve as the Pastor of Emanuel AME Church in New Rochelle.
Rev. Adi, as she is fondly called, has a passion for administration and organization. She loves the Lord and has a special place in her heart for youth. She reminds them daily to “let no one look down on them because they are young, but be an example of the believers, in word, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity,” 1 Timothy 4:12. She firmly believes that “we can do all things through Christ who gives us the strength” anchored in Ephesians 4:13.