Reverend Nicole Patrice Guns is a sixth-generation licensed and ordained preacher from Richmond, Virginia. She is the youngest daughter of Dr. Geoffrey and Mrs. Rosetta Guns. 

Rev. Guns was educated in the Virginia Beach Public Schools. In 2003, she graduated Magna Cum Laude from Hampton University with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. In 2022, she earned her Master of Divinity degree, also Magna Cum Laude, from the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University, where she received the Ella P. Mitchell Preaching Award for her outstanding homiletical skill. 

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With over 15 years of experience as a psalmist, Rev. Guns has also served faithfully in a variety of ministerial roles. She previously served as the Youth Pastor of Mt. Hope Baptist Church in Fredericksburg, Virginia, under the leadership of Dr. Raymond Bell, Senior Pastor. She also served as the College and Young Adult Pastor at Second Calvary Baptist Church in Norfolk, Virginia, where she nurtured spiritual growth among emerging generations. In addition to her local work, she has participated in international mission efforts in Kenya and Nigeria alongside her father and has led multiple tours to the Holy Land. Her leadership extends to denominational service, including her role as State Director of Young Adults for the Virginia Baptist State Convention and Southeast Region Representative for the Youth and Young Adult Auxiliary of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Incorporated.

 

In 2024, Rev. Guns was appointed Assistant General Secretary of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Incorporated by President Dr. Boise Kimber becoming the first woman to serve as a cabinet member in the Convention’s 144-year history.

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She is a contributing writer for the Sunday School Publishing Board of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., and co-hosts The Kingdom Podcast, a national platform for young adults. In 2019, she became one of the first women to preach at the National Baptist Congress of Christian Education, and in 2025, she made history again as the first woman to preach the Convention’s Late Night service.

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On May 18, 2025, Rev. Guns was elected Senior Pastor of the historic First Baptist Church of Gary, Indiana. She is the first woman to pastor the congregation and only the second woman to lead a historically black Baptist church in the state of Indiana.

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Rev. Guns is an up-and-coming prophetic and trusted voice for this generation—reaching both the church and the unchurched with a message that is biblically sound, socially conscious, and spiritually transformative.

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She is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated and considers it both an honor and a sacred calling to serve God and God’s people.