Rev. Carleton J. Giles
Rev. Carleton J. Giles, Vice President-at-Large, is a native of Bridgehampton, Long Island, New York, the son of the late Marguerite and Jack Giles. He received his early Christian training and upbringing in the First Baptist Church of Bridgehampton, the Community Baptist Church, Southampton, and through the Eastern Baptist Association of the Empire State Baptist Convention, New York.
Upon arriving in Connecticut for his life’s work as a police officer in Norwalk, Connecticut, Giles joined and worked with the Grace Baptist Church, Norwalk under the leadership of the Rev. Dr. Richard H. Wood. Since coming to Connecticut, Giles has been active in the Connecticut State Missionary Baptist Convention and has served several administrations in many capacities.
He was the first Moderator of the New Haven Baptist Association, now Levite Association, and has served the Convention as First Vice President. Giles, for many years, was the leader of the Associates in Ministry Division and taught many ministers in this arena the value of faithfully serving a senior pastor.
Giles has a long, rich history in our State, serving for six years before his call to pastoral ministry as director of youth ministries and assistant to the pastor at Grace Baptist Church, Norwalk. He went on to serve the First Baptist Church of Milford as its Senior Pastor for 17 years.
After a distinguished pastoral career in Milford, where he also served simultaneously as Supply Pastor for United Presbyterian Church, Milford for two years, a position which he held again from 2018-2020. He was called in March 2007 to serve as the Interim Pastor of the Zion First Baptist Church, Middletown, Connecticut. In 2008 after much prayer and consideration, the congregation voted to call the Rev. Carleton J. Giles as the sixth pastor of the Zion First Baptist Church, Middletown, Connecticut; they celebrated his eleventh-anniversary last year.
Giles continues to make a lasting contribution through his leadership in the Body of Christ as an unselfish ecumenical leader. Rev. Giles is known for his steady hand and his extensive knowledge of traditional Baptist polity and practice. He has also served the Mount Zion Baptist Church, Norwalk on two separate occasions as a pastoral advisor while they were searching for a permanent minister, the Community Baptist Church, Southampton, and the First Baptist Church, Bridgehampton as well. In 2018, Giles presided over a historic vote at First Baptist, Bridgehampton, where they called the first female pastor in the ninety-five-year history of the church.
After 33 years of exemplary service with the Norwalk Department of Police Service, Giles was appointed in 2013 by Connecticut’s Governor to be a member of the State’s Board of Pardons and Paroles for which he now serves as Chairman.