Charles A. “Charlie” Summers has served as a Presbyterian pastor in Washington, D.C., Charlotte, North Carolina, Richmond, Virginia. He was chaplain at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina, and an adjunct professor of Religion at Queens College in Charlotte.

He has had sermons and stories published in The Presbyterian Outlook, Christian Ministry Magazine, Lectionary Homiletics, Journal for Preachers, The Charlotte Observer and the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

In 2001 he received the John W. Kuykendall Award for Community Service from the Alumni Association of Davidson College.

In Charlotte he was one of the founders of Helping Empower Local People, a church based community organization. In Richmond he has served as the co-president for Richmonders Involved to Strengthen Our Communities. Both are groups that seek greater justice and equality in the larger community through grassroots organizing.

Twice he has served as the chair of the board for Boaz and Ruth, Inc., a non-profit ministry that works to rebuild lives and communities in the Highland Park neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia.

For forty years his ministry has focused on the church in urban life. He has worked in multi-cultural congregations, in minority neighborhoods, in “old First Church” and in various ministries focused on justice and bridge building across lines of class and race.