Bishop Lavor Troy Sanders
Episcopal Assistant
Bishop Troy Sanders’ relationship with the divine started when he was a toddler, preaching on the front porch of his home in Denmark, South Carolina, and has served as the bedrock of his faith and ministry.
In addition, as he has grown in age, he has also grown personally and spiritually, owning a personal mandate to walk in truth. It is this journey that has prepared him for the calling to minister words of healing and inspiration, being fully aware of the Pauline experience of once being a persecutor now joining the honorable ranks of those persecuted for the sake of true liberation.
His ministerial background includes over 35 years as a licensed and ordained minister, and over 20 years ears of church administration, where he created training curriculums and modules for leadership development.
In 1993, Bishop Troy moved to Atlanta, Georgia. He graduated from Southwest DeKalb High School in 1995 with honors. In 2001, he completed his Bachelors of Arts program from Beulah Heights University (Atlanta, Georgia) as the class valedictorian. Enriched by the mandate to be an advocate of liberation to all, Bishop Troy is equally grateful for his ministry of music. He completed a dual Master’s of Divinity and Masters of Art degree at the Interdenominational Theological Center (Atlanta, Georgia) in 2008. Bishop Troy completed his Clinical Pastoral Education Residency as a Chaplain at Emory University Hospital.
Bishop Troy served as the first Assistant Pastor at The Victory for the World church in Stone Mountain, Georgia under the leadership of senior pastor, Dr. Kenneth L. Samuel. He provided pastoral leadership, counseling, and leadership/ ministerial training and development for a diverse congregation of over 3,000 people. Bishop Troy has created and implements a ministerial/laity leadership module to train church leaders how to address the countless administrative, religious, and non- religious needs of our community.
Continuing his commitment to speak to religious, social, and gender oppression, Bishop Troy is a highly sought after workshop presenter providing thought-provoking dialogue and training across the country on “Homosexuality In The Bible” as well as addressing the issues that LGBT people face while on the journey of reconciling their “Spirituality and Sexuality”. In 2008, he provided consultation and training for The American Family Outgoing effort with SoulForce, a non- profit organization developed to provide freedom for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people from religious and political oppression through the practice of relentless nonviolent resistance.”
Bishop Troy is the founder and senior pastor of Rehoboth Fellowship of Atlanta United Church of Christ in the Metro/East Atlanta area. Bishop Troy led a core group of over 30 leaders in 14 months of strategic planning for a new church plant in the Southeast Conference of the United Churches of Christ in November 2015. Bishop Troy continues to pastor this unique ministry that marries deep interfaith principles with cutting edge social media, music and arts and intentional focus on mental/emotional health and wellness with the totality of the Gospel of Inclusion.
Bishop Troy remains committed to utilizing a model for ministry that marries pastoral care & counseling with a progressive charismatic theological approach, combining a liberation theology undergirded by a pastoral care hermeneutic.
In July of 2023, Bishop Troy was consecrated Bishop in the Lord’s Church, as the Episcopal Assistant to his Presiding Prelate and Chief Consecrator, The Rt. Rev Dr. Yvette A. Flunder of The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries (TFAM). Bishop Troy has served Bishop Flunder and the TFAM movement for the last 20 years in various capacities. His role as Episcopal Assistant continues the legacy of his predecessor, mentor and spiritual father, the late Bishop Wyatt I. Greenlee, Jr. As Episcopal Assistant, Bishop Troy provides leadership and administrative oversight to nearly 100 churches and para church organizations in the U.S., Europe, East, West, and South Africa, Hong Kong, Japan, South America, Brazil, and the Caribbeans. Bishop Troy also providers oversight to the regional Bishops as well as Executive leadership to the house of Bishops and the College of Affirming Bishops and Faith Leaders (COAB).
