Dr. Irishea Hilliard
Meet our Founder & Senior Pastor of New Light Church
Dr. Irishea Hilliard is the daughter of Apostle I.V. and Pastor Bridget Hilliard. Born on June 7, 1977 in Houston, Texas, she is definitely wise beyond her years.
Not only is she an awesome mother with two sons, Ivan Harrison and Jonathan Sean-Michael, she is also currently the Senior Pastor of New Light Christian Center Church. After serving her parents in ministry, and carrying out various roles in ministry including Chief Operating Officer she was officially installed as the Senior Pastor and successor to her father, Apostle I. V. Hilliard, on February 23, 2018.
Her full-time ministry career started over 20 years ago and she has held multiple titles of such as the Overseer of the Children’s Ministry (Dreamers), Youth & Teen Ministry (ouRlife). Dr. Irishea has counseled with parents/teens giving them direction in working through challenges. Dr. Irishea has a passion for the next generation and started a premiere conference for urban teenagers, called Spiritual Encounter in 2000, and each year, the growth was astounding. Over the years, there have been more than 75,000 who have attended, and thousands of lives have been transformed. In 2011, she passed the baton of this great conference to her sister, but will continue to give oversight and input as the vision of Spiritual Encounter has evolved into LOVE City USA, a campground for youth in the city of Houston.
Dr. Irishea Hilliard received her Doctorate in Urban Youth Ministry due to the tireless hours she spends counseling and educating youth around the world.
In 2013, she put her pen to paper and wrote a portion of her testimony in ‘Table for One’.
Recently, she had a desire to return to college to complete her undergraduate degree in Business Administration which she left unfinished to pursue full-time ministry years ago. In May of 2019, she graduated from Sam Houston State University with her Bachelor of Business Administration.
Dr. Irishea has assisted the Houston Fire Department with the annual toy drive that assist over thousands of families with toys for the holidays, and during the devastation of Harvey, she opened 5 distribution centers in the North, South, West, East Houston, and in Beaumont Texas. Her passion for the community and helping others, has led her to partner with Minnie’s Pantry to open a Houston location supporting the ultimate vision that hunger is unacceptable in our local communities.
God has abundantly blessed Dr. Irishea with “Double Grace”, in an incredible way. She has the anointing of her father and the power of her mother; blended together, she is a gift to the body of Christ. Dr. Irishea is leading this new generation into the future with the Word of God. Dr. Irishea Hilliard, “A Woman of Purpose Fulfilling Gods Plan for Her Life”.