Raquel Pittman, the founder of Empowered By the Spirit Ministries, is an outgoing, lover of Jesus Christ who seeks to take God’s Kingdom outside the limiting walls of the church. Raquel currently serves as a minister at the New Greater Bethel Ministries(NGBM), located in Queens Village NY where the late Apostle John H. Boyd is the founder and is now pastored by his son John H. Boyd II. For five years, Raquel served as the director of the NGBM youth ministry called Extreme Degree of a God Encounter (E.D.G.E).

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Through this powerful ministry, hundreds of youth and young adults gathered from around the tri-state area to have a life-transforming encounter with the presence of God. Today, Raquel is actively engaged in evangelistic outreach, preaching on the streets of New York City, and in prisons, sharing the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As a minister Raquel believes and lives by the scripture in I Corinthians 2.4 that says: “My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power”.In 2012 a few months prior to the late Apostle Boyd transitioning to go home to be with the Lord, he declared over Minister Pittman that when he laid hands on her that all the anointing that was in his life was coming on her life and that when she opens up her mouth people would be delivered and set free. 

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Raquel holds a Bachelor’s degree from Hofstra University and a Master’s Degree from Columbia University. As a leader in the marketplace, for over 20 years, Raquel worked in the field of Child Welfare protecting New York city’s most vulnerable, and currently serves as the Strategic Plan Project Manager for a leading domestic violence organization to create new and innovative programming to support and empower those who have been impacted by domestic violence.