About the Author

Dr. Tony Pierce was sent to Peoria, Illinois, to plant a church as part of his denomination’s church building program in 1986. In 2005, he became copastor of Heaven’s View Christian Fellowship church congregation through the merger of his predominantly Black church congregation and a predominantly White church congregation.

To date, it has been the only such interracial and interdenominational church merger to model reconciliation in the three-hundred-plus-year history of Peoria. And Dr. Tony now serves as the strategic pastor of Heaven’s View. As strategic pastor, Dr. Tony now has the primary responsibility of leading the church in defining and fulfilling its vision and mission of ministry.

Over the years, Dr. Tony has seen hundreds of individuals receive Christ as Savior through his church’s ministry. Plus, in response to the Bible’s call for God’s people to help the poor; Dr. Tony has seen thousands of impoverished individuals and their families move into the middle class through his church’s training and employment placement assistance ministry. In the spring of 2025, Dr. Tony received his Doctor of Ministry degree in Community Development & Business Administration.

Over the years, Dr. Tony has developed a number of study guides to the books of the Bible; therefore, this is the first in a series of which he intends to possibly have published. Dr. Tony and his wife, Dr. Valeria Pierce, reside together in Peoria, Illinois.