The Reverend Doctor Arlee Griffin, Jr., is a native of Elizabeth City, North Carolina where he was a member of the Mount Carmel Missionary Baptist Church and an honor graduate of Northeastern High School.  He received several scholarships to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he earned the Bachelor of Arts degree in Zoology.  He attended Shaw Divinity School and earned the Master of Divinity degree from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.  He has done additional study at East Carolina University, Oxford University in Oxford, England, New York University, the Postgraduate Center for Mental Health in New York City and the Summer Leadership Institute at Harvard Divinity School.   In May 1988 he graduated from Boston University with the Doctor of Ministry degree.  In April 1992 Shaw Divinity School awarded him the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree. In March, 2009 he was awarded a Presidential Fellowship to attend the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University where he will earn the Master of Public Administration degree in May, 2010.

For nearly ten years, Dr Griffin served as Pastor of the Cornerstone Missionary Baptist Church in Greenville, North Carolina where he led the church in re-location and built multimillion dollar facilities in the Medical Park district of the city.  While in Greenville, he established the Cornerstone Christian Child Care Center, served as President of Pitt County Black Ministerial Alliance, Moderator and Vice Moderator of the Old Eastern Missionary Baptist Association, Parliamentarian of the General Baptist State Convention of North Carolina and Trustee of Pitt County Memorial Hospital.  He was also selected in 1985 as “Pastor of the Year.”