Sunday Abiola Adelakin
President
Biography
Dr. Sunday Adelakin is a distinguished Board Certified Chaplain and Ordained Pastor with a profound, four-decade history of providing spiritual leadership, compassionate care, and empathetic support to diverse populations in both congregational and advanced healthcare settings. As a pragmatic and mission-oriented professional, he has dedicated his career to meeting the critical emotional and spiritual needs of individuals and families navigating moments of crisis, illness, and loss. Currently serving as a Board Certified Staff Chaplain at the North Mississippi Medical Center, Dr. Adelakin provides essential pastoral care, grief and bereavement support, and crisis intervention to patients, their families, and hospital staff, while also mentoring and precepting new chaplain interns.
Dr. Adelakin’s extensive ministry began in 1990 with the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Nigeria, where he served for over 15 years. During this foundational period, he rose to the positions of Senior Pastor, District Pastor, and Director of Family Ministries and Stewardship. He provided spiritual and administrative leadership to multiple churches, managed daily operations, led worship services, and spearheaded successful church planting and community-building initiatives. This deep experience in congregational leadership formed the bedrock of his pastoral identity.
Seeking to specialize his calling, Dr. Adelakin pursued advanced theological and clinical education in the United States. He earned a Master of Divinity (MDiv) and culminated his academic journey with a Doctor of Ministry (D.Min) in Healthcare Chaplaincy from Andrews University. This pivotal transition merged his pastoral experience with a specialized focus on the unique spiritual needs within the healthcare environment. His clinical training was solidified through a Chaplain Internship at Howard Regional Health Systems and a comprehensive Chaplain Residency at Covenant HealthCare Systems.
This specialized training propelled him into critical roles within hospital and hospice care. Dr. Adelakin has served as a Staff Chaplain at major medical centers, including the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Beacon Health System, where he functioned as a vital member of interdisciplinary teams, facilitating complex communications around holistic care and ethical decisions. His expertise is particularly pronounced in end-of-life care, having served as a Hospice Chaplain and a Spiritual/Bereavement Care Coordinator for Vitas Innovative Hospice Care and Heart to Heart Hospice. In these roles, he provided invaluable end-of-life support to terminally ill patients, counseled families through the grieving process, and developed extensive bereavement and spiritual care programs for the community.
Dr. Adelakin’s qualifications are underscored by a commitment to lifelong learning and professional certification. He is a Board Certified Chaplain with the Association of Professional Chaplains and holds an Ecclesiastical Endorsement from the North American Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. His specialized credentials include a Pediatric Chaplaincy Professional Certification, certification as a Council of Certified Alzheimer's disease and Dementia Practitioner, and training in Non-Violent Crisis Intervention and Stress Management. This breadth of expertise allows him to connect authentically with people from all socio-economic, religious, and cultural backgrounds, offering a ministry of presence, empathy, and unwavering support.