Our Leadership

Pastor Antonio Hughes graduated from Forest High School in 1976 and earned a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1980.

He served in the United States Marine Corps from 1981 to 1984. Beginning in 1985, he devoted forty years to teaching and coaching, serving as a high school, junior college, and major college football coach.

In 1997, he began serving as Senior Pastor of Wayside Holy Temple Church alongside his wife, Apostle Marion Hughes. Married for forty years, they have shared a life of family, faith, and ministry. They have two sons, Jamison and Jay, and one daughter-in-law.

Apostle Marion Hughes and her husband, Pastor Antonio Hughes, are the founders and pastors of Wayside Holy Temple Church. Established in 1997 in a little house on Franklin Street, the ministry grew from humble beginnings, with three other churches birthed from it.

Her ministry has included service as Vice-President of the Executive Board of Directors of Wayside Churches, Inc., providing oversight to churches in Mississippi and Louisiana.

Apostle Hughes earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Education from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1985 and a master’s degree in Counseling Education in 1992. She has taught at the junior high, high school, and community college levels.

As a counselor, she worked as a therapist for Weems Community Mental Health Center in Meridian, Mississippi, and later became a certified Drug and Alcohol Counselor at Hinds Community College. At Hinds, she coordinated the first Drug and Alcohol Program for Athletics in Mississippi before entering ministry full time.

Her love for children led her to establish Wayside Child Development Center in 1999. She also founded the church’s community soup kitchen, serving the community through partnerships with Mississippi Food Network and Christian Services.

A wife, mother of two, and the youngest of eight children, Apostle Hughes considers it an honor to serve her Savior, her family, and her community. Above all, she is saved, sanctified, and Spirit-filled.