It is a weird thing how the internet works. You search for one thing, and suddenly you are looking at two different people with nearly the same name, or you are reading a Reddit thread from three years ago that claims a guy in his prime is actually seventy-two. If you have been trying to figure out how old is pastor philip anthony mitchell, you have likely run into this exact wall of confusion.
I’ve seen the searches. People see the grey in his beard or hear his "old soul" wisdom and start guessing. Or worse, they find the Wikipedia page for Prince Phillip Mitchell—the R&B singer from Louisville—and assume the leader of 2819 Church is an eighty-year-old soul legend.
Spoiler: He’s not.
The Real Numbers Behind the Man
Let’s get the math out of the way first. Based on his own story—the one he tells in almost every raw interview from The Perrys to Lecrae’s Deep End—Philip Anthony Mitchell had his life-altering encounter with God in November 2003.
At that time, he was twenty-four years old.
If you do the math from that 2003 marker, Pastor Philip was born in 1979. That makes him forty-six years old as of late 2025. He celebrates his birthday on December 7th. So, if you are reading this in early 2026, he is sitting right at that mid-forties mark, likely still wearing the trademark black hoodies and jeans that make people think he’s younger than he actually is.
A Timeline of the Decades
- The Queens Years (1979 – 1991): Born in Queens, NY, to Trinidadian immigrants.
- The Dark Years (1991 – 2003): From age twelve to twenty-four, he was "in the streets." This is the period he talks about involving drug trafficking and Rikers Island.
- The Transformation (2003): The bathroom encounter at age twenty-four.
- The Marriage (2004): He married his wife, Lena, in August 2004, less than a year after his conversion.
- The Ministry Launch (2012): Launched Victory Church (now 2819) at roughly age thirty-three.
Why the "72 Years Old" Rumor Exists
If you spend enough time on Reddit or niche Christian forums, you’ll find people arguing that he was born in 1953. This is a classic case of Digital Identity Theft by algorithm.
There is a singer-songwriter named Phillip Mitchell (often called Prince Phillip Mitchell). He was born in 1944. There is also another public figure with a similar name born in the early fifties. Because Google’s "Knowledge Graph" sometimes gets its wires crossed, it pulls the birth date of the R&B singer and slaps it onto the bio of the Atlanta pastor.
Trust me, the guy jumping around the stage at 2819 Church with the energy of a D1 athlete is not seventy-two. He is a Gen X/Millennial cusp leader who grew up on 90s hip-hop and the harsh reality of NYC in the crack era.
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The Age of Experience vs. The Age of the Calendar
Honestly, the reason people care about his age is usually because of how he carries himself. He has this weirdly compelling mix of "street-smart uncle" and "high-intensity visionary."
Most forty-something pastors are trying to look younger to "reach the youth." Mitchell doesn't seem to care. He leans into the grey. He talks about his 18th birthday spent in a jail cell like it was yesterday, but he also talks about the theological weight of the "Holiness of God" like a Puritan from the 1600s.
Why His 40s Are His "Power Years"
There is a specific kind of authority that comes when a man hits his mid-forties, especially after a "Paul-on-the-road-to-Damascus" type of conversion.
- He’s lived long enough to see the "hustle" fail.
- He’s been married long enough (21+ years to Lena) to speak on family with actual scars and wins.
- He’s been in Atlanta long enough to see the church scene's vanity and decide he wanted no part of the "celebrity pastor" mold.
What You Should Actually Be Looking For
Instead of just tracking his birth certificate, looking at his "ministry age" tells a better story. He’s been "in the way" for over twenty years now.
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He didn't just jump out of a drug deal and into a pulpit. There were years at North Carolina Central University, years at Valor Christian College, and a solid decade of "portable church" struggle before 2819 Church became the massive movement it is today.
If you're trying to keep up with him, he’s most active on Instagram (@philipamitchell), where he usually posts birthday tributes to his kids or snippets of sermons that feel more like a gut-punch than a Sunday message.
Actionable Takeaway: How to Verify Celebrity Info
If you're ever down a rabbit hole trying to verify the age of a public figure like Philip Anthony Mitchell, don't just look at the little box Google puts at the top of the page.
- Check the Testimony: Usually, speakers will mention their age at a specific turning point (like Philip's "24 in the bathroom" story).
- Look for Marriage Anniversaries: He married in 2004. Most people in that cultural context marry in their early-to-mid twenties.
- Ignore Wikipedia Snyonyms: Always check if there's a musician or politician with the same name.
Stop worrying about the grey in his beard—the man is in his prime. If you want to see what that 1979 energy looks like in practice, you're better off watching his "Acts 242" conference sessions than scrolling through outdated census records.
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You can verify his latest ministry updates and see the current "season" of his life by checking the 2819 Church official site, which usually lists his current focus and upcoming "gatherings" in Atlanta.