Our pastor, the Reverend Jesse Jackson Jr. is the longest serving pastor in the history of our great congregation. Pastor Jackson was born into activism. Born in the Delta of Mississippi at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, both parents were activists in their own right, and instilled a sense of social responsibility early in his life.

He accepted his call to ministry in college and preached his first sermon at age 21 in a congregation that his father pastored in Paducah, KY. At the time, he was a student at Murray State University in Murray, KY. Upon graduation from Murray, he moved to Oklahoma City to serve as Program Director for the YMCA. He later worked for the City of Norman Parks and Recreation Department as well as the Guthrie Job Corps Center. While at Guthrie, he was called as our 22nd pastor.

Pastor Jackson earned a Masters of Divinity degree from Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, OK and now serves on their board. His zeal for justice and human rights and that activism has taken him to Palestine/Israel, the Sonoran Desert of Mexico and Arizona to study Border Theology and to Ghana in West Africa. He is the past president of the nearly 500 congregations that make up the National Convocation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), he is a member of the executive committee of Black Lives Matter Oklahoma, the convener of Occupy the Corners OKC, and President of the OKC chapter of the National Action Network.

He sits on numerous boards, including the Oklahoma Council of Churches, and he was received many awards, including the Frank H. Marshall Award for Ministerial Excellence from Phillips, the Social Action Award from Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. and many more.

Since 1990, he has been married to his soulmate Carmen Wilson Jackson. They are the proud parents of King David and Naomi, as we as the grandparents of two granddaughters and one grandson.