Jarvis Christian College will host the Rev. Dr. Alvin O’Neal Jackson, as special guest speaker at the 10 a.m. Thursday, March 17, J.N. Ervin Founders Convocation service during the school’s 110th anniversary weeklong celebration.
Dr. Jackson served for 10 years from 2006 to 2016 as the former senior pastor of Park Avenue Christian Church in New York City, before retiring from pastoral ministry and relocating to Jacksonville, Florida, and serving as the executive director of the Mass Poor People’s Low-Wage Workers Assembly and Moral March on Washington scheduled for June 19, 2022.
For nearly two decades, Dr. Jackson was senior pastor of Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church of Memphis, a congregation that experienced phenomenal growth under his leadership, from 350 participating members to 8,000 participating members, making it the largest and fastest growing Disciple of Christ congregation in the United States and Canada.
From 2001-2003, he served as a moderator of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). From April 1998 to November 2004 he served as senior pastor of National City Christian Church in Washington, D.C., and also served as president of the National City Christina Church Foundation. The traditionally white congregation became increasingly diverse in membership, staff, and styles of worship under his leadership. From 2001-2003, he also served as Moderator of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
Dr. Jackson studied at Chapman Collee in Orange, California, before earning his sociology degree from Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, with honors, before earning his Master of divinity Degree from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, also with honors. He completed his do, before earning his Master of Divinity degree from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio in 1991.
During his pastoral career, Jackson received honorary degrees in Texas (Jarvis Christian College), Tennessee (Rhodes College), Virginia (Lynchburg College), West Virginia (Bethany College) and California (Southern California School of Religion).
In his early pastoral career, he served as pastor of Loudon Avenue Christian Church in Roanoke, Virginia and associate pastor at Second Christian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana.
He and his wife, Tina, are the parents of a grown son, Cullen O’Neal Jackson of Memphis.
