Reverend Dr. Alvin O’Neal Jackson
President, The JAX Initiative, LLC
Ecumenical Advocacy Days is pleased to welcome Reverend Dr. Alvin O’Neal Jackson, who will speak during the Hill Send-Off on Thursday, April 27.
Alvin O’Neal Jackson born in Laurel, Mississippi and grew up in Indianola, Mississippiis the first born of the late Mr. Clyde Cullen Jackson and Mrs. Queen Esther Jackson. He attended Chapman College in Orange, California and graduated with honors from Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology. He received his Masters of Divinity degree also with honors from the Duke University, School of Divinity, Durham, North Carolina in 1973. In 1991 he completed the course work and was awarded the Doctor of Ministry degree from United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio.
Dr. Jackson has also received honorary degrees from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, Lynchburg College in Lynchburg, Virginia, Bethany College in Bethany, West Virginia, Jarvis Christian College, Hawkins, Texas and the Southern California School of Religion, Los, Angeles, California.
He has served as Pastor of the Loudon Avenue Christian Church, Roanoke, Virginia, Associate Pastor, Second Christian Church, Indianapolis, Indiana and for almost twenty years Senior Pastor of the Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church of Memphis, a congregation that experienced phenomenal growth under his leadership.
During his ministry in Washington, Dr. Jackson was also elected Moderator of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and led the church through a period of major transition and change.
In September of 2006 he accepted the call to become Senior Pastor of the Park Avenue Christian Church in New York City, the oldest congregation in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) that became during his tenure one of the youngest and most diverse congregations in the heart of New York City.
In September of 2016 he retired from active pastoral ministry and along with his wife, Tina Brown Jackson leads the JAX Initiative, LLC preaching, speaking, coaching and mentoring church and community leaders across the country.