Reed, Jackson to speak at MLK observances | News – News-Daily.com

Rev. Donald K. Reed, senior pastor of Andrews Chapel United Methodist Church, will be the guest speaker at the 28th Clayton County Martin Luther King Jr. Prayer Breakfast on Saturday, Jan. 19, 8 a.m. at the Morrow Center, 1180 Southlake Circle, Morrow. For ticket info., please contact Co-chair Armenda Bonds at 404-349-4538 or president, Senator Gail Davenport at 678-215-9971 or 770-478-7916.

Reed is a gifted and dynamic teacher and preacher whose intellectual and thought-provoking sermons have informed, inspired and uplifted people of all ages for over 30 years. He was born and raised in Covington in a spirit-filled home with his five siblings who were all loved and nurtured by his parents, James and Annie Reed. He received his primary and secondary education in the Newton County public school system and earned a bachelor of science degree in mathematics (with honors) with a minor in speech communications from Georgia State University. While at GSU, Reed was involved in campus ministry and he was a member of the GSU Gospel Choir. Additionally, in 1979, also while attending GSU, Reed accepted his call to ministry and became licensed to preach while in a mentoring relationship the Reverend John W. Pace, who at that time was the senior pastor of Richard’s Chapel UMC in Covington — Reed’s home church.

Following college and after accepting his call to ministry, Reed entered Gammon Theological Seminary of the Interdenominational Theological Center (“ITC”) to pursue a master of divinity degree.While at ITC, he excelled in Old Testament study and the Hebrew language and always remained in the top 10 percent of his class. Reed received first runner-up for ITC’s preaching and homiletics award and was a nominee for the Benjamin E. Mays Fellow in 1983-84.

Reed has led metro-Atlanta congregations, including Calvary (Atlanta), Charles F. Golden (Douglasville), Hoosier Memorial (Atlanta), Columbia Drive (Decatur), Cascade (Atlanta) and Warren Memorial (Atlanta). He has provided unique leadership at various levels of the church and has served on numerous boards and committees across the district, conference and jurisdiction. He is recognized most for his dynamic and intellectual preaching style, his gifted music ministry and his unique connection to the members of his congregation.

Reed and his wife Natalie are parents to five children.

Bishop Reginald Thomas Jackson, the presiding prelate of the Sixth Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church, which encompasses over 500 churches in the state of Georgia, will be the guest speaker at the 34th Clayton County Ecumenical Service in observance of the national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The service will be held at Dixon Grove Baptist Church, Sunday, Jan. 20, 3:30 p.m. The church is located at 7690 Fielder Road, Jonesboro, where Rev. James E. Harris is pastor. Special guests include the Atlanta Consistory #24A, Prince Hall Affiliate and the Dixon Grove Mass Choir. Jackson was elected and consecrated the 132nd bishop of the A.M.E. Church in 2012 at the 49th Quadrennial Session of the General Conference held in Nashville, Tenn., and was appointed to the 20th Episcopal District (Malawi, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Uganda) and as the Ecumenical and Urban Affairs Officer. He has served as the chairman of the Social Action Commission of the A.M.E. Church and is the current chairman of the Commission on Colleges, Universities and Seminaries.

A native of Dover, Del., and attended the Dover Public Schools. He graduated from Delaware State University in Dover, with a bachelor’s degree in history. Upon graduating in 1979, he was appointed by Bishop Hildebrand to St. John AME Church, Jersey City, N.J., where he served for two years. He was then appointed in 1981 by Bishop Hildebrand to St. Matthew AME Church, Orange, N.J. This was the beginning of a pastorate that would last 31 years. During his ministry at St. Matthew the congregation grew from about 75 to more than 2,800 disciples of Christ, engaged in ministry, mission and outreach. Included in this number were more than 300 children and youth, to whom he placed special emphasis and time.

Shortly after arriving in Orange, Jackson became involved in the life of the city, county and state, speaking out on issues and informing and organizing ministers and community to act in promoting God’s kingdom on earth and in their best interest. In addition to pastoring St. Matthew Church, Jackson served as the executive director of the Black Ministers Council of New Jersey (BMC), representing more than 600 black churches in New Jersey from 1994-2012. He has been outspoken on every major issue in New Jersey, pressuring the state Supreme Court to order New Jersey to increase spending on poor school districts in the state, adequate funding for charity care, legislation to end predatory lending, ending the death penalty in New Jersey, needle exchange and most notably, legislation to end and make racial profiling a crime, the only state in the nation to pass such a law.

Jackson received four pens from three governors used to sign legislation he helped to pass through the General Assembly. He served for 16 years on the Orange Public School System Board of Education (12 as president), and is currently in his 13th year as a member of the board of trustees of Essex County College (10 years as president) as well as the Board of Directors of the Barnabas Health Care System, the largest health care system in the state of New Jersey. Jackson was named the Man of the Year in 2000 by New Jersey Monthly Magazine, recipient of the William Ashby Award by the United Way, Martin Luther king Award by the Newark North Ward Center as well as hundreds of other awards. A member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity and a Life Member of the NAACP, he has repeatedly been named among the “Twenty Five Most Influential People in New Jersey.” He has received honorary doctorates from Wilberforce University and Payne Theological Seminary.

He is married to Christy Davis Jackson, esquir,e and the father of Regina Victoria Jackson, graduate of Florida A & M University, and Seth Joshua Jackson