"When you consider what our leadership ought to be doing, he is doing it. He has built the church, outgrown the church, rebuilt another church, creating and developing disciples everyday. It is important for us to have that kind of person who represents the hierarchy of the denomination on the bench."

Rev. Floyd Flake
Allen A.M.E., NY

Prophetic

The Rev. Reginald T. Jackson believes that, "God has called us not only to priestly, but also to prophetic ministry." While pursuing his Bachelor's degree in history at Delaware State University and Masters of Divinity at Turner Theological Seminary at the I.T.C., he studied the role that the black preacher and church played in both early American history and in the Civil Rights Movement. From both his studies and observations he came to believe that the most important person and entity in the black community is the black preacher and the black church. This belief has shaped and motivated his commitment to social justice and led him to the forefront on almost every major struggle for justice, fairness and a better quality of life for people in New Jersey.

In 1998 after three minorities were shot on the New Jersey Turnpike, Pastor Jackson organized African American clergy and launched a fight against racial profiling taking on the New Jersey State Police and a culture that had persisted for decades. He withstood threats on his life and refused to back down resulting in the New Jersey State Police being placed under a federal consent decree and New Jersey passing legislation becoming the first state in the nation to make racial profiling a crime. Formally organized as the Black Ministers Council of New Jersey, Pastor Jackson and the organization joined in the struggle on behalf of low income children, to gain parity funding for instruction and construction of new schools. As a result the New Jersey Supreme Court ordered the state to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on instruction and almost nine (9) billion dollars to build and renovate schools. There has hardly been a major issue in the State of New Jersey where Pastor Jackson has not been involved to seek justice, ensure fairness and improve the quality of life for people, especially children. These include charity care for the uninsured, legislation outlawing predatory lending, policies requiring every municipality in the state to provide affordable housing, legislation providing needle exchange and other causes.

This year Pastor Jackson was again named among "the twenty five most influential people in New Jersey" and has been called "the conscience of New Jersey" and "the state's pastor." In 2000 he was named New Jersey Monthly Magazine's first "Person of the Year."

In the mold of Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, Pastor Jackson will be a prophetic voice for the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He will not only be an advocate for social justice but will organize ministers and laity to act and make a difference. It is my prayer that it will be said of us as it was said of the New Testament Church that "we turned the world upside down," Pastor Jackson says. We read and hear what so called "Evangelical Christians" have to say, but our people and the nation also needs to know that we have a word from God as well, and that Christianity and Patriotism are not synonymous. Our Zion needs a prophetic voice for this time and in the mold of Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, Pastor Jackson is suited and prepared to be that voice.