Early October, the Living Waters Association of Churches (American Baptist Churches of NYS) held their meeting at the Mt Vernon Missionary Baptist Church in Rochester, New York. The meeting was already on the calendar when their host, Pastor Cedric Cooper was called to Mt Vernon MBC so they agreed to bring the meeting to Rochester. Based in the Southern tier, the Living Waters
Association represents churches in Hornell, Ithaca, Elmira Bath, Reading Center, Watkins Glen, etc. The host church selects a topic to present on and the chosen topic was “Black Pastors Serving Predominantly White Congregations.
Pastor Julius David Jackson, Jr United Church of Pittsford. My Dad was a former pastor at
Mt. Vernon and growing up as a PK-preacher’s kid, there was no way I would be a pastor. I started my adult life working in corporate America, community action agencies, etc. refusing to accept any kind of calling or anything but once I got there It was undeniable. I graduated from Colgate Rochester Crozier Divinity School in 2014 and two days later, I was called to East Aurora to a Disciples of Christ Church. This became my first experience pastoring allowing my training to excel. After three years the East Aurora church was in transition, contemplating their future and I began a dialogue with the United Church of Christ church. Both predominantly white congregations, but I loved the social justice stance and I was hired immediately upon my return to Rochester. But the experience was not as rewarding as East Aurora. My stay at Salem United Church ended when Trinity Emmanuel Presbyterian Church called me to assist during their transition. As of November 2022, I pastor an American Baptist/United Methodist Church in Pittsford.
Pastor Michael Sloan
Spencerport United Church of Christ
In Illinois, I grew up in the Church of God in Christ, the predominantly African American Pentecostal Denomination where I served as a Deacon until I accepted the call to preach and while working on my Master of Divinity degree. I served as a chaplain at a retirement facility preaching at the Thursday night worship services. The American Baptist Church heard a recorded sermon, invited me to lunch, and a few months later asked me to be their pastor. About 2 ½ years later, another predominantly white American Baptist church six miles away in another town asked me to serve there also placing me in a different culture and theology but it allowed me to be discerning between the American Baptist Church and the United Church of Christ. I relocated to Florida and served as a chaplain when I applied to pastor the First Congregational Church of
Orlando but that fell through. Within a week of returning to Illinois, I received an email from a United Church of Christ in Spencerport, NY, a town of approximately 3000 people and I felt – not me! Another email led to a dialogue; they flew me in for a meeting, and I preached in what’s called a mutual pulpit. After returning home, they called me back to meet with the church and I have been on this journey for almost five years.
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