[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 116 (Monday, July 15, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E734-E735]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                HONORING BISHOP REGINALD THOMAS JACKSON

                                  _____
                                 

                      HON. SANFORD D. BISHOP, JR.

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 15, 2024

  Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a dedicated 
husband, loving father, exceptional community leader, faithful servant 
of God, and friend of longstanding, Bishop Reginald Thomas Jackson. 
Bishop Jackson was honored for his 8 years of dedicated service in 
Georgia as the Presiding Prelate of the Sixth Episcopal District of the 
African Methodist Episcopal Church. This event was held at the Saint 
Phillip AME Church in Decatur, Georgia on July 12, 2024, at 6:00 p.m.
  The genesis of the life of Bishop Reginald Jackson began with his 
birth on April 26, 1954, in Dover, Delaware. He is a product of Dover 
Public Schools and in 1976 graduated from Delaware State University 
with a Bachelor's Degree in History. In 1972, he was called to preach 
the Gospel and licensed under the pastorate of the Rev. Rudolph W. 
Coleman; was ordained as an Itinerant Deacon in 1975 under the 
leadership of Bishop Earnest Lawrence Hickman and appointed Supply 
Pastor at Graham AME Church. Always working to improve his preaching 
skills and knowledge of the Gospel, Bishop Jackson graduated from the 
Turner Seminary at the Interdenominational Theological Center in 1979, 
was ordained as an Itinerant Elder by Bishop Richard Allen Hildebrand 
in 1977 and appointed Supply Pastor at St. John AME Church in Atlanta, 
Georgia in 1978.
  Bishop Jackson spent 33 years serving in the state of New Jersey, 2 
years as Pastor of

[[Page E735]]

St. John AME Church and 31 years at St. Matthew AME Church. During his 
long tenure at St. Matthew, he increased the congregation from 75 to 
over 2,800 members; he instituted more than 30 ministries to meet the 
spiritual, emotional, educational and physical needs of the church and 
community; and he increased the church annual budget from $50,000 to $2 
million. George Washington Carver once said ``How far you go in life 
depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the 
aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and the 
strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.'' 
Bishop Jackson has used his life's work to advocate for the most 
vulnerable among us to include minorities, the young, the elderly, and 
the disenfranchised. He has been a voice for the voiceless and he has 
given hope to the hopeless.
  Bishop Jackson served as Executive Director of the Black Ministers 
Council of New Jersey, representing over 600 New Jersey Churches; 
served on the Orange Public School System Board of Education as 
President for 12 years; and sits on the Board of Trustees of Essex 
County College, serving as President for 10 years. He was named Man of 
the Year by New Jersey Monthly Magazine, received the William Ashby 
Award from the United Way, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award from the 
Newark North Ward Center, and Honorary Doctorates from Wilberforce 
University and Payne Theological Seminary. He is a member of Phi Beta 
Sigma Fraternity and a Life Member of the NAACP.
  In 2012, Reginald Thomas Jackson was elected and consecrated the 
132nd Bishop of the AME Church at the 49th Quadrennial Session of the 
General Conference, held in Nashville, Tennessee and was appointed to 
the 20th Episcopal District (Malawi Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Uganda) as 
the Ecumenical and Urban Affairs Officer. He has served as Chairman of 
the Social Action Commission of the AME Church and is the current 
Chairman of the Commission on Colleges, Universities and Seminaries.
  Eight years ago, Bishop Jackson accepted his charge in Georgia as 
Presiding Prelate of the Sixth Episcopal District of the AME Church. 
Continuing his longstanding advocacy for social justice, he has been a 
staunch champion for voter registration, education and turnout. He has 
ferociously lobbied the Georgia General Assembly for hate crime 
legislation and gun reform. Following an arrest for a planned attack on 
an AME Church in Gainesville, Georgia and the murder of Ahamd Arbery in 
February 2020, Bishop Jackson led the charge for a bill which was 
signed into law by Governor Brain Kemp in June 2020. In 2020, Bishop 
Jackson also collaborated with the leaders of every Georgia State 
African American religious denomination in conducting massive voter 
registration and education efforts throughout Georgia, resulting in the 
election of President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. 
Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, shifting the balance of power 
in the Senate. Because of this seismic shift, historic legislation to 
improve lives and communities was signed into law, including the 
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act, Historic 
Funding for HBCU's, as well as the appointment of an African American 
woman to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2022 and now in 2024, he is leading 
an historic partnership with the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church 
to energize and mobilize minority voters for the 2024 elections.
  Now, after 8 years in Georgia, Bishop Jackson will be leaving for 
assignment to another Episcopal District where he will no doubt share 
his vision and wisdom in service to God's people. While his departure 
will be a great loss to Georgia, I am certain that his impactful 
leadership will be a catalytic gain to those in his new region of 
responsibility.
  Bishop Jackson has accomplished much in his life, but none of it 
would have been possible without the grace of God and the love and 
support of his wife, Attorney Christy Jackson, who has served along 
side him as Supervisor of the Sixth Episcopal District, and their 
children Regina and Seth. Georgia, our Nation and the world, are better 
because of Bishop Jackson's ministry and service. To God Be the Glory.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives 
to join my wife, Vivian, and me, along with the more than 765,000 
people of Georgia's 2nd Congressional District, in extending our 
sincerest appreciation and best wishes to Bishop Reginald Thomas 
Jackson upon his departure from Georgia as the Presiding Prelate of the 
Sixth Episcopal District of the AME Church. May God continue to bless 
his ministry and service on behalf of our Lord and Savior, Jesus 
Christ.

                          ____________________