Not long ago was the vice president. I was second vice presd hugh was secretary. We were mentored by the great senioralhe did. Junior, i met later and had the privilege of marrying. Junior and his wife, elaine. They reminded me of thatlast ar and 40 some years now. That i moved to fairfield about 8 years ago and heard a gog on dr. Jackie. Dr. Jackie will preach the paint off the sanctuary. So i was there in fairfield and one friday night i came to the good friday services. At beaver memorial. Oh, wow she did leave some paint on the sanctuary but it was definitely a dynamic, electrifying message. So today, we are honored to have the Senior Pastor of Allen Temple Baptist church. The first elected pastor, a woman pastor, Senior Pastor of allen temple, reverend dr. Jaclyn thompson. It is great to have you. It is great to be here. Thank you for having me. Thank you for coming. Reginald liles, the deacon, brothers to brother, reverend long, had to make the contact. I know you are all over the world. That they made it. I am here. Im glad you are here. Tell me about your calling. It is phenomenal to have you, the pastor. I goodness, calling to the church or the ministry . To ministry first. Im the daughter of a pastor. My father who recently passed in december was dr. Nt thompson. He pastored not as a ministry Missionary Baptist Church in berkeley for 40 years. I have grown up the church grow my whole life and went through the things that girls go through. Questioning faith and theology and how it lines up with things in your life and things ina dee relationship with god. I started teaching in west oakland. Sorry for what theyre going through. We need to be in protest about that and protest about that. But i encountered some kids that i realized that my desire, which was to go into law and politics was not enough. That they needed a transformation that was deeper than anything external. So the only thing i could impart to them besides what we did in the classroom was what sustained me up to that point. That was my faith. And my understanding of who god was. And that sense of hope. I decided to start a gospel choir. Because legally you are not supposed to say the name or have bible study in Public Schools and do all of that. So we did character work and had deep conversation. To that process of ministering to them that the lord began to speak to me about proclaiming to larger audiences. So to my surprise, i didnt realize that was watching me as well. I toand told him waeling a burden and i had this experience. That i had gone to bishop bob jackson, to the evening communion service. He preached a service on jonah. People running from the gospel. Saw was there that evening and every time he said jonah i heard jackie. He said if anyone senses a call, come to the altar. Before i knew it, i dont know how it happened. I dont remember walking or remember getting up. I was at the altar and i said yes to that sons of god that i had. The rest is kind of history. I talked to dr. Smith and he said weve been waiting for you. I preached my trial sermon probably august of wow, it wouldve been 25 years ago this year. August 19, 1995. I preach my trial sermon later that year, and immediately moved to d. C. To go to to Howard School of divinity. That is exciting. That is our opening segment and will keep us truly interested all the way. Wonderful. We will come back in a moment. Lease join us with reverend dr. Jackie thompson who is the pastor of Allen Temple Baptist church, a historic church. 100 year anniversary. Welcome back to mosaic. If you have heard dr. Thompson, you have to be ex to mintry. She is the pastor of Allen Temple Baptist church. Tell us what that has been like for you. Pastoring at allen temple has been a joy. I was raised at allen temple. I came there when i was 12 years old. Looking for a church because i was days for lack of a better phrase sick of going to church. And that was during the era day. You went to church all so there was sunday school, there was the morning service, a 3 00 service and you came back for 6 00 service. At 12 i was not making the connection as to why all of this worship experience was occurring and what it would mean for t so her church that she didnt think it was important for me to have a relationship with god. So we traveled and toured and visited and landed in the balcony at allen temple he got up and i will never forget it. Each preached matthew 28, go ye therefore. At 12 i understood. The sermon was about the relevance of faith in god and it meant we were supposed to do something. That we werent supposed to just sit and celebrate. That our faith should drive us to action. So i joined. I was raised allen temple. So pastoring there has kind of been surreal. It is my life, coming full circle back to the place i started, the place that is seated in me. I feel blessed for the opportunity to give back. The experience, the singing. I think the transition process was a bit testy and people were surprised by that but allen temple has been a supporter of women in ministry. I saw my first preacher there. And people can be challenged by the idea of authority and since they had never had the authority of a female and wondering what it would look like. But i have rror stories to sho people been loving and kind. But we are in our honeymoon stage. At your seven we will see if we get that seven year itch. I always saw allen temple as a mega church. It is still mega. How big is the membership would you say . Our membership is about 2800. With people still moving, that is a good number. And many trouble churches are struggling with the tenants. My friend james and i have come many times. You are at love center. I was a live center because the pastor had gone and they were experiencing transition and were asking pastors to come and support and encourage the people. He was a new pastor, hed been there a couple of years. So they had been inviting me and i had not been able to do it. That particular sunday knowing he had left and knowing how important pastoral leadership is, what to encourage the people. That is great. Bishop hawkins, oh happy day. We actually had a sister lyneho and stephenson in concert this past sunday. This past sunday we were there and heard the thosing sermon for black History Month amateur remind africanamerican people that out of everything that we have been through and the success we have experience, that god has kept us for a reason. That it is not just for us to rest on our laurels or live in a particular social economic classes. That we have been blessed to be a blessing to other people. And to bring another generation along with us. So reminding us that we were kept this far for a purpose and that is to expand gods kingdom. To have the speakers like you did was a great idea. For me, sometimes black History Month can become pigeonholed. And we focus on the known superstars, Martin Luther king, rosa parks, fanny lou hamer, all the names we have heard before. But we were people before we were enslaved. And we have a rare opportunity to lift up what was that history. It is important to me to make the connection between africans and the continent. And we have members that are from those nations. Many of the nations lifted up. And i wanted to them to feel affirmed as well. We definitely felt lifted. Tell us about your style of preaching. I was not being facetious when i talked about the paint off the sanctuary. People have been electrified by your preaching. What is your methodology and approach to preaching . Heres a secret that the world will now know. I am one of a few that made it through seminary and didnt take a preaching class. Started ching my fiof because vinity, god rest his soul, i preached at his motherinlaws church in rhode island. She sent them the tape and when i got back to d. C. He said, i heard you have been around the country preaching. He said, you dont need a class. And he signed me out of it. So i think i preaching style has developed over the years. And i kind of start with, what is the one take away that i want people to leave with . And i build a sermon from their. Because for me, preaching is about transformation. Not just transformation of the mind but transformation of behavior, transformation of understanding. I start with a behavioral purpose and that is something dr. Frank thomas, the only phd in the country in preaching lifted up in his book. Hes an amazing man. So in his book, never quit praising him, he believes in a purpose statement. What do you want to have different as a result of the engagement . And i hait said you have deep scholarly biblical scholarship, combined with in down to earth, girl. Practical, touchable. Sometimes in church we lose a generation because we are not able to speak to a current day. Girlfriend wit has to do with identifying people where they are. Is not to say, a heady approach of the gospel. Not hermeneutics, homiletics and words people cannot understand. Ministering like jesus, who walked among the people, knew the vernacular, lived the life and try to make the gospel relevant to them. He knew that doing judaism in its formal sense, how he may have learned it would not work so he told parables. His parables are my girlfriend wit. We have loved coming. And now that im retired you we will have to rope you into e things too. 47 years of wisdom. I love to receive right now. I understand. We will take another break and i want to hear more. Okay. Please join us. Welcome back to say it. You did a lot of work there in d. C. I did. Tell us about that work. I did. I left here in 1995 and went to the Howard University school of divinity. I studied under the grates. Dr. Cheryl sanders, dr. Dolores carpenter. It was a reticence time in the terms of theological education. I served on staff at a church in washington, a congregation founded by slaves. They have a rich history. I have a social justice dna and i served as the youth pastor for a number of years and built that program and model up to sce. And it me nionally recognized. Then shifted because d. C. , at the time wasnt the d. C. We know today. Where shallow is located there were a lot of needs in the community. I wrote a grant for teen mothers that was funded and became director of the family life center. A foundation, program that does the average services of the church. You are from what i read. Your call to preaching, teaching, became prevailed. Yes, it did. Im glad it did. So where did you get your doctorate . I got my doctor at fuller in pasadena in africanamerican leadership. That is interesting. Yes. That is where you combine the emphasis on our roots and of course what you are doing in the community too. And the transformational role of the church. That was an opportunity for me to kind of blend my concept around the role of the church in the community and the weight needs to be transformed to reach another generation. Because we are living in a time where many of our young people are antiinstitution. Any institution. Particularly institutionalized religion. But the reality is, faith and institutions have brought us this far as a people. So we have to figure out how we can make them relevant to the next generation that is coming behind us. Do you think about running for office yourself . You know, people ask me. I thought about it and was my i think at the time, and even now my influence is probably greater in this capacity. Than in actual political office. You never know what the future holds. You can never say never when you are called. One of my predecessors at easter hill, Booker T Anderson was mayor of richmond. So i was pushed a little bit in that direction but decided i could only do one job. Right. But some cast pastors can do it. They can but im enjoying this posture because it gives the opportunity to critique the things that are wrong. And i think sometimes when you are actually functioning in office, you lose the ability to do that because you are part of the institution. Right now comfortable with remaining that voice that says, you know what, have you considered this and have you considered that . There are people being left behind and you all need to absolutely. My Community Organizer was paul cob. He still around. Yes he is. He is full of rich history as well. It is necessary. Hes able to do that with publishing on the open post every sunday. Nine papers, it is im glad to hear the background. You continue are you still singing . A little bit, here and they are. You have acquire you started . Yes but as part of worship. Not as an artist or anything like that. Dad was a recording artist. Thats right, dr. Thompson. With all that you felt called for the purpose as you say it. Preserved for the purpose. Yes. But not for the pastorate. I did not want to pastor. I did not want to pastor. I had seen so much. Its a tremendous job. It is a laborintensive job and it never ends. But i think that you know, again when god calls you to it. I wanted a distinct, clear call. Theres a call to preaching and i believe a call to the pastorate. It requires a different skill set. Once i was confirmed that god was calling me to pastor i undoubtably said yes. This past sunday you were there from 8 00 until 6 00 or 7 00. About 7 00. But that did not count the hours you had to prepare. Exactly. But you it are doesnt feel like work. That is true even in ministry. Right. What is your staff like . I know you have to have some help. We have some help. Allen temple has always been a multistaff. 60 lay ministers and we have staff ministers who cover different areas. Like william. We have an administrative manager and we will be building out more staff in the future. I was there and saw baptism but you it was 2 or 3 others. It is the deacons and other clergy. When you have a large associate ministerial staff you want them opportunity to exercise their gifts. And it preserves you. Since i was preaching i didnt want to baptize, run, dry off, change clothes. We have 60 minutes, you said yes. The guy didnt just call you. You give them the opportunity to exercise gifts as well. Same with communions. You will see our associate ministers leading that worship as well. What about memorial services, funerals and weddings . They are all divided. You have to do much of them at all . I do do some and some are divided among the rest of clergy and staff. I was concerned when i saw all that. I have great help. Great help. I stand on the legacy of great leaders who built wonderful organizations. And provided opportunities for others. So we are continuing that vein. It sounds like you have great discernment and leadership skills. So when it comes to having that large staff, it seems like you are able to manage it pretty well. I inherited good people. I take no credit. I inherited good people who are already trained. My role is to take them to the next generation and bring another generation along. We have one more segment. If theres anything left out lets cover in the next segment. Let me know. Thank you. Please join us with dr. Thompson. In this last segment, with dr. Thompson, we want to look at her entire ministry again. But allen temple has celebrated their 100th anniversary. The centennial. Tell us about what that was like. It was amazing. It was an opportunity for the congregation to reflect. On where god had brought them from. It was an opportunity for us to celebrate Smith Leadership because they combined leadership with the father and son over 50 years. So we were able to dedicate a street name to. We celebrated the retirement. We hosted some of the best preachers in the nation. Tracy blackman, martin mcnichol, reverend jeremiah wright. Dr. Freddie haynes. We celebrated a wonderful gala at the world pretender. It was an amazing time and i think it reenergize the congregation. And he gave the opportunity to reconnect. It was a blessed time. You have many members commuting . We do. We do. We have a number that live in the area. For the most part we are a commuter church which is different from when i joined. When i joined many lived in the neighborhood. Now the neighborhood is dominantly hispanic. And taylor memorial, west oakland we experience the same. People are commuting. But there is tremendous ministry going on. My friend and colleague, dr. Jenkins. Who i just met. Hes doing great work there. They have to commute but they stay there and produce. In our last minute of the show, what would you give as advice for pastors in urban areas and urban centers, seeing members move away, what would you say the best way to galvanize ministry . The best way to galvanize ministry, no matter where you are is around mission and relationship. The another. That is not just coming in on sunday morning for celebration. It is everything that happens during the week. Whether it is feeding the homeless, dealing with human trafficking, whether it is planning activities for outreach in the community, that is instilled in our dna and who we are as a people. Speaking out on behalf of those who are voiceless. People committed to that, there is no distance that they wont drive in order for that to be maintained. In addition, they have maintained relationships with one another. So they have been at each others weddings and have helped raise each others children. They want to see the grandchildren be part. If you can build ministries that cultivate relationship and connection among members and carry that out to work in the community, i think you will have success. And to remember that success is not size. Success is impact. Jesus had 12 and change the world. We are on mosaic today because of the ministry of jesus christ. If we keep that in mind, i think you will find good success in urban environments. The smiths left great successors. Thank you for coming. Thank you for having me. Im glad we got a hold of you. You are a blessing to all of the people. They hear you weekly and throughout the ministry. And the different parts of the country and worlveknn you to preach. And continue that. I appreciate it. Thank you for joining us. The lord is our light and salvation, my favorite scripture. The 27th psalm. We are blessed in the land of the living. Not just when we die. This ministry is for the life abundant and full and complete now. And dr. Thompson had said that as Allen Temple Baptist church does. S nk you foing wi with over 75 years of savings and service, geico is the easy choice. We could even help you with homeowners. Oh not again oh, thanks you know automated lights are just the beginning. Pretty soon theyre gonna have eyes. Everywhere. Well goodnight. Geico. Over 75 years of savings and service. Geico. Danafarber Cancer Institute discovered the pdl1 pathway. Pdl1. They changed how the world fights cancer. Blocking the pdl1 protein, lets the immune system attack, attack, attack cancer. Pdl1 transformed, reti immunother pdl1 saved my life. Saved my life. Saved my life. What we do here at danafaber, changes lives everywhere. Everywhere. Everywhere. Everywhere. Everywhere. Li omthe cbs y area studios, this is kpix 5 news. A cruise ship with nearly 2 dozen people who tested positive for coronavirus is expected to dock tomorrow and oakland. Is headed for terminal no longer in operation. A list of large public gatherings that have been canceled keeps growing. Sports teams are taking precautions even though they play games. If you are looking for hand sanitizer, you are out of luck. There are signs that panic buying is slowing down. It is 6 am on sunday and thank you for joining us. I am devin fehely. Emily has the morning off. Lets check with the weather