(upbeat music) good morning. welcome to 'mosaic'. i am ron swisher. it is a joy and privilege to host 'mosaic' on behalf of my cohost , elizabeth and our mentor, the late hugh

burrell's. i wanted to mention hugh burrell's . we started ministry together in 1972 and i was the pastor of the elmhurst united methodist church and he was the pastor of hillside presbyterian church. and down the street was allen temple baptist church and the pastor at that time was dr. j alfred smith, sr. he was the president of the clergy. father matthews, we lost not long ago was the vice president and i was the second ice president and hugh was the secretary. we were mentored by the great senior and all he did. junior i met later and had the privilege of marrying junior and his wife, elaine. and they reminded me of the hundredth anniversary of allen temple last year. 40 something years now. and i moved to fairfield eight years ago and i heard this buzz going on that you should hear dr. jackie. dr. jackie will preach the paint

off the statuary. i was there in fairfield and one friday night i came to the good friday services . i don't remember what word you preached eight years ago, but she left some paint on the statuary but it was a dynamic and electrifying message. today we are honored to have the senior pastor of allen temple baptist church, the first elected pastor, woman pastor, senior pastor of allen temple, reverend dr. jacqueline thompson. >> thank you for having me. >> thank you for coming. your deacon and brothers to brother, reverend williams and reverend long, had to make the contact i knew you were all over the world. >> they made it and i am here.

>> i am glad you are here. >> tell us about your calling the. it is phenomenal to have you. >> calling to the church or to ministry? >> ministry. >> i am the daughter of a pastor. my father who passed in december was reverend thompson. he was with mount zion baptist church in berkeley for 40 years. i have grown up a church girl all my life and went through the things that young adults go through where you start to question faith and theology and how it lines up with things you are experiencing in life and things that happen in the world. i began seeking a relationship with god. i started teaching at mcclymonds high school in west oakland. >> sorry for what they are going through. >> we need to in protest about that in protest about that. encountered some kids who realized that my desire which was to go into law and politics was not enough. they needed a transformation that was deeper than anything

external. the only thing that i can in parts of emphasize what we did in the classroom was what had sustained me up to that point and that was my faith. in my understanding of who god was in that sense of hope. i started a gospel choir. legally, you are not supposed to say the name or have bible study in public schools or do all of that. we did a lot of character work and had deep conversation and i think it was through the process of ministering to them that the lord began to speak to me about proclaiming larger audiences. to my surprise, i did not realize that dr. smith sr. had been watching me as well and when i went to him and told him i was feeling this burden and i had had this experience that i had gone to bishop bob jackson and her evening communion service any preached a sermon on jonah. people who were running from the gospel. was there that evening and every time he said jonah i heard jackie. he said, if anyone senses a call, come to the altar and before i knew it, i don't remember walking or getting up. i was at the altar and i said yes, to that sense

of god i had and the rest is history. i talked to dr. smith and he said we have been waiting for you. i preached my trial sermon probably august of , 25 years ago this year. august 19th, 1995. later that year, august of 95 and immediately moved to d.c. to go to howard school . >> that is the opening segment and that will keep us truly interested all the way. >> wonderful. >> we will come back in a moment. please join us with reverend dr. jackie thompson who is now the pastor of allen baptist church. 100 year anniversary.

welcome back to 'mosaic'. if you heard dr. thompson you had to be excited about her call to ministry. she is pastor of allen temple baptist church tell us what that has been like for you. >> pastoring at allen temple? it has been a joy. i was raised that allen temple and i came there when i was 12 years old, looking for a church because , for lack of a better phrase i was sick of going to church and that was during the error where you went to church all day. there was sunday school, the morning service and the 3:00 service, you came back for 6:00 service and at 12 i was not

making the connection as to why all of this words of experience was occurring and what was supposed to mean for my life. luckily i had a mother who was so committed to her church that she did not think it was important for me to have a relationship with god so we traveled and we toured and we visited and we landed in the balcony at allen temple church and a short man with a deep voice, who talk slow, got up and i will never forget it. he preached matthew 28 . at 12 i understood. the sermon was about the relevance of our faith in god and admit that we were supposed to do something, not just supposed to be sitting in the pews in celebration. our faith should drive us to action. i joined, i was raised at allen temple. pastoring there has kind of been surreal. it is my life coming full circle back to the place where i started. the place that seated in me and i feel blessed for the opportunity. >> i think the transition

process was a bit testy and i think people were surprised by that because allen temple has been a supporter of women in ministry and i saw my first woman preacher there but i think people can be challenged by the idea of authority. since they had never had female authority and wondering what that would look like . i cannot say, i have no horror stories to tell. people have been a loving and amazing and kind. we are still in our honeymoon stage. when we get two years seven we will see if we have a seven year itch >> when i started i saw allen temple as a mega church and it is still mega but how big is the membership. >> about 2800. >> with people moving out, that is a good number. >> absolutely. and with many churches struggling with attendants and losing members. we feel blessed. >> my friend james and i have done a number of times one time you had of center.

>> i was at love center because their pastor had gone and they were also experiencing transition and they were asking pastors in the city with a come and support and cover the people. he was a new pastor and only been there a couple of years and they had been inviting me and i had not been able to do that but that sunday, knowing he had left and knowing how important pastoral leadership is, i wanted to encourage the people. >> bishop hawkins. >> yes. >> we just had his sister in concert for a black history concert this past sunday. >> this past sunday when we were there and heard your great message, preserved for the purpose. tell us about that. >> preserved for a purpose was the closing sermon for black history month to remind african-american people that out of everything we have been through and the success we have experienced , that god has kept us for a reason. it is not just for us to rest on our laurels or to live in our particular socioeconomic classes but we have been blessed we can go and be a blessing to other people. and to bring another generation along with us . reminding us

that we were kept this far for a purpose and that is to expand god's kingdom. >> to have the speakers like you did was a great idea. >> for me, black history month can become pigeonholed. and we focus on the known superstars. martin luther king's, rosa parks, all the names we here before but we are a people before we were enslaved. we have a rare opportunity to lift up what was that history. it is important to me to make the connection between africans in the diaspora and the actual continent and we also have members who are from the nations, many nations that were lifted up and i wanted them to feel affirmed as well. >> we felt lifted. >> good. >> tell us about your style of preaching. i was not being facetious when i talked about paint up the statuary. people have been electrified by your preaching. what is your methodology and approach to preaching? >> here is a secret that the world will now. i am one of

the few who made it through seminary and i do not take a preaching class . the reason being is because i started preaching my first year the dean of preaching at howard university school of divinity , i preached at his mother-in-law's church in rhode island. and she sent him the tape . when i got back to d.c. he said i heard you have been around the country preaching and he said you don't need a class . he signed me out of it. i think my preaching style , kind of has developed over the years and i kind of start with , what is the one take away i want people to leave with . and i build the sermon from there. for me preaching is about transformation, not just transformation of the mind the transformation of behavior, transformation of understanding. i start with a behavioral purpose and that is something that dr. frank thomas, who has the only phd in preaching, lifted up in his book. >> dangerous sermons. >> and amazing man. in his book, to never quit praising

him, he lives up a behavioral purpose statement. what do you want to be different about this as a result of the engagement? i have taken that as a methodology that i build from. >> i love the bio and it said that you have deep , scholarly, typical scholarship, combined with girlfriend with. >> yes. >> how do you describe that? >> i am east oakland girl. in many ways , still down to earth, practical and touchable and i think sometimes in churches, we lose a generation because we are not able to speak to their current day. girlfriend with has to be able to identify with people where they are. it is not to say, a heady approach to the gospel it is not just a bunch of words that people cannot understand. but trying to minister like jesus who walked among the people and knew the vernacular and live the life and tried to make the gospel relevant to them and you knew that doing

judaism and its formal sense, how he may have learned it was not going to work. so he told parables. his parables are my girlfriend with. >> i like that. we love coming. and now that i am retired you will see me. >> we will have to rope you into something. 47 years of wisdom. >> i love to just receive right now. >> i understand. >> i am with brothers to brother. >> they were major supporters during my process and i am appreciative . >> we will take another break and i want to hear more. please join us. dr. thompson.

welcome back to 'mosaic'. you talked about howard and you did a lot of work in d.c.

tell us about that work. >> i left here in 1995 and went to howard university school of divinity . and studied under some greats. it was a renaissance time. in terms of theological education. while was there served on staff at a church in washington which is a congregation was founded by slaves so they have a rich history and a social justice dna. i served as their youth pastor for a number of years and built that program and model up to scale. it became nationally recognized and then shifted because d.c. at the time was not the d.c. we know today. where that was located there were a lot of needs in the community. i wrote a grant that was funded and i became director of the family life center foundation, which is a program that does the outreach services of the church . >> you are extremely successful, i read, your call to preaching and teaching became , prevailed. >> it did.

>> where did you get to doctorate? >> i got my doctorate at fuller in pasadena. and african-american leadership. >> interesting. that is where you combine the emphasis on our roots and what you are doing in the community. >> and the transformational role of the church. that was an opportunity for me to blend my concept around the role of the church and the community and the way it needs to be transformed to reach another generation. we are living in a time when many of our young people are anti-institution. any institution. particularly institutionalized religion. the reality is that faith and institutions have brought us this far as a people. we had to figure out how can we make them relevant to the next generation that is behind us. >> do you think about running for office yourself? >> people ask me that and that was my desire before ministry. it is not something that i think about now but i am not

opposed to it. i think at the time , and i think even now, my influence is greater in this capacity. than an actual local office but you never know what the future holds. you can never say never when you are called. >> one of my predecessors at eastern hill, booker t anderson, was mayor of richmond . i was pushed a little bit in that direction but i decided i could only do one job. but some pastors are very good at it. >> i think right now, i am enjoying this posture because it gives me the opportunity to critique the things i see that are wrong. and i think sometimes when you are functioning in office, you lose your ability to do that because you are considered a part of the institution. right now, i am comfortable with remaining that voice that says, you know what, have you consider this? have you considered that. there are people that are being left behind and you -- absolutely. >> my mentor for community organizing is paul cobb. and he is around. >> he is full of rich history. >> that is the term he used.

>> it is necessary. and he is able to do that with publishing in the oakland post. >> nine papers. excellent. i am glad to hear that background. you continue -- do you still send? >> a little bit here and there. >> i hear you had a choir you started. >> as a part of worship, not as an artist or anything like that. my dad did. he was a recording artist. >> that's right. dr. thompson. with all that richness, you felt called for the purpose that you say, preserved for the purpose. >> but not for the pastoring. i did not want to pastor. no. i did not want to pastor. i think i have seen so much. it is a tremendous job. a labor-intensive job and it never ends. but when god calls you to it, i wanted a specific , distinct, clear call because there is a call to preaching and i believe there was a call to the pastoring because it requires a different skill set.

once i was confirmed that god was calling me to pastor, i undoubtedly said, yes. >> this past sunday you were there from 8:00 until 6:00 or 7:00. >> about 7:00. >> that did not count the hours that you had to prepare. >> exactly. but you do it with joy and it is true when you find what it is you were born to do it does not feel like work. that is true. even in ministry. >> what is your staff like? you have to have some help. >> we have help. we are a multi-staff church. we have 60 lei ministers and we also have staff ministers to cover different areas like river williams, who was wish me today. we have an admin strata manager. and we will build out more staff in the future. >> when i was there , i baptize. >> it was deacons and some other clergy. when you have a large associative mr. real

stuff you want to give them an opportunity to exercise their gifts and preserves you. since i was preaching i did not want to baptize and dry often change was. you somebody else that god did not just call you. it gives them opportunity to exercise their gifts. same with communion. on communion sunday you will see a lot of associate ministers who are leading the worship as well. >> what about memorial services and funerals and weddings? >> they are divided. >> do you have to do much of them? >> i do some and some undivided within the rest of the clergy and staff. >> i was concerned when i saw -- >> i have great help. great , great help. i stand on the legacy of great leaders who built wonderful organizations. and provided opportunities for others. we are just continuing in that vein. >> you have great discernment and leadership skills. 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 the people that are trained in my role is to take them into the next generation and to bring another generation along. >> we have one more segment. if there is anything left out, let's cover it in the next segment. thank you. please join us. dr. thompson.

- it's so fun to watch jessica in this space. - this is a look at those clouds right now in real-time, but let's head underneath this cloud layer and take a look at our rainfall... - [narrator] the virtual view studio, part of "morning edition." weekday mornings starting at 5 on kpix.

in this last segment with dr. thompson, we want to look at her entire ministry again. allen temple celebrated their 100th anniversary. centennial. tell us about what that was like. >> it was amazing. it was an opportunity for the convocation to reflect on where god had brought thetheir combined leadership with the father and son, it is 50 years. we were able to dedicate a street name to jay alford smith sr. we celebrated the retirement of jay alford smith, junior. we hosted some of the best preachers in the nation. tracy blackman. all profits in their own right. dr. freddy haynes. we celebrated a wonderful gala at the rotunda. it was really an amazing time and it re-energize the comic -- con --

obligation and gave them an opportunity to reconnect. >> do you have many members commuting? >> we do. we have a good number the live in the area but for the most part we are a commuter church which is different from when i joined. when i joined, many people lived in the neighborhood and now the neighborhood is predominantly hispanic. >> taylor memorial in west oakland we experienced the same and people are commuting. there is tremendous ministry going on . my friend and colleague , reverend jenkins, he is doing great work. they have to commute but they stay there . in our last minute or so, what would you give us advice for pastors in the urban area and see 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 people of allen temple are committed to the mission and they are committed to one another. it is not just coming in on sunday morning for celebration. it is everything that happens during the week. whether it is feeding the homeless, weather dealing with human trafficking, weather 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 and the people who are committed to that , there is no distance that they will not drive in order for that to be maintained. in addition, they maintained relationships with one another. they have been in each other's weddings and help raised each other's children and they want to see their grandchildren be a part. if you can build ministries that cultivate relationship and connection among your members and carry that out to work in the community, you will have success. remember success is not size. six bus is impact jesus had 12. and he change the world. i will say today because of the ministry. if we keep that in mind , i think we

will find good success in urban environments. >> the smiths left a great successor. >> bless you. thank you. >> i am glad we got a hold of you. you are a blessing to all of the people that hear you weekly and throughout your ministry. in different parts of the country in the world know you preach. >> i have. thank you. >> amen. thank you for joining us. the lord is our light and salvation is my favorite scripture, 27 psalms. and we are blessed in the land of the living. not just when we die. this ministry is for life , abundant in full and complete, now. and dr. thompson adds to that at allen temple church . thank you for being with us. god bless you.

"overflowing with ideas and energy." that's the san francisco chronicle endorsing democrat katie porter for senate over all other options. porter is "easily the most impressive candidate." "known for her grilling of corporate executives." with "deep policy knowledge." katie porter's housing plan has "bipartisan-friendly ideas to bring homebuilding costs down." and the chronicle praises "her ideas to end soft corruption in politics." let's shake up the senate. with democrat katie porter. i'm katie porter and i approve this message.

from cbs news bay area, this is the morning edition. >> you could not have asked for better weather to ring in the year of the dragon. tens of thousands of people came out for san francisco's