The Reverend Jerome J. Washington, Ph.D.
THE REVEREND JEROME J. WASHINGTON is the newly called pastor of the historic Mount Vernon Baptist, Durham, NC. Previously, he was pastor of the Metropolitan Baptist Church of Detroit, Michigan. Prior to going Metropolitan in October 1999, Reverend Washington was the pastor of the First Free Mission Baptist Church of New Orleans, LA for seven years. Under his leadership, that congregation, which was founded in 1868, experienced a renaissance. The First Free Mission's programs were redirected to include a greater involvement of youth and men ministries. A Christian Leadership School was established with course credit issued by the National Baptist Congress of Christian Education. An evangelism team was formed to provide street witnessing; a state funded after-school tutorial program was instituted, as well as a computer literacy program, and Alcoholic Anonymous. Seeing the need for adequate training facilities, Pastor Washington led the First Free Mission Church in the building of the Fleming L. Ford Building - an education annex to the sanctuary and two parking lots.
While Reverend Washington served as pastor of the Metropolitan Baptist Church, programs such as Narcotics Anonymous, Alcoholic Anonymous, The Men's Ministry, scouting programs for girls and boys, Evangelism/Outreach Teams, Youth Bible Drill Team, a Prison Ministry, a weekly midday Bible Study, a Deaf Ministry/Religious Sign class, Saturday Tutorial program, and monthly "Bible Fun Night" for youth of the church and community was established. Pastor Washington is a strong advocate of Christian education. In addition to the traditional Bible Study, the congregation now holds church-wide religious book studies that allow for open discussion on matters of importance to contemporary Christians. The congregation also adopted the Longfellow Middle School. In addition to providing various gifts to the school Metropolitan partnered Longfellow in providing community-based workshops on such issues as conflict resolution for young people and lead poisoning awareness.
Reverend Washington holds both a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music and a Master of Arts in Educational Administration from Xavier University of Louisiana. He has done theological studies at the Union Baptist Seminary and the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. In 1995, Pastor Washington was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy in Religion and Counseling from Southwestern University. He has done postdoctoral studies at Harvard Divinity School and is an alumnus of the Divinity School's Summer Leadership Institute. In 2006 he was the recipient of an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the Tennessee School of Religion.
He was an adjunct professor of Hebrew Scriptures at Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Detroit. Dr. Washington has preached and lectured in religious settings throughout the United States. While in Louisiana, he was a member of the Theological Commission of the Louisiana Baptist Convention and served as President of the Cornerstone Association Congress of Christian Education. In recent years, he has been invited to be the guest evangelist for Baptist congregations in Panama.
Prior to becoming a minister, Reverend Washington performed throughout the United States and Europe. He is a former public school teacher, counselor and adjunct professor at Delgado Community College in New Orleans. He is a Life Member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and is a 33rd degree Prince Hall Mason. His civic involvement is vast and varied. He serves on boards of several community organizations. Dr. Washington served on the Michigan Board of Pharmacy, was a member of the Council of Baptist Pastor of Detroit and Vicinity, serving as Chairman of the Political and Social Action Committee and was Vice President of the Detroit Classical Music Radio Foundation.
He has one daughter, Janel Valerie.