Pastor Phil Jackson
Founder & Chief Executive Officer,
The Firehouse Community Arts Center of Chicago
For over 30 years, Pastor Phil Jackson has served on the front lines of neighborhood development, violence interruption, and urban youth ministry. Pastor Phil received his Master of Divinity degree as a John Perkins scholar from Northern Theological Seminary with an emphasis in Christian Community Development. In 1993, he was called by the Lawndale Christian Community Church to serve the youth of Chicago.
In the North Lawndale neighborhood, Pastor Phil planted a youth church called The House, featuring a hip-hop worship service, and eventually founded The Firehouse Community Art Center of Chicago, which offers year-round, multi-disciplinary cultural arts programming, mentorship, leadership, and workforce development centered around the prevention and interruption of violence. In 2019-2020, the Firehouse won five Chicago / Midwest Emmy Awards for the feature-length documentary film Chicago at the Crossroad. Pastor Phil has written a book and has a Sirius XM radio show.
Pastor Phil and his beautiful bride, Kim, have been married since the summer of 1985. They have three fantastic adult kids and eight grandchildren. He and his Firehouse team of 26 are crazy in love with the youth and young adults they serve in North Lawndale and are seeking to awaken the hope within them every day through the arts and faith.