On June 1, 1989, The Rev. Dr. James Alexander Forbes, Jr. became the first African-American to serve as Senior Minister of the Riverside Church, one of the largest multicultural congregations in the nation. Newsweek has recognized Rev. Forbes as one of the “most effective preachers” in the English-speaking world. He is the author of the Prophetic Justice Principles and preaches around the country about America’s need for a spiritual renewal.

Dr. Forbes served as the Harry Emerson Fosdick Adjunct Professor of Preaching at Union Theological Seminary. Since 1992, he has served as co-chair of Partnership of Faith, an interfaith organization of clergy among New York’s Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim communities, and served on the board of Manhattanville College, the Interfaith Alliance, Harlem Congregations for Community Improvement, and the United Way.

He was raised in North Carolina within the Pentecostal tradition and is ordained in the American Baptist Churches and the Original United Holy Church of America. Dr. Forbes has a Doctorate of Ministry from Colgate-Rochester Divinity School ; a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary; and a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Howard University . He earned his Clinical Pastoral Education Certificate from the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond , VA , in 1968.

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