Bishop George D. McKinney

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About Bishop George D. McKinney
BISHOP GEORGE D. MCKINNEY
It started on August 9, 1932, in Jonesboro, Arkansas; George Dallas McKinney was the ninth of fourteen children born in the middle of the depression to his parents, George D. and Rosie Thompson McKinney. His father was a sharecropper and an itinerant San Diego preacher. His parents were very unusual. Because of the poverty and being sharecroppers, time spent in school was about five to six months out of the year, and the remaining months were spent working in the field.
His father had a third-grade education, and his mother about a seventh-grade education. They had a tremendous interest seeing to it that their children received an education. But, his parents had a wonderful philosophy. They taught their children that there would be two avenues to get out of that kind of poverty and the oppression that they experienced. That was, Good Religion and Good Education. So, his parents instilled those ideas into the children, and the consequences were that all of the children that survived finished high school and went to college - some chose the careers of doctors, lawyers, authors, education, and other occupations.
Dr. George D. McKinney is Founder and Pastor of St. Stephen's Cathedral Church of God In Christ in San Diego, California, and Chief Counselor of the Southeast Counseling Service in that city. Since 1985, Bishop McKinney has served as Jurisdictional Prelate of Southern California Second Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the Church of God in Christ. In November 2001, he was elevated to the General Board (the presidium) of the Church of God in Christ, Inc.
He was married for 47 years to the Late Jean Brown McKinney and the father of five sons. In 2008, Bishop McKinney married First Lady Barbra Jo McKinney, an attorney and former judge. He is especially noted for his work in the area of marriage and family enrichment.
His powerful pulpit ministry has resulted in his choice as keynote speaker at leading conferences and seminars throughout the United States.
He was Magna Cum Laude graduate of Arkansas State A.M. and N College in Pine Bluff. Dr. McKinney received his Master's degree in Philosophy of Christianity at the Graduate School of Theology, Oberlin College in Ohio, and a Ph.D. from the California Graduate School of Theology.
His extensive involvement in church and numerous civic affairs have earned him many honors, including listing in "Who's Who in the West," selection by the San Diego Junior Chamber of Commerce as one of the community's ten most outstanding young men in 1966, and a similar honor bestowed in 1969 by the International Association of Aerospace Workers, District 50. He has been a featured speaker at Urbana Mission Conferences and Promise Keepers. His ministry includes conducting conferences on the "Recovery of Family Life" and "Urban Ministry." He was selected as Mr. San Diego, Man of the Year 1995-96.
He is Founder and Director of St. Stephen's Group Home, a halfway house for juvenile probationers, and co-founder with his late wife, Jean, of the St. Stephen's Day Care Center, and the St. Stephen's Christian School (K through 12th grades).
He has authored several best selling books in hardcopy form, and his new releases of Kindle digital books including, The Theology of Jehovah Witnesses, I Will Build My Church, The Gospel of Mark Accentuated, Let The Church Be The Church, Deepening Life Together - Praying God's Way Series (DVD, Video and Study Guides Kit), Rejoice!, On This Rock, The Azusa Street Revival Revisited, For Those Who Wonder, Christian Marriage: An Act of Faith and Commitment, Cross the Line: Reclaiming the Inner City for God, and The New Slavemasters.
A catalogue of his books and teaching tape albums may be obtained through:
St. Stephen's Church of God in Christ Bookstore
http://www.ststephenscogic.org/v2/bookstore/ in San Diego, California
Email: georgedmckinneypub@gmail.com
Write to:
Bishop George D. McKinney
Bishop George D. McKinney Ministries
P. O. Box 740039
San Diego, CA 92174-0039
Author Updates
Books By Bishop George D. McKinney
Bishop McKinney, filled with the Holy Spirit at the young age of nine years old preached his first sermon at fifteen years old. Through the years, as he accomplished many academic goals, he kept the teachings of his parents and the Holy Spirit close and became an advocate for living holy, heartily practicing forgiveness, and fiercely protecting the sanctity of marriage and family.
These sermons are filled with the benefits of experiences that came from years of academic, professional and clergy work along with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Bishop McKinney worked as a probation officer and then marriage and family counselor before shifting to full-time ministry as a pastor. He was ordained as the Bishop of the Southern California 2nd Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and later became a General Board member for the Church Of God In Christ, Inc. All the while in the inner city community of Southeast San Diego, thousands of people were saved, hundreds were married, counseled, fed and housed under his pastoral service.
Bishop McKinney used his skills as an exceptional orator, and anointed wordsmith to compose and deliver these sermons under the guidance of the Holy Spirit; that those who heard or read them would experience the living word, receive and freely offer forgiveness and continue to spread the word of God.
This vast collection of sermons has been lovingly compiled by his widow Barbara Warren McKinney and divided into several volumes for easy reading
Along with the Doctorate in Theology, Bishop McKinney holds a license as a California Marriage, Family and Child Counselor. He is the founder and director of the Southeast Counseling and Consulting Services, which has provided training for a significant number of students, both at the Masters and Ph.D. level. These students have completed internships under Bishop McKinney’s leadership and have qualified for the MFCC license.
In addition to his pertinent experience as a former probation officer and resident Chaplain, Bishop McKinney can also share his wide, fruitful and varied experience in this field as Pastor and founder of the St. Stephen Church of God in Christ, having pastored there for upwards of twenty years now.
We are confident that this little handbook is the answer to many students’ prayers and will fulfill some very basic needs for the Christian counselor.
This writing was motivated by my deep love and concern for the sleeping giant of the world – God’s church at large.
If one soul can be awakened to the urgency of the Christian’s commission to herald the Good News in a world where hopelessness is more commonplace than hope, my heart will be made glad and the Kingdom of God will be advanced.
The walls we have erected in the Body of Christ to separate us one from the other must come down. Together, we must go and tell of Jesus and the hope He gives.
Allow this book to challenge your thinking. Contemplate your role in God’s Church and evaluate your quality of involvement and commitment to Jesus Christ.
This book is written not to the unbeliever, but to the believer. It is not to the one who evaluates with a critical eye yet exerts little effort to assist in bearing the burden. Critics hurl their criticisms at the Christian church daily, resulting in little or no positive results.
The Church that is going to prevail is the Church that will not forget to praise God, for Jesus is worthy o praise. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise Him in the morning, praise Him in the evening, and praise Him when the sun goes down. Praise Him, because He is God. Praise Him for His mighty acts of salvation. Praise Him, because He is the divine healer. Praise Him, because He leads us beside the still waters.
When the people of God praise the Lord, when we praise Him with the whole heart, when we praise Him with our lips and with our lives, and when we just keep on praising the Lord, somebody who does not have this grace, and who does not know this salvation will hear and be drawn to Him. And the Church will go on.
In today’s economic climate in America, businesses are folding at the rate of one thousand per week. Stores are being boarded up every day.
But, there is one institution that shall never die, and that is the Church. How we need to thank God that we are in this institution that in all of time and in eternity shall never die. Let the Church roll on.
Get in the Church, be in the Church, stay in the Church; and as a part of the Church, and let the Church be the Church! The Church will prevail.
SATAN BUILT THE WALLS. He drew the line around the inner city with walls of fear, racism, rebellion, and rage. But, there is a dividing line. By showing love, and learning to trust God, we have the choice to authoritatively Cross The Line.
In the inner city, our neighborhood had ten murders in the month of January 1997. Some were just innocent victims. Plus there’s other violence—gang assaults, domestic explosions—and drug sales and use everywhere. By all definitions, our church is in the ‘hood.
I conducted a survey and asked two people: one from the “hood” and one from the “suburbs”, “With all the good reasons to leave the “hood” why do you stay?” Some of the responses were, “My job’s here.” My mom’s here.” I’ve lived here all my life.” “I couldn’t get a job out there.” “Whitey’s got me in a box. He ain’t going to let me out.” “I know where everything is here.” “I’d be abandoning my people.” “This ain’t so bad.” “Nobody’s forcing me to move. Nobody.”
Then, I asked one of my white friends to do the same thing in the suburbs. He asked: “With all the problems of the inner city, why don’t we help the people living there?”
These are some of the answers:
“Walk around anywhere near there and I feel like I’m going to be attacked.” “I feel like a real outsider.” “Why should I?” “If it’s so bad that they need help, they can leave.” “If you’re dumb enough to live on a minefield—” “I don’t see how I can do anything the government’s not doing already.” “I’m responsible for my life. They’re responsible for theirs.” “I’m no good with them. I try to be friendly, and they just shut me off.” “My heart goes out to them, but I’ve got my own family to support.” “You read about those guys, right? They took the wrong turn and ended up dead.” A lack of forgiveness can turn people hard.
Have you ever watched a potter work with clay? In the beginning, she’ll tear great chunks of clay away, slam what remains on the table, and knead it in an effort to begin the shaping process. Then she’ll wet it, to make it more pliable, more easily molded and shaped as she gouges at it, tearing more away, smoothing a spot here, and slamming on an additional clay there.
God calls Himself the potter and us the clay. Every hunk of clay is a little different, just as we are different from our brothers and sisters. Even if we are fashioned for a similar use, the shaping process may be radically different.
So, we see our lives as clay being shaped by a master craftsman. Sometimes the work is delicate: the introduction of an idea, a gentle realization. Other times it’s more pronounced: the confrontation of a sin, the accusations of a loved one. Sometimes it’s radical: an arrest, a divorce, the failure of a ministry, or something even worse. The Master is working with us to shape us for His purpose.
Nearly two centuries ago, Satan used mankind’s deeply rooted sin that resulted in humanity enslaving a race of God’s creation—African-Americans. In this new day when African-Americans enjoy complete freedom, there are new, insidious Slavemasters that work outside civilized law and labor to ensnare black families —and for that matter, families of all races.
This book provides a blueprint for restoration and strengthening of African American families. The term, The New Slavemasters, comes from my experiences of present-day enslavement of prevailing temptations and devastation of plagues that wrought the inner city suburbs in my community, resulting in self-imposed slavery and family destruction. When Christians [born-again] and non-Christians fail to recognize the bondage and break the chains that destroy our entire nation, they lose their freedom and volunteer to re-enter into forms of slavery.
This entire book helps give awareness of how to break free from and remain free of The New Slavemasters. Reader’s Study Guide, Chapter notes, questions and answers, true stories and illustrations are inserted to support and encourage Bible-study groups, scriptural understanding, and prayer devotions against the assault of the new Slavemasters.
The book begins with a mother trying desperately to save her son’s life that was impacted by drugs and “dirty” (drug) money. But, in the endless struggle to free her son from these new Slavemasters’ hold on him, tragedy occurs – he dies before her very eyes.