Rev. Dr. Julius Harrison McAllister, Jr.

The Reverend Dr. Julius Harrison McAllister, Jr., affectionately known as Reverend Julius, is the 35th anointed Senior Minister of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Tallahassee, Florida. A fourth-generation minister, he answered the call to ministry in 1992. Prior to his appointment to the Bethel AME Church in 2008, Reverend Julius distinguished himself as an outstanding pastor in the Detroit and Chicago areas. He was a youth minister at Oak Grove AME Church in Detroit, Michigan. Subsequently, he served as pastor of Payne Chapel AME Church in Chicago Heights, Illinois, and the Greater Institutional AME Church in Chicago, Illinois.
 
As pastor of the Greater Institutional AME Church, his devotion to community growth and development led to the creation of Come Home For Christmas that serviced nearly 5,000 homeless, poor, and underprivileged adults and 2000 children; raised seven hundred thousand dollars to support needy families in Chicago during the Christmas season.
 
Reverend Julius believes that Bethel’s ministry experiences should reflect not only the enduring love for Jesus Christ but also for one another. He insists that “our focus, as we turn the proverbial pages of time, should show the outside world that we are on the CARING END of ministry.” To this end, as President/CEO of the Bethel Community Development Corporation (Bethel CDC), an affiliate church ministry, Reverend Julius has supervised the construction and rehabilitation of 80 homes for low-income families in the city of Tallahassee at the cost of 14.8 million dollars, and has led the church in the building of ten homes for new construction of single homes for rental for low-income families. He is also Chairman of the Board of the A Life Recovery Center that provides drug and alcohol rehabilitation to residential and outpatient clients; nearly a thousand men and women have been able to overcome their drug addiction. Under his leadership, Bethel’s annual Thanksgiving Basket Project provides hearty meals for nearly twenty-five hundred people annually, and the Families Reaching Families Christmas Project has provided toys, bicycles, clothes, and gifts to thousands of needy children in the community. A few years ago, Reverend Julius inspired the members of Bethel to renovate Bethel By The Lake. The camp is a ten-acre campsite three miles from the main worship, study, and community complex. The commercial swimming pool was renovated, six basketball courts were added, and the fellowship hall was completely restored. The church raised a quarter of a million dollars in 22 months to liquidate the mortgage. In honor of our former episcopal leaders, the camp was renamed Camp Richardson Recreational Retreat Center.
 
Reverend Julius is passionate about Christian Stewardship. As he leads the congregation to understand and accept stewardship as a biblical mandate, he teaches that managing and giving one’s time, talent, and material resources to glorify and serve God is an expression of one’s faith and an integral part of Christian commitment and responsibility to build up the body of Christ. During his fourteen-year tenure, the number of tithers has increased, and he has led the Bethel Church in averaging 1.5 million dollars in tithes and offerings over the last ten years. This conference year, Bethel Church raised 3.5 million dollars from all sources. In the last years, Bethel has raised over Two Million Dollars.  Lastly, the church provides hot meals to underprivileged school-age children in low-income communities. Over the last four years, Bethel has partnered with the State of Florida and has prepared eight hundred thousand meals at a cost of 1.5 Million Dollars. This ministry experience has provided jobs for 85 millennials each year.
 
Reverend Julius received the baccalaureate degree in criminal justice from South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, South Carolina, in 1993 and a Master of Divinity degree from the Turner Theological Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1996. In 2007, he earned the Doctor in Ministry degree from the Chicago Theological Seminary in Chicago, Illinois. Reverend Julius is the first in the African Methodist Episcopal Church to earn a Doctor in Ministry in the area of Christian Stewardship.

Reverend Julius is the son of Bishop Julius Harrison McAllister, Sr., Presiding Prelate of the First Episcopal District (New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Massachusetts, Bermuda, portions of Pennsylvania) of the AME Church, and Mrs. Joan Marla McAllister, Episcopal Supervisor. He is married to the former Deana Elizabeth Young, a committed educator, an astute school administrator, and a compassionate first lady. She is currently employed as an Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources, Labor, and Employee Relations and Chief Negotiator for Leon County School Board. They are the proud parents of three children: Julius Harrison McAllister, III, known also as J. Harrison, Colin McKinley Young McAllister, and Dylan David Jeremiah McAllister.  Finally, after much prayer, Dr. McAllister is presenting himself as an aspirant for episcopal service in the African Methodist Episcopal Church.