UNIFIED MEDIA COMMUCATIONS – The Church of Christ (Holiness) U.S.A, with headquarters in Jackson, MS recently announced that Jackson, MS resident Elder Glake Hill has been named the Bishop of the South Central Diocese. Hill was elected by the General Body during the movement’s national convention held in July.
Bishop Hill, 47, succeeds Bishop Joseph R. Campbell who has retired after 24 years of service. As Presiding Prelate, Bishop Hill will be responsible for the administrative and spiritual oversight of all ordained and licensed clergy, national missionaries, and laymen, across the South Central Diocese, which comprises the entire state of Mississippi. Hill will be officially consecrated during the 125th National Convention of the Church of Christ (Holiness) USA and its Auxiliaries in Birmingham, Alabama in July 2022.
Hill said his vison is to rebrand the church’s traditions and delivery of God’s message. “We want to relate to the youth by better crafting the message to the needs than to the pews, reflect the image of God in living victoriously holy lives and recommit to God, the core mission of the church,” Hill said.
Bishop Glake Hill Jr. entered the Gospel Ministry in 2006 and was ordained an Elder in the Church of Christ (Holiness) USA in 2008. Since 2010, he has served as Pastor of Greater Mt. Bethel COCHUSA in Jackson, MS, where his grandfather, Rev. J.T. Hill also served as Pastor.
Bishop Hill has served in the South Central Diocese Sunday School & Holiness Youth Ministry Auxiliary before his appointment as Assistant Director, then Director of the Pastors and Leaders Conference in 2012. (Formerly known as the National Ministers and Laymen’s Seminar, this conference is an annual training for leaders across COCHUSA and other ministries outside of the denominational movement).
In 2016, Bishop Hill has served as the chairman of the COCHUSA National Education Trustee Board, the national board tasked with ministry and K-12 education within the national work.
Bishop Hill graduated from Tougaloo College, an historically black college or university (HBCU) in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry. In 2003, he earned a Ph.D. (Chemistry) from HBCU Jackson State University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Chemistry at the University of California- Berkley.
Professionally, Dr. Hill has been employed at Jackson State University for more than 17 years where he serves as a tenured professor and associate chair for the Department of Chemistry, Physics, and Atmospheric Sciences. Additionally, Dr. Hill serves as the Senior Research Advisor in the College of Science, Engineering and Technology.
Dr. Hill has been successful in the development of research which focuses on using computational tools to investigate biological and material processes. Dr. Hill has published over 55 articles in Peer-Review Journals. He is one of the leading research advisors in the country in developing African-American Doctoral Students and has secured more than $13 million in external research grants. Currently, Dr. Hill controls five active research grants worth more than $5 million.
Bishop Hill is married to Sis. Shonda Allen Hill. Together, they have three children, Glake III, James, and Eden.
About the Church of Christ (Holiness) U.S.A.
Founded by Charles Price Jones in 1897, the Church of Christ (Holiness) U.S.A. commonly referred to as COCHUSA shares a common early history with the Church of God in Christ (COGIC). A predominantly African-American denomination with headquarters in Jackson, Miss., COCHUSA is under the leadership of Senior Bishop Vernon E. Kennebrew and National President Bishop Lindsay E. Jones. .
The Church of Christ (Holiness) U.S.A. is divided into eight dioceses – Eastern, North Central, Northern, Pacific Northwest, South Central, Southeastern, Southwestern, and Western. Currently, there are approximately 15,000 members in more than 165 congregations and missions across the United States, the Caribbean and Africa.
