Pastor Elect Rev. Dr. Roberta Young-Jackson

Roberta Young-Jackson is a native of Southport, N.C. She is the youngest daughter of Robert Thomas Young and Elizabeth Williams Young.

Education
Roberta obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (1987); a Master of Divinity Degree (2008), a Master of Arts Degree in Christian Education (2014), and a Doctor of Ministry Degree (2014) from the Samuel Dewitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University. Her doctoral project is entitled “A Glorious Neighborhood: Modeling the Ministry of Jesus through Christian Education.” Roberta is an ordained preacher, an avid writer, and a Christian Education enthusiast.

Ministry
Roberta was called by God to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She was licensed and ordained at First Union Baptist Church, Richmond, Virginia. She has written Christian Curriculum for R.H. Boyd Publishing Company: Nashville, Tennessee & Urban Ministries, Inc. (UMI): Chicago, Illinois.

Family
Roberta has three sisters: Rozella Guess, Shelley Warnett and Sonja Young; three children: Robert E.D.Y. Jackson, Crystal Jackson, & Olivia Jackson, and seven grandchildren.

Employment
Roberta retired from the Federal Reserve Bank – Richmond, as an Information Technology Project Manager on October 1, 2021, after twenty-two years of service. She is also a retired Lieutenant Colonel – with twenty-seven years of service in the United States Army Reserve. Near the end of her military career, she completed two tours of active duty in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom/Enduring Freedom: Dec 2003 – Jan 2005 in Southern Iraq, and Mar 2007 – Mar 2009 at the Army Materiel Command, Ft. Belvoir, Virginia.

On Saturday, June 28, 2025, the congregation of First Union Baptist Church, South Richmond, elected Rev. Dr. Roberta Young-Jackson as the Pastor-Elect. On, September 1, 2025, Rev. Dr. Roberta Young-Jackson became the 1st female Pastor of First Union Baptist Church, in all of its 150 years of existence. To God be the Glory!

Inspirational Scripture:
“This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. [It is of] the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. [They are] new every morning: great [is] thy faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:21-23