Our Pastor

Rev. Dr. James S. Hill

Reverend James S. Hill, M.Div. is a native of Valley, Alabama. He is the youngest of two sons born to the union of the late Mr. James C. Hill, Jr. and Mrs. Tolandra M. Hill. Reverend Hill accepted Jesus Christ at an early age. He was seven years old when he skipped down the aisle of Rehobeth Baptist Church (Valley, AL) under the preaching, pastoring, and leadership of the late Rev. L. M. Smith. 

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Reverend James S. Hill was educated in the Chambers County, Alabama public school system. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Alabama State University (1999) and a Master of Divinity degree in Pastoral Care and Counseling from the I.T.C. Morehouse School of Religion (2009) in Atlanta, Georgia. Reverend Hill is currently a doctoral candidate in the Doctor of Ministry degree program at Liberty University (Virginia). Reverend Hill will complete his earned doctoral work in May 2025. 

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Reverend Hill answered God’s Call into the preaching ministry in 2001 and was licensed to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ on March 31, 2004 at Antioch Baptist Church North (Atlanta) by the late Rev. Dr. Cameron Madison Alexander. Reverend Hill was ordained in December 2014 by Rev. Dr. C.M. Alexander. Reverend Hill served at Antioch under the leadership of Dr. Alexander until December 2016 when he was called to pastor Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church in Beulah, Alabama.

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Reverend Hill served as the pastor of Pleasant Hill from December 2016 until January 2022. Under his visionary leadership, several of Pleasant Hill’s ministries were either implemented or restored and many men, women, and children accepted Jesus Christ in response to Pastor Hill’s powerful, pointed, and poignant preaching and teaching.

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In 2022, God had another assignment for him. In September of that year, God spoke to the membership of Pilgrim Baptist Church in the historic English Avenue neighborhood of Atlanta, and Reverend Hill was called to be their eighth pastor!  

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Pastor Hill is extremely passionate about preaching and teaching the Word of God and reaching those who have been marginalized by the mainstream. He fully believes that for the church to have its greatest impact in the local setting and the larger society, it must be dynamic not static, proactive not reactive, upwardly focused, inwardly attentive, and outwardly engaged. The church must be a collective body of Believers who are on the move for Christ. Pastor Hill unapologetically and unashamedly believes the major mission of the church is to “GO”. Go and make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). Go out into the highways and hedges to reach with the gospel of Jesus Christ those who are faithful, on the fringes as well as those who have been forgotten (Luke 14:16-24).   

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Pastor James S. Hill is married to Mrs. Jasmin L. Hill. God has blessed their union with two children, Joshua James and Jadyn Adaya.