About The Author

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.