Rev. Jyrekis B. Collins is a native of The Historic Classic City: Athens, Georgia and the son of Ms. Lolita Smith and Mr. Bryant Collins Sr. As a young boy, he attended Faith Temple Church Of God In Christ in Athens under the leadership of Bishop Walter Fleming. At age 11, he publicly accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior and was baptized at The Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Stephens, Ga under the leadership of Bishop Calvin C. Turner. He was educated in the Clarke County Public School System and is a 2015 graduate of Clarke Central High School in Athens, GA.
Reverend Collins is a Spring 2019 graduate of the prestigious Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, having earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Religion. He is a member of the “DEBT-FREE” class at Morehouse College, also known as The Robert Smith Scholars. While at Morehouse, Rev. Collins served as a Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel Assistant, having served as the worship and planning chairperson for three years. In addition, Rev. Collins is a charter member of a bible study in the Atlanta University Center and is an inductee of the 33rd Annual Martin Luther King Jr. College of Ministers and Laity. He is a 2017 cohort member of The National Festival Of Young Preachers, a national preaching platform for young preachers across the globe. Rev. Collins has had the privilege to serve as a Pastoral Intern at the Browns Chapel Baptist Church in Bishop, Ga, The Shaker Heights Community Church UCC in Cleveland, OH and The First Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga where he served as the Youth and Young Adult Minister for four years.
Rev. Collins has an earned Master of Divinity Degree from the prestigious Yale Divinity School in New Haven, Connecticut. At Yale, he served as the Yale Black Seminarians Historian, Vice-President and President- helping the organization to flourish in a pandemic. At Yale, Rev. Collins worked as a religious consultant, helping The Community Baptist Church of New Haven, re-imagine church post-pandemic. Rev. Collins also served as the Worship and Arts chair for The Andover Newton Seminary at Yale for 2 years, helping to create and lead a virtual platform for students at Yale to worship weekly. In addition, he was a personal research assistant for the associate professor of homiletics at Yale, The Rev. Donyelle McCray, J.D., Ph.D. Rev. Collins was awarded with many awards and scholarships while at Yale and had the privilege of being featured in Yale Divinity School’s Reflections journal, writing an original piece entitled: Where In The World Is The Church?. His academic interests involve the study of homiletics, Black church studies and Black Pentecostal religious history, which informs his masters thesis entitled: Gertrude: an introduction to the preaching and healing ministry of Dr. Gertrude Stacks.
Rev. Collins was reared, licensed and ordained in the Gospel Ministry at The Miracle House Church International, located in Bogart, Ga, founded by the late Pastor Mark A. Hall and his wife Pastor Daisy R. Hall. Rev. Collins is a member of the Brown’s Chapel Baptist Church in Bishop, Ga under the leadership of Pastor James Ricardo Smith.
Rev. Collins currently serves as a consultant for churches and academic institutions, and an instructor/ teacher at Yale Divinity School in New Haven, Connecticut. He is also Pastor of Justice and Outreach at First Free Church of Chicago and is a Program Manager at Pride in The Pews, a national nonprofit organization advocating for the holistic health and wellbeing of Black LGBTQ+ individuals. Rev. Collins serves as the chaplain for the Chicagoland Morehouse alumni chapter. In his free time, he enjoys singing, traveling and most importantly drinking coffee.
