By: John Jackson, PhD—President, William Jessup University
Our times are calling out for educated and trained leaders. Sadly, many of our public institutions have been failing the emerging generation. Further, our recent experiences through the pandemic have revealed many of our own challenges as people of faith. For these and many other reasons, I believe that now is the time for Legacy Christian High School (LCHS) to be birthed in the Sacramento region. Now is the time for LCHS to partner with parents and help young men and young women be established with strong foundations for the rest of their life. I think LCHS will educate and train the next generation in a way that will be God-glorifying.
I am a college president. In some ways, college ruined me. In other ways, it made me better and deeper. Now, as I enter into my 5th decade of formal leadership roles, I am concerned for what I often see missing in my own life, the lives of people I’ve led, pastored, and parented. I’m speaking about the seeming conflict between education and training.
Education, in its most basic form, is equipping learners with knowledge and tools to help them see and understand the world most broadly. Training, at its most basic form, is about mastery and being able to learn, grasp, and become proficient at reproducing a skill in a narrow sense. And therein lies the seeming and apparent conflict. I have to confess that at times my education caused me to be broad and unfocused. I had great training when I was younger and at times my education caused me to reject the narrowness of my training. Today, in our diffused and unfocused culture where I lead a complex Christ-centered university, I wish that I had been able to better navigate the tensions between my education and training.
I think that Legacy Christian High School will educate and train the emerging generation, in partnership with parents. Education broadens, deepens, grows, enlarges, and removes barriers to understanding in a world of diversity of perspectives and worldviews. Training develops, deepens, sharpens, refines, equips, and has reproductive capacity built into its disciplines. Your church, your family, and your school need fantastic education and fantastic training. Educating and deepening the emerging generation by teaching them how to think well, believe well, discern between truth and error, and understand worldview will hold them in good stead for the course of their lives. Training and equipping the emerging generation by helping them to master skills and life application content will enable them to reproduce life and health in others. Legacy Christian High School can be used by God to educate and train the future leaders of our region, our state, our nation, and the world.
Prior to joining William Jessup University as its Sixth President in March 2011, John served as the Executive Director of Thriving Churches International and as a Senior Leader of Bayside Church, Granite Bay, California. He is the Founding Pastor of LifePoint Church in Minden, Nevada, and previously was the Executive Minister of the American Baptist Churches of the Pacific Southwest (now Transformation Ministries) where he was responsible to serve more than 270 churches in four Western states. John also served as the Senior Pastor and in several staff roles at First Baptist Church of Oxnard and as the Youth Pastor at First Baptist Church of Buena Park. Dr. Jackson earned both his Ph.D. and M.A. in Educational Administration and Organizational Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara; M.A. in Theology (Christian Formation and Discipleship) at Fuller Theological Seminary; and a B.A. in Religion (Christian History and Thought) from Chapman University.
His strong background in executive and organizational leadership has given him the opportunity to come alongside high impact churches and leaders in national and global settings to strengthen their organizational leadership and communication skills. John is committed to leverage his Kingdom influence through strategic relationships.
Dr. Jackson has written and co-authored seven books: Finding Your Place in God’s Plan, God Size Your Church, Leveraging Your Communication Style, Leveraging Your Leadership Style, Pastorpreneur and High Impact Church Planting, and The Right Choice.
Dr. Jackson is married to Pamela Harrison Jackson and they make their home in Rocklin, CA; they have five children, three sons-in-law, and three beautiful granddaughters.
Education: Ph.D., M.A., University of California, Santa Barbara | M.A., Fuller Theological Seminary | B.A., Chapman University
