Rev. Dr. Reginald Blount

Rev. Dr. Blount is the Co-founder and Executive Director of the Oikos Institute for Social Impact which exists to create mutually supportive ecosystems that strengthen the Faith, Intellectual, Social and Human Capital of faith communities dedicated to expanding their social impact and transformational work in the under-resourced communities they serve. Through strategic partnerships with seminaries and universities, foundations, government agencies and denominational judicatories, the Oikos Institute is dedicated to helping faith communities harness the power of their assets to be a tenable force for communal transformation and economic renewal.

Rev. Dr. Blount is also the Murray H. Leiffer Associate Professor of Formation Leadership and Culture and Director of the Center for the Church and the Black Experience at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL. Dr. Blount was appointed to the faculty in 1999 and is currently its longest-serving African-American faculty member. He was promoted to associate professor in the spring of 2020.

Rev. Dr. Blount is a native New Yorker but claims Augusta, Georgia as home, where he completed his high school education. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Tuskegee University and his Master of Divinity degree from Candler School of Theology at Emory University. He is a Ph.D. graduate of the Garrett-Evangelical/Northwestern University joint program in Religious and Theological Studies. The focus of his studies was in the areas of Christian Education and Youth Ministry. He teaches in the areas of Christian Education, Youth and Young Adult Ministry and Congregational Leadership. He serves further as Program Director of the Garrett- Evangelical Young Adult Initiative, Co-Executive Director of the Children Defense Fund Garrett-Evanston Freedom School Program, and Advisor for the Doctor of Ministry in Strategic Leadership in Black Congregations.

Rev. Dr. Blount was ordained a Deacon and an Elder in the Atlanta-North Georgia Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. He served as pastor of Bethel A.M.E. Church in Iowa City, IA, Eternal Flame A.M.E. Church in North Chicago, IL, and Trinity A.M.E. Church in Waukegan, IL. Currently, he serves as pastor of Arnett Chapel A.M.E. Church in the Morgan Park community of Chicago, IL. He also serves the Fourth Episcopal District as Project Director of their Lilly Endowment Thriving in Ministry Grant Initiative.

Rev. Dr. Blount speaks and teaches nationally and internationally helping faith communities envision new and creative ways to minister to, with, and on behalf of young people, foster congregational and community renewal, and engage in transformative social impact. He is a contributor to “Making God Real for a Next Generation: Ministry with Millennials Born from 1982 to 1999” (Discipleship Resources, 2003), “Educating for Redemptive Community” (Wipf & Stock, 2015), and Co-Editor of “Let Your Light Shine: Mobilizing for Justice with Children and Youth” (Friendship Press, 2019).

He is married to the former Devoria Smith and is the proud father of two young adult children, Reginald David, and Deborah Ayanna.