Craig Robinson, ‘11 M.Div, Chicago, IL

The Reverend Craig T. Robinson, Jr. is the proud pastor of St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church in Chicago, Illinois.

Reverend Robinson is committed to a ministry that embraces both the head and the heart. To this end, he has taken great care to prepare himself for ministry. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Morehouse College. He went on to earn the Master of Divinity and Master of Sacred Theology degrees from Yale Divinity School. At Yale, Reverend Robinson demonstrated a high scholastic aptitude as well as a gifting for pastoral ministry and preaching. Upon completion of his Master of Divinity degree, Reverend Robinson was awarded two prizes in the area of preaching. He has a sermon published in The African American Pulpit journal and another sermon published in the 9 Marks of a Good Sermon (National Festival of Young Preachers). He also has a bible commentary published in the African American Lectionary online.

In addition to Reverend Robinson’s pursuit of professional education, he spent two years as Pastoral Resident at the Historic Charles Street African Methodist Episcopal Church in Boston, Massachusetts. At Charles Street, his pastoral sensibilities were nurtured as he provided spiritual and administrative oversight to several ministries. Reverend Robinson has additional training in pastoral care through the Lutheran Social Services New York Alliance certificate program in Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE). He completed a year-long CPE residency at New York University Langone Hospital-Brooklyn in 2017.

In service to the church, he hopes to inspire others to pursue ministerial vocation. To this end he has served as an instructor of AME Liturgy and Hymnody for the New England Annual Conference Ministerial Training Institute, and as the instructor of Preaching and Church History for the New York Conference Ministerial Training Institute. In the Western New York Conference, Reverend Robinson served as Dean of the Ministerial Training Institute.

Reverend Robinson has served on the Board of Directors for Long Island Head Start. He has also served as a community advisor for the Community Outreach and Health Education Council of South Side Hospital in Bay Shore.

Reverend Robinson is married to the Reverend Dr. Shakira Sanchez Collins who is also an ordained minister and a physician. He lives by the wisdom of Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the lord with all of your heart and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path.”