A man from Milwaukee is trained to serve the community he loves with a message of God’s love.

Eleven years ago, Kerigiti (Keri) Jackson started down a path—a path not too many Black men in WELS have followed. He wanted to prepare to become a pastor, to share his Lord’s love and his love for his Lord in his community.

On May 22, 2026, Keri graduated from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis., through the Joshua Urban Ministry Program (JUMP), an arm of the Pastoral Studies Institute with a vision to “train the city to serve the city.” He was assigned to serve as pastor at an urban congregation, St. Philip, Milwaukee, Wis.

A few days after Keri’s ordination and installation at St. Philip, we talked about how he got to this point, starting with what he felt during the ordination—the culmination of his journey:

The service was overwhelming and humbling for me. The church was hot. I was already sweating. But then the tears; I couldn’t stop crying. I’m just sitting up there at the front, pinching myself. Nine or ten years ago, I started this journey at Martin Luther College [MLC]. Then I left MLC and thought, I’ll never be a pastor. That’s what I thought my road was going to look like. But then God took me on this loop-de-loop path that had a bunch of stumbling places and dips. And now I am here.

Training the city

Keri’s journey with God began in Chicago at a Missionary Baptist Church. His mother and extended family were active members. Keri’s grandmother made everyone in that family go to every service offered by that church. His family members taught his Sunday school classes. Keri looks back on these days as foundational to his close relationship with God.

After his grandma died, Keri and his mother moved to Milwaukee. Keri started drifting a bit but ended up at Wisconsin Lutheran High School for his junior and senior years. Lutheran doctrine was a completely new experience for him. Keri challenged his teachers on infant baptism: “Who told you this?” He was directed back to the pages of Scripture: “It’s in the Bible.” In this way, Keri “fell in love” with WELS’ commitment to the Bible and the unconditional gospel.

During those years, Keri had chosen a university and a career path. But his plans changed when Aaron Robinson, a Black teacher at the high school, offered the following encouragement to the students when he took a call to serve as pastor at Fairview, Milwaukee:

There are not enough Black pastors in our church body. There are not enough Black members in our church body. But there especially are not enough Black pastors in our church body. So to any of you Black men listening to me right now, if you like talking about Jesus or if anyone ever encouraged you to be a pastor, I encourage you to give Martin Luther College a shot.

Keri “sat on this” for a bit. Later that same day, he tracked down Robinson and said, “I want to give it a shot.”

What really moved Keri toward pastoral training at Martin Luther College, New Ulm, Minn., were the needs he saw in his own Milwaukee community:

I would come home from New Ulm in the summer and see people, especially men, who needed Jesus. I thought to myself, “You need a church to worship in; you need a church community; you need a church family.” There are so many images out there, especially in Milwaukee, that kids get hooked in to. They see all these rappers and hear their songs, and they think that is what they want. But I want them to see the image of loving the Lord with all your heart and serving the Lord. They don’t think this is cool, but I want to show them that it is cool to go to church.

Keri enjoyed MLC. He served as his class president for the three years he attended. He still has lifelong friends from the school. But the cultural shift proved difficult:

I remember that first drive into New Ulm with my parents. We saw all these German words—Willkommen, Glockenspiel, whatever—and it looks so different from the culture quilt of Milwaukee. As we drove in, my mom and my stepdad looked at each other and then at me and asked, “Are you sure this is where you want to be?” I assured them I wanted to give it a shot. But I was not comfortable in New Ulm.

During his junior year, Keri had some health challenges and started falling behind in his classes. He was encouraged to take some time off. When he left, he was sure his dream of becoming a pastor would evaporate like the morning mist. But in 2019, Robinson again got Keri’s attention and on a path to become a pastor: He invited Keri to enroll in JUMP. This program to train Black Lutheran men for pastoral ministry had recently been launched in the Milwaukee area with the support of local urban congregations and WELS leaders.

Keri studied for six years in that program before graduating this past May. During that time, he also served as a chaplain and the director of ministry for A City for God, a WELS-affiliated ministry that brings the love and teachings of Jesus into the lives of students, families, and educators in urban schools. His years of study in JUMP supported his chaplaincy ministry.

When we had our vocation class, you [Prof. Sorum] gave us the assignment to talk to our boys about marriage. I was able to do that right away. What were the results from that? I was able to start a boys’ group that I’ve had for the past six years. [I appreciated] the ability to keep doing the ministry that God placed me in but also learn at the same time.

Serving the city

Now pastor at St. Philip, Keri is enjoying connecting with his community, which is mostly Black, though he insists that his members could also connect with a White pastor:

I don’t want to come across as, “Oh, this is only something that Black men can do.” I don’t think that is the case. But I think it has a slightly different impact when I get to connect with my fellow Black members. I am able to relate with them and know their story and share a little bit of their story. We all have been in Milwaukee most of our lives. We know Milwaukee and each other. I love being able to serve them.

Our Lutheran brothers and sisters throughout Milwaukee are proud of Keri and love being served by him. He is an example of their city being trained to serve their city. He is one of them—leading them and also contributing to the broader Lutheran leadership for the city of Milwaukee. Keri shares:

I was recently conducting a Bible study for the people of Siloah, a congregation similar to St. Philip. In this Bible study, I shared a bit of the history of JUMP. People shared that in the past they have felt a bit overlooked. They felt that Black people were overlooked as a mission field. The synod does a good job focusing on Asia, Africa, and the Apaches, but what about this mission field at our front door?

But as I told them the JUMP history, they were encouraged. JUMP is, in their opinion, a strong start toward the kind of commitment to urban outreach they are seeking. They were so excited to hear that I was about to complete my JUMP training. They were excited to hear that I was about to become a WELS pastor. They were excited to hear about other men in the program like Ron and Nick and Dufort [see sidebar below]. JUMP demonstrates the commitment that our synod has to correct things from the past. I think this is the biggest comfort JUMP offers.

Is it going to take some time? Yes, it’ll take some time to get a good flow of young men into JUMP. Our synod is committed to working on this, which is great!

Keri offered this prayer at the end of our conversation:

Lord, I thank you for the moment that you’ve brought me to be able to serve your people at St. Philip. It has been a long road, but you proved yourself faithful. I thank you for the many people who have played a part and whom you used to support me in this journey. Lord, I ask that you keep doing the same for others who are out there, others who will be good servants in your kingdom. Send your Spirit. Raise up these harvest workers. Bless us.

Keri’s prayer reflects his commitment to JUMP’s vision. His ministry builds on the legacy of St. Philip’s last pastor, Raymond Kimbrough, and other Black WELS pastors who served Milwaukee congregations. Keri’s prayer—and our prayers alongside his—will preserve the mission of the city serving the city.

Author: E. Allen Sorum
Volume 113, Number 09
Issue: September 2026

Continuing to train

JUMP continues to train men to serve the city, with three men currently in the program. Two are nearing graduation: Ron Kelly, who has been serving for a long time as a spiritual support for the parents and children of St. Marcus in Milwaukee, and Nick Montgomery, who served alongside Keri in the school chaplains program. JUMP’s newest student, Dufort Samedi, emigrated to Milwaukee from Haiti.