Answering the “Call” by Rev. Linda Poole Kennedy-Jackson (UUMS 1995)
I grew up in a family of Baptist ministers; four on my father’s side and one on my mother’s side. So, how did I come to be a Unity minister? My mother discovered a Unity radio broadcast that she listened to every morning. I also listened to it as I was getting ready for school. When she discovered there was a Unity Church meeting in the basement of Detroit’s Art Institute, we began attending the services on Sunday mornings before going to our Baptist Church where my great grandfather was the Senior Minister, my uncle was an Assistant Minister, my grandmother was the secretary, and my father was the choir director. When I was young, I experienced chronic bronchitis and whooping cough. My mother subscribed to Unity literature that included The Prayer of Faith, which is one of my favorite prayers. One rainy morning when I was seven years old, I was having an attack of whooping cough and difficulty breathing. Together, we prayed this prayer and I received a healing. It was an experience I will never forget. Years later, when going through a difficult marriage, I happened to be browsing the literature booth at Detroit Unity Temple when I came across information about the Unity School for Religious Studies in Missouri. While I was interested in knowing more about the Unity teachings, attending the school would not be possible because the program would require me to be away from my two young children for three years. I shared the information with my mother, and a few years later we discovered an African American Unity Church on Joy Road, called West Side Unity. The Minister, Rev. Ruth Mosley, was pioneering the Unity Urban Ministerial School. My mother answered “The Call,” and enrolled and was a member of the second class to complete the program and become ordained Unity minister in 1984. Becoming a minister was the furthest thing from my mind at the time, but the “calling” was on my heart. Rev. Ruth recognized it and told me, with a twinkle in her eye, that I was called to be a Unity minister. Through a series of events and challenges, I followed in my mother’s footsteps and became an ordained Unity minister in 1995.
I remember sitting in my first class wondering why I was there. I had been enrolled in the ministerial program by Rev. Ruth when I thought I was simply taking a class. I didn’t have the money for tuition. But when I was asked during an L&O (licensing and ordination) interview why I wanted to be a minister, my immediate response was “I’ve been ‘called’.” And, when asked what I would do if accepted, I didn’t hesitate to answer: “I will continue to share the message of Truth no matter where I am and through whatever medium God directs me.”
My mother, Rev. Leola Poole, answered “The Call.” I answered “The Call” as a young child, as a teenager, and as a young adult. Today, “The Call” is on my heart. It is part of me. Rev. Ruth Mosley made it clear: I am “called” because…”The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; because theLord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek; God has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound” (Isaiah 61:1). Rev. Linda Poole-Jackson Kennedy serves as Secretary on the UUMS Board of Directors and Chairperson of the UUMS 2025 Reunion Committee.