Photo by Imani Khayyam.
Pastor Eric Knapp says that on Mother's Day in 2001, God finally made it clear to him what his vocation would be.
Originally from Bentonia in Yazoo County, Knapp moved to Jackson when he was in eighth grade. After graduating from Provine High School, he went on to Jackson State University, where he studied political science in the hopes of going to law school. "While at Jackson State, I started working from inside the school and just fell in love with education," Knapp says. He went back and took education classes from 1979 to 1984, got his teaching license and received a master's degree in education from Belhaven University in 1993.
After college, Knapp worked for Jackson Public Schools, mostly alternating between teaching fourth and fifth grade and serving as an interim principal. He spent most of his 30 years in education at Smith Elementary School.
Serving the community in a different way, Knapp helped direct the choir before becoming pastor at Greater Clark Street Baptist Church, which helped him become acquainted with the members of the congregation. "After they were in search for a pastor, they knew I was in ministry, so some of the members contacted me and asked me to send my resume, and it kind of went from there," Knapp says.
Knapp has won two Mississippi Gospel Music Awards: Pastor of the Year in 2013 and "Sangin'" Pastor of the Year in 2014. Knapp also does community service. For example, he is on the steering committee of the Center of Excellence in Minority Health and Health Disparities/Institute of Epidemiology Men's Health Conference, which is held at Jackson State University.
Every year, the Center of Excellence in Minority Health and Health Disparities has three conferences: one in summer, spring and fall. The conferences focus on helping males who are unable to take major steps to benefit their own health.
"A lot of things that are happening and are continuing to happen in our neighborhood are because many people's health is failing, so with these conferences, we enlighten those individuals," Knapp says about the center's involvement in Jackson.
Knapp lives in Clinton with his wife, Jeri, and remains a member and choir director at New Galilean Missionary Baptist Church. He has been married to Jeri, who he refers to as his "good thing," for 22 years and has two children, Erica, 30, and Jeric, 21, and one grandchild, Jaida, 9.
Greater Clark Street Baptist Church is located on North Gallatin Street and is the second oldest African American Baptist church in Jackson, behind Mount Helm Baptist Church.
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