Alexander
Dante Hurt, Sr.
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Born in Chicago, IL, Rev.
Hurt has as his earliest childhood memory, the day that
his family moved from the Henry Horner Projects, one
of the biggest and reputed to be the most crime-ridden
housing projects in the United States. This memory,
in some quite profound ways, shaped and prefigured a
life committed to social and economic justice for all.
The pervasive sense of hopelessness and the profound
sense of helplessness that still lingers from this period
countered only by the hope and joy that is found in
the knowledge of the tradition of social struggle that
Rev. Hurt locates him self within. This location, based
namely on his Christian faith, is what gives form to
the hope that he feels, and is the source from which
the joy that he depends on for comfort springs.
In 1989 Rev. Hurt moved to Boston, MA from Chicago.
He accepted his call to ministry later that same year,
and was ordained in the Church of God in Christ in
1989 by Bishop Bryant Robinson. His first ministerial
charge was to create and run a prison re-entry program
directed at youth offenders who were to return to
the inner city of Boston. This ministry grew under
Rev. Hurt’s leadership to become the largest Christian
prison ministry in Massachusetts. His strategy of
working with the administration of correctional institutions
gained him high praise from the Governor’s office
and from community groups that represent family members
of offenders. He is a founding member of the Board
of Directors of the Ten Point Coalition and a member
of the Executive Committee. The Ten Point Coalition
is a church-based response to the problem of inner-city
youth violence. In his work with this group he has
helped to address the spiritual and economic needs
of at-risk inner-city youth.
In 1992 Rev. Hurt enrolled at Suffolk University.
There he majored in Government with a concentration
in public policy. In 1994 he moved on to Harvard University
to study the effects that religious commitments have
on shaping and informing social action to urban ministries.
At Harvard he studied that Philosophy of Religion
and worked with: Professors Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham,
Richard R. Niebuhr, Cornel West, and Harvey Cox.
In 2001, Pastor Hurt founded Kingdom Church. Kingdom
Church is a fast growing and active church in the
Greater Boston area. The work and role of the church
in world has been the cornerstone of Pastor Hurt’s
life and ministry. Pastor Hurt brings to the pastorate
ten years of proven community economic development
experience and fourteen years of preaching and teaching
experience.
His work in the inner city of Boston has been covered
by the Boston Globe and Herald, and he was the cover
story on the CNN program ‘CNN Tonight’ in 2001. Both
in 2001 and in 2002 his work was featured on CNNs
‘Inside Politics’. In March of 2005 CNN returned to
complete another feature story on his life and work.
His work and writings have also been featured in the
New York Times and the LA Times. Recently, Rev. Hurt
was heralded on the floor United States Senate as
a leading voice on the issues of trade policy with
Africa and urban policy.
Rev. Hurt lives in Brockton, MA with his wife, Ty
and five children. Rev. Hurt is a speaker that is
in great demand. He speaks at over 50 events each
year on topics that range from his work in faith-based
economic development to urban church planting. |
