Rev. Dr. Reginald Blount firmly believes in the church's creative power to bring new life and hope to neighborhoods. He has dedicated his ministry to demonstrating just how impactful this

can be.

He started as an engineer. Dr. Blount earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Tuskegee University before he answered a call to ministry that changed the direction of his life. 

He went on to earn a Master of Divinity from Emory University's Candler School of Theology and a PhD in Religious and Theological Studies from the joint program of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and Northwestern University.

Today he serves as the Murray H. Leiffer Associate Professor of Formation, Leadership, and Culture and Director of the Center for the Church and the Black Experience at Garrett- Evangelical, where he has taught since 1999. He is the seminary's longest-serving African American faculty member.

An ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Dr. Blount has pastored congregations in Iowa and Illinois across 27 years of ministry. He currently serves on several national boards and commissions for the denomination.

He is also co-founder and Executive Director of the Oikos Institute for Social Impact, a ministry that partners with seminaries, universities, foundations, and government agencies to help

congregations in under-resourced communities turn what they already have into engines of economic and community renewal.

Dr. Blount is an accomplished author, speaker, and teacher. His work calls congregations to invest in young people, rebuild community, and pursue justice, not as separate tasks but as one

calling.

He is a native of New York City, raised in Augusta, Georgia. He is married to Devoria Smith and is the proud father of two adult children, Reginald David and Deborah Ayanna.