Second Baptist Church sits on Pinkston Drive in Richmond Heights, a community in the South Dade section of Miami, where it has been known for more than sixty years as "the church in the heart of the community, with the community at heart." That motto, repeated across the church's own materials, traces the arc of a congregation that began with thirteen devoted Christians meeting in a private home and grew into a body of more than 2,500 members, and now more than 3,200 under the current pastor. The congregation gathers in three Sunday services each weekend, across two South Dade locations, including an unconventional worship gathering inside a movie theater.
Thirteen Pioneers on Pinkston Drive
On May 17, 1964, Second Baptist Church was officially organized and chartered by the state of Florida. Its founder, the Reverend John A. Ferguson, preached the church into being with a verse from the hymn "The Church's One Foundation" and a conviction that any institution lasting more than a generation is "the length and shadow of the individual in whose mind it was born." Thirteen charter members laid the groundwork that day, supported by four selected deacons (I.D. Benbow, Sherman Clark, Alphonso Thomas, and Amos Larkins Sr.), four trustees (Andrew Green, Donald Hollis, Burk Jones, and James Marshall), and four deaconesses (Adeline Sanders, Myrtle Benbow, Dinah Larkins, and Drucilla Thomas). Other groups organized that first year included the Usher Board, the Senior Choir, and the Pastor's Aide. Lady Anita Ferguson stood alongside her husband as co-founder of a work that has now spanned three generations in South Dade.
On Sunday, October 1, 2000, Reverend Ferguson passed the leadership of Second Baptist to the Reverend Alphonso Jackson Sr., highly recommended, in the church's telling, by both God and his predecessor. Under Pastor Jackson, Second Baptist expanded from one location to two, completed the long-held dream of a senior living facility, and continued to grow both its ministry footprint and its civic engagement in the surrounding community.
Three Sunday Services, Two Locations
Second Baptist gathers three times every Sunday morning, and the three services feel distinctly different from one another.
The 7:15 AM service takes place at the main campus on Pinkston Drive and is the most traditional of the three. Long-time members and many seniors fill the room in a reverent, warm, family-oriented atmosphere. The music leans classic, with the choir, sometimes a male chorus, and at times children ministering in song. It is the morning for those who appreciate a more classic expression of worship.
At 9:00 AM, the congregation meets at the South Dade Regal Movie Theater on South Dixie Highway (20505 S. Dixie Hwy, Suite 1301, Miami, FL 33189). The setting is unconventional - worship held inside a working movie theater - and the feel is vibrant and contemporary, with engaging praise and worship in a space that has become, in the church's words, "a place of prayer, praise, and the preaching of the Word." Many describe it as distinctive and inviting, with accessible seating in the heart of the community.
The 10:30 AM service returns to the main campus at 11111 Pinkston Drive. It is the largest and most diverse gathering of the week, lively and upbeat, with strong worship, joyful expectation, and a sense of the church coming together across generations and experiences.
Services are livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube for those who cannot attend in person.
Worship in a Movie Theater
The 9:00 AM Sunday gathering at the South Dade Regal Movie Theater is one of the more unusual Sunday morning worship settings in Miami-Dade. Members pull into a familiar strip-mall parking lot and walk past the box office into a theater that has been transformed, for an hour each Sunday, into a sanctuary. The acoustics of the room carry a contemporary praise band and a preaching voice that the church says is intentionally accessible. For people who might not walk into a traditional sanctuary, the theater has become, in the congregation's own words, a gathering place in the heart of the community where prayer and the preaching of the Word happen in a setting that feels open and unstuffy.
The Pastor's Path from Hollywood to South Dade
The Reverend Dr. Alphonso Jackson Sr. was born in Hollywood, Florida, and was called to the ministry in August 1980. He preached his initial sermon at New Shiloh Baptist Church under the leadership of his father, the late Reverend Dr. Arthur Jackson Jr. From 1981 to 1984 he served as youth pastor at New Shiloh, and in 1985 became the senior pastor of St. James Baptist Church in Coconut Grove, where he served faithfully for more than sixteen years before taking the pulpit at Second Baptist.
Pastor Jackson earned a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from Olivet Nazarene University in Kankakee, Illinois, in 1980. He completed graduate studies at Florida Memorial College and advanced seminary studies at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, and most recently completed a Master of Arts in Biblical and Theological Studies at Knox Theological Seminary. In 2004 he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Divinity from Saint Thomas Christian College. From 1980 to 2000 he taught in the Miami-Dade County Public School System, where he was honored in 1993 as Teacher of the Year.
Pastor Jackson married the former Dewana Williams in 1984. Together they have two children, the Reverend Alphonso J. Jackson Jr. (married to Jamila) and Brianna Jackson, and two granddaughters, Angelina and Allison Jackson.
In the wider community, Pastor Jackson has served as a board member of Coconut Grove Cares and One Church One Child. He was Moderator of the Seaboard Baptist Missionary Association of Florida from 2008 to 2016 and held the position of Second Vice-President of the Florida State General Baptist State Convention. He was presented the Citizen of the Year Award by Omega Psi Phi's Pi Nu Chapter in 2015 and received the Church of the Decade Award from the Collective Empowerment Group that November. He chairs the Children's Learning Center board of directors, is First Vice President of the National Action Network, President of the Richmond Heights Community Alliance, and a member of the Miami-Dade Community Relations Board. Legacy Magazine named him one of South Florida's Black Leaders and Influencers in 2016.
Lady J and the Life of the Church
First Lady Dewana Williams Jackson, known affectionately as Lady J, has been the wife of Pastor Alphonso Jackson Sr. since 1984. A 1980 graduate of Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, she was elected Miss Bethune-Cookman during her senior year and sang in the gospel choir. She is a retired Miami-Dade County Public Schools teacher, honored as Teacher of the Year in 1999, and taught for three years in the private sector before joining the public school system.
Across her life in ministry, Lady Jackson has served as a Sunday School teacher, Music Director for the Youth Choir, a marriage counselor, a teacher for the Women's Ministry, and a member of the Deaconess, Sisterhood, and Missions ministries. She is also a breast cancer survivor, a caregiver for her mother, and a grandmother. Her stated aspirations are to become fluent in American Sign Language, to become an interpreter for the ministry, and to obtain a degree in Christian Counseling. She describes her ultimate goals as being a good wife, mother, and worthy child of God.
Eighty-Nine Apartments for Seniors
A defining ministry of Second Baptist in recent years is the John and Anita Ferguson Apartment Homes, an 89-unit affordable housing community for seniors in Richmond Heights that was completed under Pastor Jackson's leadership. The senior living facility was the vision of Founder Reverend John A. Ferguson, and its construction fulfilled a long-held promise to the surrounding community. The apartment homes stand as one of the most tangible expressions of the church's motto, with the community at heart.
Children at the Heart of the Congregation
Second Baptist operates a Children's Learning Center, branded as SBC CDC, on or near its main campus, with Pastor Jackson himself serving as chairman of its board of directors. The center is referenced as a separate ministry at sbccdc.com and is part of the church's long-running investment in children and families in South Dade. Children also appear in the life of the church itself - the 7:15 AM service often features children ministering in song.
A Mission in Three Lines
The church's stated mission is concise and repeated often in its own materials: Evangelize the Sinner. Equip the Saint. Elevate the Savior. Members live out that mission through regular worship, ongoing teaching, community partnerships, and a sustained focus on health equity that surfaces in the church's annual attention to National Minority Health Month, when members are encouraged to schedule checkups, share information, and support one another in wellness.
Connect, Give, and Stay in the Loop
Second Baptist makes giving straightforward. Members and supporters can give a single gift or set up recurring giving online through the church's website, give by texting GIVESBC to 50155, use the kiosk in the main lobby of the main sanctuary, or mail contributions to the Business Office at 11111 Pinkston Drive, Richmond Heights, FL 33176. The church's business office can be reached at (305) 232-0499 or info@sbcmiami.org.
Those wishing to join the church can complete a membership form online, and ministries or organizations that want to host activities on church property can submit an SBC Event Planning Form that covers room setup, sound and media requests, music and arts, and security support.
A blog at sbcmiami.org shares reflections, sermon series notes, and community stories - including recent attention to members and friends recognized for community service, such as a Miami Dade College Alumni Hall of Fame honoree and nurse manager at Nicklaus Children's Hospital. A recent sermon series called out the small phrase "But God" as a recurring signal in Scripture of God stepping into a difficult moment, anchored in Romans 5:8: "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Beliefs and Worship Style
Second Baptist is a Baptist congregation committed to historic, Bible-based teaching and to the centrality of the Word of God in the life of the church. The motto "The Church in the Heart of the Community, With the Community at Heart" and the three-fold mission of evangelism, equipping, and the elevation of the Savior sum up the church's identity in its own words. Sunday morning services span traditional and contemporary expressions, with a Senior Choir, a male chorus, a Youth Choir, Psalmist/Worship Leaders, and rhythm sections all part of the music ministry called upon in the event planning forms. Members are encouraged to grow through Sunday School, Women's Ministry teaching, and ongoing Bible engagement across the life of the church.
The church has been shaped, from the beginning, by pioneers who believed that a church could be both firmly grounded in the Word and deeply rooted in the life of a neighborhood. More than six decades after thirteen charter members gathered in a private home in 1964, Second Baptist Church of Richmond Heights continues to gather, to serve, and to teach across Pinkston Drive, the South Dade Regal Movie Theater, the John and Anita Ferguson Apartment Homes, and the wider South Dade community.