Our Founders
About Bishop George D. McKinney
Bishop George Dallas McKinney, son of a sharecropper, was born August 9, 1932 in Jonesboro, Arkansas. He graduated magna cum laude from Arkansas State College where he received a Bachelor’s degree of Sociology. He went on to study social work at the University of Michigan Graduate School of Social Work. McKinney received his MA from Oberlin College School of Theology in Ohio and a PhD from California Graduate School of Theology in Glendale, California.
Along with his late wife Dr. Jean C. McKinney, Bishop McKinney founded St. Stephen’s
Cathedral Church of God in Christ and served as senior pastor from 1962. Beginning in 1985, Bishop McKinney served as Jurisdictional Prelate of Southern California and as a member of the General Board (the presidium) of the Church of God in Christ, Inc.
Bishop McKinney began his career as a probation officer and a renowned licensed marriage and family therapist. He created a private school and a day care center for low-income children and founded two senior residential facilities that house over 130 low-income seniors to ensuring they have a safe and comfortable place to live. Bishop McKinney collaborated with numerous San Diego organizations to help mitigate crime, racism, and poverty. He saw a need and he worked tirelessly to meet the need.
He received several awards and honors in the areas of religion and community service and served as an advisor to President George W. Bush. In addition to his tireless work in service of the community, Bishop McKinney authored more than ten books and contributed to many more.
Throughout his life Bishop McKinney worked hard to help those who are less fortunate. To his family and friends, he was not only kind, caring, and gentle but also smart. He had a special way of encouraging others and making them feel significant and special when others might not have. Bishop McKinney married Attorney Barbara Warren in 2008, was the proud father to five sons by Jean, his late first wife of 47 years, and was the grandparent of 15. Bishop McKinney passed away March 20, 2021 at the age of 88.
About Lady Jean Carleen Brown McKinney
Jean Carleen Brown McKinney was born in Paducah, Kentucky, and moved with her family to Dayton, Ohio, at age 13. She met her future husband at the Church of God in Christ Holy Convocation in Memphis, Tennessee. They were married four years later. After settling in San Diego, CA. Sis. McKinney earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education at San Diego State College. She taught elementary students in Encanto and Santee. Sis. McKinney helped her husband, Bishop George D. McKinney, start St. Stephen’s Church of God in Christ in the basement of a pizza restaurant in 1962.
As the congregation grew to more than 1,200 families, she helped establish a licensed daycare center, a halfway house for delinquent boys. In 1978, she helped establish the St. Stephen’s Christian School K-through-12 and served as the school’s principal for 19 years. Sis. McKinney was instrumental in creating a couple’s ministry, a church-sponsored credit union, and a residential facility for AIDS and HIV sufferers.
In the 1980s, she began writing spiritual poetry, and in 1997, her first book, “Selfishness, The Source of All Sin, was published. She later wrote, “Advantages of Nursery Education” and “Moments of Inspirations.” In the mid-1990s, she founded the Ministers Wives Choir of members from San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Berardino. The choir recorded a CD, “O Come Let Us Sing unto the Lord.” In 1999, Sis. McKinney received an honorary doctorate in human letters from Imani Kuumba College in San Diego and in 2001, American Urban University in San Diego honored her with an honorary Doctor of Divinity.
In 2002, Sis. McKinney was diagnosed with colon cancer. In 2004, she began writing the manuscript for her fourth book, “Eternity in the Now,” when she transitioned into her heavenly body at the age of 69.