ABOUT

The James & Rosa McKissic
School of Christian Studies

Rooted in faith heritage. Anchored in HBCU legacy. Built for your future.

Arkansas Baptist College  ·  James & Rosa McKissic School of Christian Studies  ·  Est. 1884

Program Mission

Educate. Equip. Prepare.

The James & Rosa McKissic School of Christian Studies exists to educate, equip, and send forth Christian leaders formed at the intersection of rigorous scholarship and living faith. Rooted in the liberal arts tradition of Arkansas Baptist College — one of America's oldest Historically Black Colleges and Universities — the McKissic School honors the genius of the Black church, addresses its contemporary challenges, and prepares graduates for ministry leadership, community service, graduate theological education, and faithful engagement in a global world. Here, faith is not an elective. It is the lens through which everything is learned.

Brand Pillars

What We Stand For

Five values that define every course, every conversation, and every calling formed at the James & Rosa McKissic School of Christian Studies.

✝️
FAITH

Rooted in the Baptist tradition; spiritually formative, not just academically instructive.

🏆
EXCELLENCE

Rigorous scholarship that honors both the intellect and the spirit.

📜
LEGACY

Honoring 140+ years of ABC's HBCU history and community covenant.

🎯
PURPOSE

Equipping students with clarity of calling, not just a credential.

🤝
COMMUNITY

Belonging to something larger: a church, a city, a movement.

The Namesake

James & Rosa McKissic

The James & Rosa McKissic School of Christian Studies bears the name of two pillars of the Little Rock faith community — a covenant family whose investment in Arkansas Baptist College spans generations and whose legacy now shapes the next generation of church leaders.

Rev. James Emory McKissic and Rosa Bell Daniels McKissic

Rev. James Emory & Rosa Bell McKissic

The McKissic family legacy is deeply rooted in the history of Arkansas Baptist College, beginning with a wedding held in the Old Main Building that launched a lifelong journey of faith and service. Educated at Arkansas Baptist and Arkansas AM&N, Rev. James Emory McKissic spent 50 years pastoring six churches across Arkansas and Oklahoma, most notably Mount Calvary Baptist in Pine Bluff. Beside him, Rosa Bell Daniels McKissic served as a dedicated educator and choral director, famously quipping that “education was her money, but church was her honey.”

Together, they instilled a devotion to faith, family, and education in their nine children, one of whom is a current member of the ABC Board of Trustees, and all of whom entered the ministry in some capacity. Today, that legacy encompasses 18 grandchildren and a multitude of great-grandchildren. As the living fulfillment of Sis. Rosa’s prayers for the “yet to be born McKissics,” the family stands as a testament to the transformative power of the church and the classroom.

Institutional History

140 Years of Covenant Education

Arkansas Baptist College was founded in 1884 by the Colored Baptists of Arkansas — a denomination born out of the determination of freed men and women who understood that their spiritual liberation demanded an educational infrastructure. From its earliest days, ABC was never simply a college. It was a covenant institution: a pledge made by a people to their children and their children's children that education rooted in faith would be available, accessible, and excellent.

The School of Christian Studies carries forward the specific dimension of that covenant that has always been most central to the Black Baptist tradition: the formation of ministers, educators, and leaders who are equipped not merely with degrees, but with a theology of purpose — a conviction that their calling is inseparable from their academic formation.

The Formation Philosophy

The McKissic School of Christian Studies is built on a philosophy that has already produced the founders of two of the largest American Christian denominations and the woman who globalized Pentecostal missions. At this school, faith is not added as an elective. In Christian Studies at Arkansas Baptist College, you are not simply learning about faith. Instead, you are processing the entire world through it.

The HBCU Distinctive

As a Historically Black College and University, Arkansas Baptist College brings to Christian Studies a context that no majority institution can replicate. The Black church is the oldest surviving democratic institution in America — the sanctuary, the civic center, the school, and the movement headquarters of a people who built a civilization under the most hostile conditions imaginable.

The McKissic School trains ministers and educators to lead within that tradition — to honor its genius, to address its wounds, and to equip it for its next chapter. Our graduates are not simply Christian — they are contextually rooted Christian leaders, formed in the soil of the African American religious tradition at one of its oldest institutional homes.

Milestones

140+ Years of Faith, Formation & Leadership

Explore our comprehensive interactive timeline featuring 18 pivotal milestones from 1884 to 2026—organized into three distinct threads: Founding & Institutional, COGIC Formation, and Distinguished Alumni.

Founding & Institutional
COGIC Formation
Distinguished Alumni
Explore the Interactive Timeline

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Be Part of the Legacy

Your Name Belongs in This Story.

The James & Rosa McKissic School of Christian Studies is not a monument to the past — it is a living institution, forming the next chapter of the legacy right now. Your enrollment is your covenant entry.

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