Profile: Emanuel Cleaver

This month on UMC.org Profiles, Emanuel Cleaver, U.S. Congressman and senior pastor of St. James United Methodist Church in Kansas City, shares his faith story.

Cleaver began his political career as a City Councilman in Kansas City, and went on to make history by becoming their first African American mayor. He has pastored Saint James United Methodist Church for over 30 years, starting out in a small condemned building with 47 members, and is now in a new 8-million dollar building with over 2,000 members. He is a strong civil rights activist, and has worked alongside greats such as Ralph Abernathy, the Rev. Joseph Lowery, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, and C.K. Steele. For seven consecutive years, Cleaver was named one of Ebony’s "100 Most Influential African Americans." He now splits his time between Kansas City and Washington, D.C., serving both God and country.