Local Pastor Lee Hampton to Receive 2025 MLK Medal of Service Award

(November 19, 2024 5:10 PM ET) Jackson College today announced that the winner of the 2025 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Medal of Service Award will be Lee Hampton, a local pastor and past educational administrator.

Hampton serves as senior pastor at the Church of God in Jackson, where he succeeded his late father Pastor Frank Hampton Jr. in 2019. Before that, he worked for more than 15 years in higher education, including positions at Jackson College and Spring Arbor University.

Focusing on his ministry full-time has been a tremendous blessing, he shared, with wonderful support from both his congregants and the community. The church has built not only a local, but national and international following through its online ministry, which has gone from hundreds to nearly 7,000 subscribers. Their ministry has reached Australia, and an Indian mission that reaching out to that country’s lower caste to feed and clothe the homeless just left Jackson after a visit. The Church of God operates a school with more than 200 students enrolled from across the county – from Springport to Grass Lake to Vandercook Lake. They have worked with the prosecuting attorney’s office and the county judicial system to help as many youths as possible become equipped with the principles of leadership and morality that will help them navigate the world today. The church has helped at the Interfaith Shelter as well as the jails and prisons, with a member of the congregation now serving as chaplain of the local jail. They provide seminars on marriage, families, financial literacy, education, help with home ownership, Habitat for Humanity, and more. Hampton has also published multiple faith-based books.

“We want to be a holistic congregation, providing spiritual, financial and social support that so many Jacksonians need,” Hampton said.

While he has focused on the church and ministry in recent years, Hampton has been very involved in the community in the past, serving on several committees and offering his insight and expertise to local organizations. During his years at Jackson College as director of multicultural affairs, he co-founded the Men of Merit leadership initiative and oversaw a similar program for women, the Sisters of Strength.  He is a sought-after presenter and has written numerous articles on higher education.

Hampton is honored to be recognized. “I feel very humbled and very grateful. Those who have been honored with this award before are some of the giants of the Jackson community; to be named among them is very humbling,” he said. “I think the Jackson community is doing an outstanding job supporting those in need. I think if Dr. King was here, I believe he would say, continue to strive to lift up those among us who are most in need; not focusing on the things that divide us but focusing on the things that unite us and make us a better community.”

2025 MLK Celebration

Jackson College’s 2025 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration will be held Saturday, Jan. 18 at 5:30 p.m. in the Victor Cuiss Fieldhouse, a return to a dinner and program. This year’s theme will be “The Power of Unity,” with keynote speaker Antonio Bass, Jackson native and football great who played for the Jackson High Vikings and the University of Michigan Wolverines. Today, Bass is senior vice president and RIA strategic relationship manager at Capital Group, the largest active asset manager in the country working with Registered Investment Advisors, consultants and bank trusts. Bass currently resides in Washington, D.C.

Tickets for the event are $50; purchase them at www.jccmi.edu/mlk25.