A young, visionary leader

Alexander was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and raised there by parents who combined their faith and civil rights activism. They fostered his understanding of the church as a holistic institution, with no separation between one’s spiritual and secular life.

“My mother was the first Black psychiatrist in Mississippi, and my stepfather led the desegregation of the American Medical Association and was one of the founders of the Medical [Committee] for Human Rights,” he said.

After earning a master of divinity degree from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, Alexander remained in the area to pastor the Morning Star Baptist Church, in an economically distressed community southeast of Pittsburgh. The experience both tested and prepared him for the next three decades as The Park’s senior pastor.

“That’s where I cut my teeth on what the church should be about,” he said. “The Black church started as and continues to be the one institution completely owned, led, directed by Black people. It is not just the place of religious instruction but of cultural and community survival.”

Alexander was perhaps the most unlikely candidate to become the senior pastor of the then 77-year-old congregation, falling well short of the church’s stated qualifications. Nonetheless, the selection committee believed he was the right person to lead the 600-member church.

“It took a lot of guts and faith to discard what they said that they wanted,” Alexander said. “They wanted somebody 35; I was 26. They wanted somebody married; I was single. They wanted someone with five years of pastoral experience, and I only had three and a half. They were willing to discard all of that because of what they felt God was leading them to do.”

Alexander credits that continuing spirit of open-mindedness for the growth and success the church has experienced under his leadership since his arrival in 1990. The church’s plans at that time included a new building and a combination residential, retail, office, hotel and convention space. The congregation moved into the avant-garde worship structure in 2001.

As the ministry continued to grow, they added a second worship location in south Charlotte in 2004; two years later, The Park became one of the few churches in the nation with a joint enterprise and ministry model, with the purchase of the Charlotte Merchandise Mart, the city’s second-largest event space.

From vision to reality

The senior living facility takes its name from the church’s 1913 founding, when a small, mostly female prayer group came together to establish Gilfield Missionary Baptist Church. The church has changed names several times during its 110-year history — Mt. Olive Baptist Church, Myers Park Baptist Church, University Park Baptist Church and ultimately The Park Church.