The Rev. H. Beecher Hicks Jr.
Baccalaureate Speaker and Honorary Degree Recipient

As a powerful preacher, prolific writer, gifted orator, conscious activist and devoted educator and mentor, The Rev. Dr. H. Beecher Hicks Jr. has emerged as a pastor to the nation and a true hero of faith.

Hicks, who is senior minister of the historic Metropolitan Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., for 30 years, has seen the historic church grow in membership, assets and in its outreach efforts. Metropolitan currently has more than 6,000 members, more than 60 active ministries, multiple commercial and social service ventures, and a work force of nearly 100 people. Hicks has led Metropolitan in its acquisition of more than $10 million in commercial and residential property in the District of Columbia and suburban Maryland. The church’s second worship center, a $50-million complex situated on 34 acres in Prince George’s County, Maryland,  is currently under construction.

Hicks’ influence as a minister reaches far beyond the nation’s capital. He is highly regarded for his writing and classic oratory, and has been identified as one of the world’s leading preachers, including recognition by Ebony magazine in 1993 as one of the “Fifteen Greatest African American Preachers.”  He also is the author of six books, one of which, Preaching Through a Storm, has become a must-read for pastors of growing congregations and required reading for seminary students around the globe. 

Hicks has preached and taught on six continents throughout his illustrious career. Highlights include delivering the Millennial Keynote Address in Melbourne, Australia, for the Baptist World Alliance, which represents more than 47 million believers in 200 countries; ministering to Yasser Arafat in the Middle East; and being present upon the release of Nelson Mandela from Robbins Island in South Africa. 

Hicks is also a sought-after professor and mentor. While managing the rigors of a full-time ministry, he has served as an adjunct professor at institutions such as Howard University, United Theological Seminary, Colgate Rochester Divinity School and the University of Chicago. 

In addition to being an instructor, pastor and counselor to many of the nation’s leaders over the last four decades, he was a pioneer in leading his congregation’s involvement in the fight against the apartheid regime in South Africa in the 1980s; for serving as an early model for how ministries should respond to the HIV/AIDS epidemic; and for being a leader in the effort to pass strict liability gun control legislation in the District of Columbia. 

Hicks is an honors graduate of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.  A recipient of the Rockefeller Protestant Fellowship, he also graduated from Colgate Rochester Divinity School with the master of divinity and doctor of ministry degrees.  While at Colgate Rochester, he was selected as one of the original Martin Luther King Fellows and remains president of this distinguished group of scholar activists.  A quintessential renaissance man, Hicks also has studied at the University of Nigeria, the University of Ghana and, in 1994, he received the coveted Merrill Fellowship for post-graduate study at the Harvard Divinity School. In 1999, he received a master of business administration degree from the George Washington University.

Hicks’ ties to Morehouse are strong. Besides having two sons who are Morehouse graduates, he is a member of the Martin Luther King Jr. Board of Preachers. He also delivered the baccalaureate sermon in 1991, at which time he made a gift to the College of the custom communion table placed in the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel.

Hicks is married to the former Elizabeth Harrison of Selma, Ala. They are the parents of H. Beecher III ’89, the Rev. Dr. Ivan Douglas ’91 and Kristin Elizabeth Hicks.