Religious Figure. He gained recognition as an African-American pastor of the Church of Christ. With a fifty-year career, he is credited with starting the first African-American Church of Christ in 1918 in the state of Tennessee. While doing his ministry, he gained the financial support of a few white pastors, yet did face the challenges of the segregated South. Born the son of slaves, he had a seventh-grade formal education in Nashville schools and was baptized at age seventeen at Gay Street Christian Church in 1895. After marrying for the first time, he held several menial jobs before owning a successful grocery business. In 1897, he began preaching at the Jackson Street Church of Christ, and by 1917, he was a full-time evangelistic preacher, leaving behind the grocery business. According to his article in the "Gospel Advocate." he baptized over 15,000 people by the 1930s. Crossing cultural borderlines, he preached to both Black and White congregations in most states between Florida and Washington in addition to making several trips abroad, such to Israel, India, Korea, Nigeria, and others. Besides preaching, he lectured in colleges, published numerous articles, and was known as a debater, as well as supporting the building of schools for children as well as night schools for adults. He was the long-time president of the Nashville Christian Institute. He became a widower after thirty-six years of marriage. He and his first wife had five children, with two dying in infancy and the other three predeceasing him. His daughter, Elnora, died at age 35 from tuberculosis, leaving him two granddaughters. He married for the second time on April 3, 1934 and the couple had no children. Published posthumously in 1999, his autobiography and a collection of sermons were edited with an introduction written by B. C. Goodpasture, a professional colleague. His 2001 biography "Roll Jordon Roll' was published by J.E. Choate.