Young, gifted, and Black, Reverend Tyrone McGowan, Jr. will be installed as Senior Pastor of historic Progressive Community Church, 56 E. 48th St., during a ceremony on November 16. Additional celebrations will be held from November 14-17.
The church was previously headed by Reverend B. Herbert Martin.
Raised in the Auburn Gresham community, 36-year-old McGowan graduated from Marcus Garvey grade school and Whitney Young High School. He attended Morehouse College, majoring in political science.
His goals in life were set in stone early, he was licensed to preach at the tender age of 13 at the First Unity MBC in Chicago.
“Being a minister was part of my trajectory,” McGowan told the Chicago Crusader, but he says he also had a second passion—a desire to go into the politics of law.
What kept McGowan focused on his goal was being a chapel assistant while at Morehouse in the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. program. “That kept me rooted in the kind of academic training of religion and theology while still having my sights set on going to law school.”
He was astonished at being surrounded by pastors close to his age, around 18 and 19 years old, from across the country. It was during his Morehouse journey that he seriously considered going to divinity school.
Though licensed to preach at 13, McGowan wasn’t ordained until 2015. “I was born and raised in the church. One of my mentors was my pastor, Reverend E.J. Jones, at First Unity MBC.”
McGowan didn’t have a “normal” childhood, he grew up pretending to preach to his congregation of power engines and stuffed animals and giving them communion. As young as he was, “I knew this was not a normal activity for an eight or nine-year-old,” McGowan recounts of his childhood. Decades later, he says, “I still have the urge for the calling of the Word.”
Having inherited 200 members at his new church, McGowan is focusing on expanding the 102-year-old Progressive Community Church along with his youth and social justice programs, including distributing food for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Before assuming the pastorship of Progressive Community Church, McGowan was the senior pastor of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church of Robbins, Illinois.
He was associate pastor for Young Adults and Campus Ministry of Trinity United Church of Christ while still acting as a senior pastor at the Robbins church, and while holding the Robbins pastoral position, McGowan was the national field director for the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, then headed by Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr.
Asked his opinion about youth crime, McGowan said it is pervasive in select communities in Chicago, but looking at the total picture of the city, he said there are only seven or eight neighborhoods on the South and West sides where crime continues.
“The fact that we can’t come together as a city and focus on those areas like you would the parts of your body that needed care, is troubling,” McGowan said.
“Our city is a body politic…the Roselands, the Englewoods, the Lawndales…. Why is it that certain sections of our city are neglected and under-resourced, under-funded, and, as a result, have the most crime?
“We have to be serious about focusing on the causes of youth crime and hold our leaders accountable at the local level about what are they doing to drive economic growth and development in these communities and not just punishing people by raising property taxes that push people out of the city.”
Instead, McGowan suggested leaders focus on what resources currently exist, like the many vacant lots in Chicago, which he said could be “repurposed to bring beauty, growth, and development into this city we know is the greatest in the world.”
For example, McGowan said affordable housing, gardens, and ending food deserts can be built on the 32,000 privately owned lots that the Cook County Assessor’s office estimated existed in 2022. “It’s a shame that some people have to take two or three buses just to get to a decent grocery store.
“Why is it that the only development we see coming into our communities are car wash places? There are several of those in communities experiencing high youth crime. That’s not real development.
“We have to come together as a city to unite and drive economic growth and development into the West and the South Side. Why can’t we look like the North Side? Why can’t our neighborhoods be walkable and livable?
“We deserve this peace, especially for our elderly residents who don’t deserve to live their lives fearful of going outside. They should be able to live and feel proud of their neighborhood. We have to all come together and solve this problem, not just one person,” he said.
McGowan was recently engaged to be married last August.
Joining Pastor McGowan during the installation services will be Reverend Dr. Marcus D. Cosby, pastor of the Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, who will preach November 14 at 7 p.m.
Reverend Dr. Otis Moss, III, pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ, will preach November 15 at 7 p.m.
Reverend Ebony D. Only, pastor of First Baptist of University Park, will preach November 17 at 11 a.m.