Bishop Julius Harrison McAllister, Jr. was elected and consecrated the 144th bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 2024 in Columbus, Ohio. He was assigned to the Ninth Episcopal District which makes up the state of Alabama. In the 2024-2028 quadrennial, he will serve as commission chair of the AME Women In Ministry.

Bishop McAllister served as the 35th anointed Senior Minister of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Tallahassee, Florida. A fourth generation minister, he answered the call to ministry in 1992.

As pastor of the Greater Institutional AME Church in Chicago, Illinois, his devotion to community growth and development led to the creation of Come Home For Christmas that serviced nearly 5,000 homeless, poor, and underprivileged adults and 2000 children; raised seven hundred thousand dollars to support needy families in Chicago during the Christmas season.

During his pastoral tenure, Bishop McAllister showed that the ministry experiences should reflect not only the enduring love for Jesus Christ, but also for one another. He insists that “our focus, as we turn the proverbial pages of time, should show the outside world that we are on the CARING END of ministry.” To this end, as former President/CEO of the Bethel Community Development Corporation (Bethel CDC), an affiliate church ministry, Bishop McAllister has supervised the construction and rehabilitation of 85 homes for low income families in the city of Tallahassee at a cost of 15 million dollars, and has led the church in the building of ten homes for new construction of single homes for rental for low income families. He served as Chairman of the Board of the A Life Recovery Center that provided drug and alcohol rehabilitation to residential and outpatient clients; nearly a two thousand men and women have been able to overcome their drug addiction. Under his leadership, Bethel’s annual Thanksgiving Basket Project provides hearty meals for nearly twenty-five hundred people. A few years ago, Reverend Julius inspired the members of Bethel to renovate Bethel By The Lake. The camp is a ten acre camp site three miles from the main worship, study, and community complex. The commercial swimming pool was renovated, six basketball courts were added, and the fellowship hall was completely restored. The church raised a quarter of a million dollars in 22 months to liquidate the mortgage.

Bishop is passionate about Christian Stewardship. As he has led congregations to understand and accept stewardship as a biblical mandate, he teaches that managing and giving one’s time, talent, and material resources to glorify and serve God is an expression of one’s faith and an integral part of Christian commitment and responsibility to build up the body of Christ. During his sixteen year tenure the number of tithers increased and led the Bethel Church in averaging nearly 2 million dollars in tithes and offerings over the last 16 years.

Bishop McAllister, Jr. is the son of Bishop Julius Harrison McAllister, Sr., retired bishop of the AME Church and Mrs. Joan Marla McAllister, retired Episcopal Supervisor. Bishop McAllister, Jr., and Bishop McAllister, Sr., are the first father and son bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church to serve in active episcopal ministry at the same time in the history of the church which dates back to 1816. Additionally, Bishop McAllister, Jr., offered himself for episcopal service for the first time in 2024 and was elected on the first ballot with 988 votes. Bishop is married to the former Deana Elizabeth Young, a committed educator, an astute school administrator, and a compassionate first lady. She is currently employed as an Assistant Superintendent for Leon County School District. They are the proud parents of three children: Julius Harrison McAllister, III known also as J. Harrison, Colin McKinley Young McAllister and Dylan David Jeremiah McAllister.