Jackson Change-Agent: Ronnie Crudup, Jr.

Ronnie Crudup Jr. always had a fondness for religion, but it did not take him to the pulpit.

Once he started as the Assistant Director at New Horizon Church, he quickly realized that the ministry he wanted to lead was outside the church.

“I started working at New Horizon Church right out of college, and then I ended up transferring to our nonprofit side, New Horizon Ministries,” said Crudup, Executive Director of New Horizon Ministries. “That’s when a lot of my community work began. I started getting into the housing space, developing houses in South Jackson, and just trying to help families find an affordable place to live. And I just got into a lot of things.”

If it has anything to do with the betterment of Jackson, particularly South Jackson, Crudup, and New Horizon Ministries are willing to support the cause. In addition to creating affordable home availability and restoration, they’ve renovated and managed a city pool before releasing it back to the city. They started a food bank and The Ark, a sports complex and community center. New Horizon Ministries was also a vital resource during Jackson’s 2022 and 2023 water crises.

Even the current location of New Horizon Church, 750 Bobby Rush Blvd., started as a development property. When they purchased it in the mid-2000s, it was tens of thousands of empty square footage of its former functionality as a Sack N Save grocery store. About a mile away, the original church location on Raymond Road was bursting at the seams. It could no longer adequately hold its 450-plus members, who continued to expand. The giant facility was perfect for New Horizon Church to continue its growth.

“It was an abandoned building, just sitting there empty,” said Crudup, a Murrah High School and Belhaven University graduate. “So we made a proposal to purchase it. We renovated it, and that’s how we got it. And we’ve been developing it ever since.”

As if the father of three and husband of almost 20 years wasn’t busy enough, he decided to throw politics in the hat in 2019, vying and winning a Mississippi State House Representative seat for Hinds County House District 71 on his first run. He continues to hold the seat and work towards Jackson’s unity and advancement.

“I was here when we changed the flag of Mississippi,” Crudup said of his seven years in the District 71 House seat. “That’s something I definitely wouldn’t have thought we would be doing during my time here. I’ve been very active in getting funding for the City of Jackson specifically around blight. One major accomplishment is the FAITH scholarship for the youth coming out of foster care. They can go to college free of charge."

Crystal McDowell

Author

Crystal McDowell

Crystal McDowell is the CEO of Marketing Maven Management, a marketing and communications firm created to ensure accurate and positive storytelling that includes people of color. She has a Mass Communication degree from Jackson State University and an MBA from Belhaven University. She has 18+ years of journalism, PR, and marketing skills, which she obtained working across the country. Her hobbies are traveling and storytelling.

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