SYNERGY - Juneteenth 2022

Adrian Weeks

Story By: Lanre-Peter Elufisan

In 2006, at ‌29, the young and vibrant Adrian Weeks was ordained at the St. Matthew Baptist Church of Alachua. Little did he know the role was setting him up for leadership in ministry, community, and business.

Adrian studied communication at Auburn University, attended Indiana State University, and later enrolled at the North-Western Theological Seminary. After college, he served as an associate to his mentor, Reverend Gerald Criswell. So when St. Matthew was looking for a pastor, he applied, and he became the youngest pastor in the church’s history.

Though his father was also a pastor, Adrian admits he had to chart his path with the help of many people who contributed to his growth. He remembers learning a lot about ministry from his dad, and also from James Fitch, one of his professors in college, who often talked about economic development.

He said, ‘’My father, Reverend Monroe Weeks, was remarkably influential to me. He believed in the economic development of the community through the church. I remember in the eighties, he used to organize credit repair and homeownership classes for members before those things became popular as they are today.”

In 2016, he and other ministers in the community founded the United Assembly of Christian Churches (UACC). Today, the initiative allows Christian leaders to come together with the mindset of strengthening communities through the local church. Weeks describes this as one of his legacies, saying, “this is one thing I am most proud of because I believe the UACC is an organization that will exist for a long time because it is unifying local churches and uplifting communities through spiritual revitalization and economic development.”

“One of the interesting things about my family is the emphasis we lay on unity in a family that is considered non-traditional. We have been able to teach the principles of entrepreneurship and economic development to all our children, and they all have thrived in these affairs.” he added.

‘’The biggest lesson I have learned in ministry and business is that there is power in unity. Many things separate us from religion, denominations, political views, etc. But when we work to find what is common to us, things that we all love or fear, we become stronger together by those things.’’

He continued, ‘’one of the biggest challenges I have encountered in ministry and business is that we live in a day and age where individualism is in constant promotion, so collaboration has become more complicated in recent years. I believe for projects in business or in ministry to be successful, there has to be collaboration. Many brilliant people have to come together to give their time, talents, and treasures.’’ Apostle Adrian Weeks believes success is intentional. That you have to be deliberate about it, with a clearly defined goal and a pathway to that goal.