First Tabernacle Beth El, Chicago

First Tabernacle Beth El, Chicago

Church of God and Saints of Christ

Elder Jhames Holley, Local Pastor
515 E. 41st Street, Chicago, IL 60653
(773) 540-5057 |Email Us |Facebook

Elder Jhames Holley Jr.
Pastor, Professor, Creative Director

Jhames Holley has the resume of a renassiance man. Born July 28, 1971, he graduated from Northwestern High School in Hyattsville, Maryland in 1989. After growing up in the Washington, DC area, he went to Virginia Commonwealth University where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts and a Master’s Degree in Mass Communications. While in college he served as a Deacon in the Richmond Tabernacle. Along the way, he became a Sergeant in the Army Reserves as a Pharmacy Technician, pledged into Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, and was Vice-President of the VCU chapter of the NAACP. In 1996 he designed the logo and marketing materials for the Church of God and Saints of Christ Centennial Celebration. The following year, he was blessed to begin graduate school.

Jhames was relocated to Chicago in 1999 by global advertising agency Leo Burnett, where he went on to do award winning advertising for Altoids and Art.com. Upon leaving Leo Burnett, he used his creativity as a Senior Art Director for Burrell Communications, one of the world’s largest black-owned advertising agencies. He’s done commercials for Toys R Us, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s and Toyota. A few of the celebrities he’s worked with are tennis greats Venus and Serena Williams, chef B. Smith, political correspondent Roland Martin, actor Alfonso Ribeiro, and rappers Fat Joe and Melle Mel.

While working in his profession, Jhames ventured into teaching as a college adjunct instructor. This began in 2010 when he was hired by Columbia College Chicago to teach Art Direction. He soon became a fixture within their faculty, teaching in the School of Design and the School of Marketing and Public Relations. In 2012 he added another college to his teaching repertoire, The Art Institutes – Chicago. There he taught every course in the Advertising Department and some classes in General Education. In 2016 he was promoted to Assistant Professor by the Art Institutes. In the Summer of 2019 he will also teach at Ivy Technical College in Indiana.

Recently, Jhames helped launch 360 Marketing Solutions, a marketing firm based in Miami, Florida, as the Executive Creative Director. Now he’s started a marketing firm called The Icebreakers to help small businesses with their branding and digital marketing. He is the proud Manager and Executive Producer of the youth group Windy City Harmony Acapella. Among his goals are to attain his doctorate and author books about the creative spirit.

In his religious organization, he has done artwork for the Department of Religious Education and various tabernacles. He is currently an editor for the Weekly Prophet, but the greatest of all his accolades and titles is that of an Elder and Local Pastor of First Tabernacle Beth El, Chicago, Illinois. He was ordained on August 23rd, 2003 in a historical ceremony in Washington, DC. Elder Jhames Holley Jr. lives in the south suburbs of Chicago with his wife Toi Holley and their five children. Known for his big smile and bigger heart, he shows his faith by his works.

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