Rev. Dr. Jo Hudson

Rev. Dr. Jo Hudson is a spiritual leader, pastor, mentor and community builder who serves as Senior Pastor of Cathedral of Hope United Church of Christ (UCC), the world’s largest liberal Christian church with a primary outreach to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning people and their friends, families and allies.

Joining the Cathedral in August 2004, Rev. Dr. Hudson came to CoH after seven years as pastor of Friends Congregational Church UCC in College Station, Texas. In February 2005 she was overwhelmingly elected to serve as the Senior Pastor, making Cathedral of Hope UCC the largest church in the state of Texas, and one of the largest in the United States, to be led by a woman.

A native Texan, Rev. Dr. Hudson received her Ph.D. in educational administration from Texas A&M University in 1993 and graduated with honors from Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in 1994. She was ordained into the United Church of Christ in 1997. Rev. Dr. Hudson is the former president of the South Central Conference of the UCC, served for 10 years on the board of directors of the UCC Justice & Witness Ministry, has been elected to serve on the UCC Pension Boards, is a member of the Forum on Military Chaplaincy, is a member of the board of Youth First Texas and the board for the Center for Progressive Renewal and currently serves on the board of Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Mo.

Now in her seventh year as Senior Pastor, Rev. Dr. Hudson is leading a strategic planning initiative, overseeing the continuing development of the Interfaith Peace Chapel on the campus of Cathedral of Hope UCC and mentoring two new parish churches, Cathedral of Hope - Houston and Cathedral of Hope MidCities. She is sought after locally, regionally and nationally as an inspirational teacher, speaker and workshop leader.