Rev. J. Kenneth Hawley, Jr., is the Pastor of Open Door Sanctuary. Pastor Hawley studied Business Administration at Howard University in Washington, DC and will forever be a Bison. After some hardship he had to stop his studies at Howard University but completed his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Management at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, PA.

Pastor Hawley is a native Philadelphian and was born and raised in Beulah Baptist Church in Philadelphia, PA.  He was born under the pastorate of the late Rev. William A. Lee and raised under the pastorate of the late Rev. Dr. Timothy E.  Ruffin.

Pastor Hawley heard the calling to preach the Gospel when he was seventeen years old and ran from the calling for a number of years while arguing with the Lord that he didn’t want to be a preacher.  While he was at Howard, he sat under the pastorate of the late Rev. David Durham at Mount Sinai Baptist Church.

Pastor Hawley later joined the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (A.M.E Zion). He is an accomplished, classically, trained musician (a direct musical descendant of the late Natalie Hinderas) and became the Minister of Music at the former St. James A.M.E. Zion Church in South Philadelphia, PA where he also taught Sunday School and served as Superintendent of the Sunday School.

Pastor Hawley has a deep, abiding, passion for not only music but also for Christian Education and God’s people – teaching both Sunday School and Bible Study at James Varick A.M.E. Zion Church (the merged St. James A.M.E Zion Church and Varick Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church) under the leadership of the late Rev. Dr. John W. Kennedy, Pastor and Presiding Elder of the Philadelphia Eastern Shore District of the “Grand Old Philadelphia Baltimore Annual Conference” of the former Mid Atlantic II Episcopal Region of the A.M.E. Zion Church. 

After a short illness, that God used to get his full attention, he finally accepted the Lord’s call to preach the good news of Jesus the Christ. He was ordained into the Diaconate by Bishop Warren Matthew Brown, the 91st Bishop in the line of succession of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. Two years later, Pastor Hawley was ordained an Elder in the Lord’s church also by Bishop Warren Matthew Brown.

Several years later, Rev. Hawley was called, accepted, and appointed to Pastor the Open Door Sanctuary.

He has a passion for the Word of God and God’s people. He is the father to two sons, the late James Kenneth Hawley, III (Trey) and the late Julian Jarrod Hawley (Jay).