The Rev. Dr. Christopher M. Hamlin serves as the Pastor of the 124-year old Tabernacle Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama and as Director of the HIV/AIDS African American Faith-Based Initiative at the 1917 Clinic at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.  For six years he served as Facilitator for Project Corporate Leadership, a leadership program designed for middle managers of businesses and corporations sponsored by the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce.  And, from 1990 to September 2000, Dr. Hamlin served as Senior Pastor of the historic Sixteenth Street Baptist Church of Birmingham.

A native of Macon, Georgia, Dr. Hamlin received a B.A. degree from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, Master of Divinity from Colgate Crozer Theological Seminary, Rochester, New York, and Doctor of Ministry from United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio.  His doctoral dissertation focused on the unique role of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church as a memorial and opened-door church.Dr. Hamlin moved to Birmingham in 1990 and has committed himself to several local and national organizations including Morehouse College National Alumni Association and BirminghamChapter, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. - Omicron Lambda, President’s Appointee of AIDS Alabama, graduate of Leadership Alabama and Leadership Birmingham, National Baptist Convention USA, Inc., The Minister’s Discussion Group of Samford University, and others. He has received many awards and has been recognized for community service. The Alabama Bureau of Tourism and Travel selected him as one of Alabama’s Unforgettable Faces. The Governor of the State of Alabama appointed him to the Governor’s HIV Commission for Youth, Children and Adults. Recently, he was inducted into the Golden Key International Honour Society at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. To celebrate the 125th Anniversary of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, Dr. Hamlin published in 1998 a history of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church titled, Behind the Stained Glass: A History of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, Crane Hill Publishers, Birmingham, Alabama. He is currently working on a book of spiritual reflections titled, From This Mount: Reflections for the Journey. He is married to Sara B. Hamlin, Vice President of Tourism for the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau. They are parents of Jermaine Fuller and Kyle P. Hamlin.