Rev. Dr. Arthur “Art” Lawrence Cribbs Jr. is pastor of the San Marino Congregational Church, United Church of Christ (UCC) in San Marino, CA. Prior to joining the West San Gabriel Valley congregation in April 2007, he served for eight years as pastor of the Christian Fellowship Congregational Church, UCC in San Diego. While there, Rev. Cribbs founded the church’s Community Outreach Foundation, started refugee and immigrant outreach for Sudanese and Somali families, and produced and hosted the television special, “Stories of the Soul: Life after 9/11,” for which he received an Emmy award.

Before becoming a full-time pastor, Rev. Cribbs was the executive director at the national offices of the United Church of Christ in the Department of Communications. While there, he restructured the department through cross-discipline training and redesigned the UCC’s national newspaper. He also reconstituted the television production studio; launched a weekly television program on national TV; and, created a high-profile presence at General Synod.

Rev. Cribbs’ first career was as a newscaster. In the mid-1990s, he was employed by KPIX-TV in San Francisco, where he was appointed bureau chief for the East Bay and was a special commentator during the O.J. Simpson trial. He also founded a weekly spiritual support group for non-traditional church persons and produced a weekly focus piece on persons “Making a Difference.”

Currently, Rev. Cribbs serves as a trustee for the UCC Pension Boards, is a board member for the UCC Office of Communications, Inc. and is a member of both the UCC’s National Task Force on Public Education and the Southern California Nevada Conference Immigration Rights Committee. Ecumenical activities include membership in the California Council of Churches, the Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights and the United Black Christians in Crisis Committee. He is also an ethics instructor at the California Department of Justice.

Rev. Cribbs began his ministerial career at age 13 as assistant pastor in his father’s church. His hobbies include performance art, jazz, poetry, playwriting and acting. He also enjoys softball, table tennis and driving sports cars.