Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and raised in Texas , Dr. Robert Lee Hill has served since 1987 as Senior Minister of the Community Christian Church in Kansas City, Missouri, with the distinction of being called to the position as the youngest senior minister in the congregation’s 119-year history.

Before being called to Community in 1985 as associate minister, Dr. Hill served as Special Projects Director and Co-Director of Project Return, Inc., a non-profit agency working with ex-prisoners and their families in Nashville, Tennessee. Prior to his undergraduate and graduate studies, Dr. Hill was a Conscientious Objector during the war in Vietnam and served for two years as a Youth and Family Worker at All Peoples Christian Center in south central Los Angeles. He was ordained at All Peoples Christian Church, in Los Angeles, California, on August 2, 1981.

Dr. Hill holds three degrees: a B.A. degree from Texas Christian University (1977), an M.Div. degree from Vanderbilt University Divinity School (1980), and a D.D. degree from Christian Theological Seminary (2000). He has spoken as a keynoter and guest preacher at assemblies, seminars, retreats, regional and national conferences, seminaries, and worship services across the United States, including ecumenical and interfaith venues, for Disciple, A.M.E., Baptist, Catholic, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Nazarene, Presbyterian, United Methodist, Muslim, and Jewish congregants.

He serves the wider community in the greater Kansas City area as a board member for the Kansas City Hospice, the Second Chance Foundation, and the Institute for Spirituality in Health. Since 2005, he has served as the Co-Chair of the Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity (MORE2). Since 1991, he has been, with Judy Hellman, the co-chair of the Greater Kansas City Martin Luther King Interfaith Worship Celebration. In the past, he has served as Chairperson of The Council of Mayors’ Metropolitan Human Relations Commission (1992-1996), co-founder (with Dr. K. David Cole) of the noted "C.O.L.O.R.’s" program ("Christians Offering Love to Overcome Racism"), and Co-Chairperson of “Compassion Sabbath” for The Center for Practical Bioethics (formerly The Midwest Bioethics Center). Since 1993, Dr. Hill has been a co-host of the renowned Sunday morning radio call-in show, "Religion on the Line," on KCMO-Talk Radio 710AM.

Dr. Hill’s awards and recognitions include: The Inaugural “Steve Jeffers Interfaith Leadership Award” from the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council (2008); “The Harold L. Holliday, Sr., Civil Rights Award” from the NAACP of Kansas City, Missouri (2008); “The Daniel L. Brenner Interfaith Award” from Harmony-National Conference for Community and Justice (2006). “North American Ministerial Fellowship” from The Fund for Theological Education; “The Evelyn Wasserstrom Award” from The Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Kansas City. In 2001, he and Community Christian Church were among the first grant recipients of the Lilly Endowment’s "National Clergy Renewal Program.” In 2006, Community received a five-year grant from the Lilly Endowment to train newly graduated, newly ordained clergy in “best practices” through a newly created Transition Into Ministry “Clergy Residency Program.”

Dr. Hill is the author and/or editor of eight books including: The Color of Sabbath (2007), Romans: An Introductory Study Guide (2007), Made Whole…Again…By Broken Bread (2004), Hard To Tell: A Congregation of Poems, 1990-2003 (2003), Empowering Congregations: Successful Strategies for 21st Century Leadership (with Denton L. Roberts, 2003).

He is married to Priscilla Reckling, and they live in the Brookside neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri.

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