When Joshua Cable attended a ceremony at Turning Point Fellowship Ministries International Church in Canton on Feb. 1, 2020, honoring leaders who were instrumental in building up their surrounding communities, he knew he was among those who would be receiving honors. What he did not expect when he stood before the gathered congregation that evening was to receive a signed proclamation from Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba establishing Joshua A. Cable Day in his honor.

“That announcement came as a mouth-dropping shock for me,” Cable says. “I had dreamed of what it would be like to have my own day and what I would do with it, and seeing it come to pass in that moment was overwhelming in the best kind of way.”

Cable owns and operates Kingdom Cities Network, a business-focused ministry, alongside his wife, Monica Cable. He has long viewed local churches and communities as what he calls “cities within cities,” and has made it his mission to build them up and help local leaders improve the lives of those within their spheres of influence. After receiving Mayor Lumumba’s signed proclamation, Cable has annually used the honor to spotlight members of the Jackson metro community and their own contributions to lifting up those around them.

This year, Cable partnered with the Best of Mississippi awards to present certificates of honor to local farmers on Tuesday, Feb. 1, during a ceremony at the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum in Jackson. The honorees included D.J. Baker, owner of Esculent and a food consultant for public and private food businesses and edible-landscaping projects; Foot Print Farms President and Chief Executive Officer Cindy Ayers Elliott; and Chris and Caroline Ratliff, owners of Ratliff’s IronHorse Ranch in Raymond, Miss.

“We are honoring our local farmers in Hinds County because we want people to see what they’ve been through and how they’ve been responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact it’s had on our economy and food systems,” Cable says.

“There has been a profound effect on supplies that has hit many local businesses, and we as a community need to come together and make practical steps to better prepare for similar crises in the future.”

Leading the charge, Cable has partnered with community organizations in the Jackson metro to establish projects that aim to enhance local economic development. Chief among Cable’s goals are expanding local farmers and public markets and launching an economic-development platform focused on helping Jackson residents learn entrepreneurial and financial-development skills.

“When you establish new markets, it establishes new businesses, and that’s what we want to see to build up our communities,” Cable says. “In the future, we also want to invest in Mississippi’s tourism industry to bring more people here to frequent those markets. We want to create market cities with more space to serve as venues for farmers to display their produce. We also want to see our local farmers become teachers for the community and help citizens learn about gardening and surviving on their own in the event of a potential crisis.”

The Cable Legacy

Cable and his wife established what is now Kingdom Cities Network in 2008 under the name Warcriers Ministries. The network is a combination ministry and business platform focused on helping church leaders bring together their communities and direct efforts to build up local businesses. Cable also works as a campus minister at Belhaven University in Jackson, where he holds courses on mentorship and leadership development.

In 2019, the Cables established another independent business called Cable Connection Consulting, which hosts virtual seminars on economic development, team building, growing a small business and other factors that contribute to growing a local economy. Seminars take place on the CCC website, kingdomcitiesnetwork.com.

Following the establishment of Joshua A. Cable Day in 2020, Best of Mississippi CEO Kathy Amos, CEO of Best of Mississippi, reached out to Cable to help spotlight individuals that Best of Mississippi honored.

“Even though Cable received recognition from the City of Jackson for his work and his ministry, he does not want the spotlight on himself,” Amos says. “These awards recognize individuals and small-to-mid-sized businesses and let people know who they are and what they mean for Mississippi. They are the ones we want to honor through our awards and on our social media pages.”

Amos established the Best of Mississippi awards during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Her goal in starting the program, Amos says, was to encourage entrepreneurs, small business owners and their communities to keep their businesses alive amidst the pandemic’s hardships, especially restaurant owners that faced losses and closures.

“Just as important as our local restaurants are the farmers whose fields and gardens we eat from every day,” Amos says. “Despite that, they are some of the least recognized and honored people in our state, and probably the last people that many think to celebrate. Who better to give such an honor to this year? I believe it is so important to recognize the tireless work they do in planting and harvesting so we can have food on our tables and a balanced diet.

“We also want to honor Dr. Cable, who is a prolific teacher and minister at heart and is always willing to give back to the community.”

In addition to their work with Kingdom Cities Network and Cable Connection Consulting, the Cables also served as Mr. and Mrs. Mississippi for nonprofit organization Business Empowered International Chamber of Commerce in 2020. The Cables have been married for 12 years and have three children: Moriah, Joseph and Caleb.

For more information on the Best of Mississippi awards, visit thebestofmsawards.com. For more information on Kingdom Cities Network and Cable Connection Consulting, visit kingdomcitiesnetwork.com or the Cable Connection Consulting Facebook page.

This story originally appeared in the Mississippi Free Press. The Mississippi Free Press is a statewide nonprofit news outlet that provides most of its stories free to other media outlets to republish. Write [email protected] for information.