On October 23, 2020, Bishop Blake announced that he would not seek a re-election as Presiding Bishop nor as a member of the General Board and that he would retire from the Office of Presiding Bishop and from the General Board in 2021. [46], COGIC teaches that the baptism of the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit is an experience subsequent to conversion and sanctification, can be experienced by all believers who ask for it. A. Blackwell, E. M. Blackwell, E. M. Page, R. H. I. Clark, D. J. [5] He officially retired on March 19, 2021, and was succeeded by Bishop J. The current General Supervisor of Women is Dr. Barbara McCoo Lewis of Los Angeles, California. [17][16] The organizers of the meeting in Hot Springs had sent invitations only to white ministers to discuss a new movement. As a classical Holiness Pentecostal denomination,[2][4] COGIC continues to embrace its holiness heritage, teaching modesty in dress, appearance, moderate participation in secular entertainment and prohibitions against profanity, alcohol, substance abuse and immoral behavior. In 1976, under the leadership of Bishop J.O. Bishop Sedgwick Daniels Board member (2008present). YPWW became a distinctive trademark for COGIC and the principle training institute usually meeting on Sunday night prior to evening worship services. The Department of Evangelism was officially organized on a national level by Overseer L.C. Timothy Wright, Myrna Summers, Rev. Bishop L. H. Ford (Former Presiding Bishop COGIC) - Man of God / Man of the People Yuko Ichioka 396 subscribers Subscribe 360 Share 22K views 8 years ago If he were alive, my grandfatherLouis. We believe that the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, according to Acts 2:4, is given to believers who ask for it. James Moore, Thomas Whitfield (singer), Deniece Williams, Hubert Powell, Donnie McClurkin, LaShun Pace, The Anointed Pace Sisters, Dr. Bettye Ransom Nelson, Bishop Richard "Mr. Clean" White, Bishop Paul S. Morton, The Clark Sisters: (Jacky Clark-Chisholm, Elbernita "Twinkie" Clark, Dorinda Clark-Cole and Karen Clark-Sheard). Vice chairman of the General Council of Pastors and Elders Bishop Marcus Ways. COGIC teaches the deity of Jesus Christ, his virgin birth, sinless life, physical death, burial, resurrection, ascension and visible return to the earth. Here are the other 11 members elected to COGIC's general board, its highest executive board: Bishop Prince Bryant Sr., pastor of The Island of Hope Church of God in Christ and Buck Street Memorial . The Church of God in Christ will host the installation service of Rev. Vice President of COGIC World Missions-Bishop Nate' M. Jefferson. Bishop Blake also won a defamation lawsuit in 2016 against Earl Carter, who was ordered to remove all defamatory videos and to cease and desist from further conduct disparaging Bishop Blake. Secretary of the Board of Bishops Bishop William Watson, III. [26], The parties filed lawsuits in the Chancery Court of Shelby County, Tennessee, to resolve the legitimate authority of the denomination. She organized the sewing circle and after meeting Elder Searcy, she encouraged the women to support mission work through the Home and Foreign Mission bands. [23][24] After Mason's death, in accordance with the 1952 church constitution, the control of the church reverted to the COGIC Board of Bishops. Field representative, International Sunday School Department Mother Cleolia Penix. He was assassinated the next day, on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel.[54]. In her brief tenure, she encouraged the women to stay focused and supportive to the leadership of the church. We believe the Bible to be the inspired and only infallible written Word of God. In the 1990's and early 2000's, Blake also penned articles for Ebony and Christianity Today noting the importance of the Black Church's influence on presidential elections and American politics and society in general. Chairman of AIM Bishop Linwood Dillard. Evangelist Goldia Haynes, Elder Utah Smith, Madame Earnestine Washington, and Marion Williams continued COGIC's influence throughout the fifties and sixties. "[91] Bishop Blake apologized to a young man (Andrew C. Caldwell) who, following Superintendent Carter's message, came forward to proclaim that he had been delivered from homosexuality. During her leadership, several new buildings were constructed on the 350-acre campus to serve this expansion. Patterson, the nephew of the above-mentioned Bishop J.O. COGIC does not teach that Spirit baptism is the same as salvation. President Moody also added these ministries to the Missions Department:[62]. As Senior Pastor of the 26,000 member, West Angeles Church of God In Christ in Los Angeles, California, Bishop Blakes leadership is positively impacting lives and enhancing the community through the work of the many ministries offered. It can be spoken of as the individual and the collective, physical and spiritual. MEMPHIS, Tenn Funeral arrangements are set for COGIC Evangelist Louise Patterson, the widow of the late Bishop G.E. A.) In 1992, during the Ford administration, UNAC was disbanded in favor of three separate conventions namely: the International Sunday School Convention, the MY Convention (Music and Youth) and the ME Convention (Missions and Evangelism) again meeting in separate cities.. By 1906, the church had grown to nearly 100 congregations in three states. This seasonal period was selected because most of the COGIC members were farmers and were finished harvesting their crops around this time. Each state in the US consists of at least one jurisdiction, and several states have more than one jurisdiction. Protestant doctrinal debates about Calvinism and Wesleyan Perfectionism affected how even local African-American Baptist pastors responded to new Christian movements at the time. After the death of Mother McGlothen, Mother Emma F. Crouch (19941997) of Dallas, Texas, served as the fifth General Supervisor. He was a strong advocate for social justice. Superintendent, International Sunday School Department Superintendent Mark Ellis. In 1968, COGIC established the C.H. Well-known gospel musicians with COGIC roots include; Andrae Crouch and Sandra Crouch, Walter Hawkins and Edwin Hawkins, Tramaine Hawkins, Rubenstein McClure, Yvette Flunder, Sara Jordan Powell, Daryl Coley, BeBe and CeCe Winans, The Winans, "Detroit" Gary Wiggins, John P. Kee, The O'Neal Twins, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Rance Allen, Rev. Bishop Lawrence M. Wooten Second Assistant Presiding Bishop (2021present) and board member (2012present). Patterson Sr., the five major departments of COGIC were united under an umbrella convention known as UNAC-5 (United National Auxiliary Convention). This came on the heels of former Presiding Bishop Charles Edward Blake Sr.'s October 2020 announcement that he would not seek reelection. He re-ignited the church to be a flagship Pentecostal denomination. [43], COGIC teaches that man was created perfect and sinless in the image of God as a tripartite being having a body, soul, and spirit. The current presiding bishop and chief apostle is Bishop J. A Jeter and D. J. The seminary is accredited by the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) and is part of a consortium of the Interdenominational Theological Center. He was officially installed as the senior pastor of the church the following year in 1970. He also served as the Presiding Prelate of the New Jersey Garden State Jurisdiction and the Central Georgia Jurisdiction. It has nine members, elected by the general assembly, including three bishops, three elders, and three lay members. Second Vice Chairman of the National Board of Trustees Attorney Amos Smith. Porter pointed out that he is based in Memphis. Throughout the 1970s and 80s, as COGIC continued to grow to millions of members nationwide, COGIC ministers all over the country continued to advance civil rights in their communities. Remarriage is usually highly discouraged, except in the case of the death of a spouse or former spouse. [8][9] In 1984, after the death of his father, he was ordained and consecrated as a jurisdictional bishop of the First Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of Southern California for the COGIC denomination, and remained in that position until 2009 when he stepped down from the position to dedicate himself fully to the duties of the Office of the Presiding Bishop. In his first year as Presiding Bishop in 2021, in order to combat debt that the church had accrued from previous years, Bishop Sheard helped to launch the "I Love My Church" Initiative, which was a massive fundraising campaign that helped the COGIC denomination to pay off much of its debts, renovate and refurbish its headquarters church, Mason Temple, establish housing complexes for low-income families throughout Shelby County, Tennessee near the church's headquarters, and purchased a former Catholic nunnery convent in Memphis to provide housing for single mothers affected by health challenges, disabilities, teen pregnancies, and domestic violence. MEMPHIS, Tenn. The Church of God in Christ announced it has elected a new Presiding Bishop to lead the organization. In Chicago, Ford organized voter registration initiatives. 2 in the denomination and whose death was reported by The Detroit News; Bishop Timothy Scott, a leader for nearly 50 years of the denomination in Mississippi whose death was reported Although headquartered in Memphis, COGIC's leaders . Ford was pastor of the St. Paul COGIC in Chicago and was Presiding Prelate of the Historic Illinois First Jurisdiction. COGIC has always been traditionally anti-abortion. This group of seven bishops became known officially as the executive commission; they took on greater responsibility over church affairs until Mason's death. During the tenure of Bishop L. H. Ford as Presiding Bishop in the 1990s, he helped gain COGIC membership into the Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America, a more diverse, international caucus of different Pentecostal church denominations and organizations that sought to heal the racial divides in the North American Pentecostal movement.[57]. It believes that the gifts of the Spirit are given to believers and are active in the church today. Secretary of the National Board of Trustees Dr. T. Lynn Smith. Then in 1946, the YPWW Department was combined with the Sunday School Department for joint conventions until 1951 when they were separated once again. He is an example of servant leadership and has become a voice to the nations to uphold the standards of holiness. They have two children, Kierra Kelly and John Drew Sheard, II, one son-in-love, Jordan Kelly, and two grandchildren. Humanity can only be restored through salvation offered only through Jesus Christ. [25], Bishop Ozro Thurston Jones Sr. was pastor of the Holy Temple Church of God in Christ in Philadelphia and the Jurisdictional Bishop of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Jurisdiction. Sin originated in eternity when Satan committed open rebellion against God in heaven. Clinton is the only US president to have addressed a COGIC convocation at Mason Temple. His pastor and mentor was Bishop F. D. Washington of Brooklyn, NY. [6], In June 1896, Jones held a Holiness convention at Mt. The legislative authority of the church is vested in a general assembly, composed of the members of the general board, jurisdictional/auxiliary bishops, jurisdictional supervisors, chaplains, pastors, ordained elders, four district missionaries and six lay members from each jurisdiction. Al Sharpton, a noted civil rights activist, began his ministerial career as a minister in COGIC. COGIC teaches that because God uses conception through and after sexual reproduction and intercourse to create human life, that willfully aborting a human fetus is contrary to God's Word and Christian ethics, and it is considered to be a sin against God and the Bible within the denomination. Mamie Till-Mobley was a member of St. Paul COGIC led by then Elder Louis Henry Ford (who would later become the presiding bishop of the denomination) officiated the service. She developed the role of the State Minister of Music and traveled the world conducting seminars and workshops perfecting the quality of choir music, their performance, appearance and demeanor, and the COGIC sound. Vice President of COGIC World Missions-Bishop Glenn Plummer. In 1918, COGIC opened its first institution of higher learning, the Saints Industrial and Literary School in Lexington, Mississippi, for both girls and boys. However, the Church believes that in some extreme or rare cases, medical and operational abortion may be the safest way to help the mother if the pregnancy is jeopardizing the mother's life and health. In 1982, he was selected by Ebony magazine as one of the 15 "Greatest Preachers in America". [42], COGIC teaches that angels are messengers sent from God who served during the creation, throughout the Old Testament, the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, the establishment of the church and the ministry of the apostles, and continue to be at work in the Kingdom of God. Churches are organized in dioceses called jurisdictions, each under the authority of a bishop. In 2021 he was again re-elected Bishop as a member of the Presidium (General Board) of the Church of God in Christ, Inc., at that time he was also subsequently elected to the Office of the Presiding Bishop as Chief Apostle. In 1916, a few white churches were organized as a white branch of COGIC. As a result, many local congregations, foreign missions, and schools were established through the leadership and efforts of women in COGIC. A general supervisor of women is appointed by the presiding bishop and given authority to lead the International Women's Ministry of the church. They determined to separate from COGIC and form what would eventually become the Worldwide Fellowship of the Assemblies of God. Over time, the ministers and churches under Leonard P. Adams also separated from COGIC; they assimilated into other white Pentecostal groups or organizations. Page in 1927. Welcome to the Official Church Of God In Christ, Inc Online Store Dismiss. He appointed regional presidents to serve as liaisons to the jurisdictional presidents. In 2010, Bishop Blake led more than 50,000 delegates to the 103rd International Holy Convocation to St. Louis, Missouri.