Paul S. Morton | |
---|---|
Founder and Presiding Bishop-Emeritus of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship | |
Church | Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship |
Orders | |
Consecration | 1990s by George Augustus Stallings |
Personal details | |
Born | Paul Sylvester Morton July 30, 1950 |
Residence | Metro Atlanta, U.S. |
Children | 3, including PJ Morton |
Occupation | Pastor, author, Gospel singer, musician, speaker |
Paul Sylvester Morton (born July 30, 1950) is an American Baptist pastor, Gospel singer and author. He is also a founder of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship. [1]
Born into a Christian family, his father pastored two congregations, one in Windsor, Ontario and the other in Detroit, Michigan. [2]
In 1972, Morton moved to New Orleans, Louisiana and to the Greater St. Stephen Missionary Baptist Church (now known as Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church) under the pastorate of Reverend Percy Simpson, where he became an associate pastor. Upon his ascension to the senior pastorate, Morton introduced Pentecostal and Charismatic elements to the church. [3]
Shortly after his appointment as senior pastor of Greater St. Stephen, Morton married the former Debra Brown. Together they have three children: Jasmine, Paul Jr., and Christian. His son Paul Jr. later became a Grammy Award-winning musician under the name PJ Morton. [4] [5]
During his pastorate at Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church, Morton established the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship which initially began as a Charismatic Baptist movement within the National Baptist Convention, USA. [6] The movement became its own separate denomination in 1994 after Morton and those affiliated with the fellowship "were lovingly advised to resign their posts with the NBCUSA before they were kicked out." [7] National Baptist leadership feared the movement would develop into a separate denomination, urging members to either remain within the convention or leave. [8]
Morton was consecrated into the episcopacy by George Augustus Stallings in New Orleans, and by 1997, Greater St. Stephen grew to 18,000 members in 3 locations under his pastorate. [9] In November 1993, he—along with J. Delano Ellis, Wilbert Sterling McKinley and Roy E. Brown—established the Joint College of African-American Pentecostal Bishops. [10]
In 2005, Morton founded Changing A Generation Full Gospel Baptist Church in Metro Atlanta. [11]
In 2013, he announced his intent to retire as Presiding Bishop of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship. [12] Two years later, in 2015, he retired from his office as leader of Full Gospel. [13]
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement that emphasizes direct personal experience of God through baptism with the Holy Spirit. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, an event that commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks, as described in the Acts of the Apostles.
The Church of God in Christ (COGIC) is an international Holiness–Pentecostal Christian denomination, and a large Pentecostal denomination in the United States. Although an international and multi-ethnic religious organization, it has a predominantly African-American membership based within the United States. The international headquarters is in Memphis, Tennessee. The current Presiding Bishop is Bishop John Drew Sheard Sr., who is the Senior Pastor of the Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ of Detroit, Michigan. He was elected as the denomination's leader on March 27, 2021.
The Church of God, with headquarters in Cleveland, Tennessee, United States, is an international Holiness-Pentecostal Christian denomination. The Church of God's publishing house is Pathway Press.
The Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship (FGBCF) or Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International (FGBCFI) is a predominantly African-American, Charismatic Baptist denomination established by Bishop Paul Sylvester Morton—a Gospel singer and former National Baptist pastor. Founded as a response to traditional black Baptists upholding cessationism, Full Gospel Baptists advocate for the operation of Charismatic Christian spiritual gifts, while also holding to some traditional Baptist doctrine.
The International Pentecostal Holiness Church (IPHC) or simply Pentecostal Holiness Church (PHC) is an international Holiness-Pentecostal Christian denomination founded in 1911 with the merger of two older denominations. Historically centered in the Southeastern United States, particularly the Carolinas and Georgia, the Pentecostal Holiness Church now has an international presence. In 2000, the church reported a worldwide membership of over one million—over three million including affiliates.
The Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America (PCCNA) is an interdenominational fellowship of Pentecostal and charismatic churches and denominations in North America, existing for the purpose of promoting cooperation and understanding. It is a successor to the Pentecostal Fellowship of North America (PFNA). PCCNA headquarters are in Los Angeles, California.
The Latter Rain, also known as the New Order or the New Order of the Latter Rain, was a post-World War II movement within Pentecostal Christianity which remains controversial. The movement saw itself as a continuation of the restorationism of early Pentecostalism. The movement began with major revivals between 1948 and 1952 and became established as a large semi-organized movement by 1952. It continued into the 1960s. The movement had a profound impact on subsequent movements as its participants dispersed throughout the broader charismatic and Pentecostal movements beginning in the 1960s.
The Alliance World Fellowship is an evangelical Christian denomination within the Higher Life movement of Christianity, teaching a modified form of Keswickian theology. It includes 6.2 million members throughout 88 countries within 22,000 churches.
Renewal is the collective term for Charismatic, Pentecostal and Neo-charismatic churches.
Pentecostalism has grown in India since its introduction in the early twentieth century. Several Pentecostal missionaries who had participated in the Azusa Street Revival visited Kerala from 1909 onwards. During the 1920s the missionary Robert F. Cook established the Indian branch of the Church of God, based in Kerala. In 1922 Assemblies of GOD church was established in Melpuram which was part of then Travancore state by missionaries. It has been one of the early pioneering churches in the region. Two other churches founded around this time were Ceylon Pentecostal Mission (CPM) later became The Pentecostal Mission, in the 1980s, founded in Sri Lanka by the Indian evangelist Pastor Paul, and later brought to India; and the Indian Pentecostal Church of God, set up by K.E. Abraham after he split from the church founded by Cook. A later foundation, in 1953, was the Sharon Fellowship, which runs the Sharon Women's Bible College.
Barney Coombs was a British religious leader, and the first leader of the International Council of Salt and Light Ministries, and Senior Leader at West Coast Christian Fellowship in Vancouver, Canada. Salt and Light is a network of neocharismatic Evangelical Christian churches that is part of the British New Church Movement. Coombs was received apostolically by many Charismatic churches in North America, Africa, India, Europe, the UK and New Zealand, and was seen as the 'father' of the Salt and Light family of churches. He was married to Janette until his death in 2018 and they had three children and eight grandchildren.
Religion of Black Americans refers to the religious and spiritual practices of African Americans. Historians generally agree that the religious life of Black Americans "forms the foundation of their community life". Before 1775 there was scattered evidence of organized religion among Black people in the Thirteen Colonies. The Methodist and Baptist churches became much more active in the 1780s. Their growth was quite rapid for the next 150 years, until their membership included the majority of Black Americans.
Although most Baptist groups are congregationalist in polity, some have different ecclesiastical organization and adopt an episcopal polity governance. In those churches the local congregation has less autonomy and the bishop oversees them, assigning pastors and distributing funds.
The National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., more commonly known as the National Baptist Convention, is a Baptist Christian denomination headquartered at the Baptist World Center in Nashville, Tennessee and affiliated with the Baptist World Alliance. It is also the largest predominantly and traditionally African American church in the United States and the second largest Baptist denomination in the world.
P.J. Morton is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Since 2012, he has been the keyboardist for the pop band Maroon 5. Morton originally joined the band as a touring member in 2010 and became an official member in 2012 after Jesse Carmichael went on a short hiatus.
Chandler David Owens Sr. was an American minister and Holiness Pentecostal denomination leader of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), for which he served as the Presiding Bishop from 1995 to 2000, after the death of Bishop Louis Henry Ford.
John Drew Sheard is an American pastor and minister from Detroit, Michigan, who is the current Presiding Bishop of the Church of God in Christ, a 6 million-member predominantly African-American Holiness Pentecostal denomination that has now grown to become one of the largest African American Pentecostal denominations in the United States. He was elected as the leader of the denomination in the denomination's first ever all-virtual online election, that was held virtually online due to the COVID-19 Pandemic on March 20, 2021. He is the first Presiding Bishop of the Church of God in Christ from the state of Michigan and is the pastor of the Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ, one of the denomination's largest churches in Michigan. He also previously served as a member of the General Board, the twelve bishops who make up the national Board of Directors of the COGIC denomination, and as the president of the COGIC International Youth Department, the auxiliary ministry department of the COGIC denomination focused on youth and young adults, from 1997 to 2001, and the International President and Chairman of the COGIC Auxiliaries In Ministry (AIM) convention from 2004 to 2012.
The Global United Fellowship (GUF) is an interdenominational and predominantly African-American denomination founded in 2013 by Bishop Neil Ellis. Established after resigning from the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship, the GUF claims to embrace individual churches, ministries, fellowships, and pastors in its organization.