Paul S. Morton

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The Right Reverend

Paul S. Morton
Founder and Presiding Bishop-Emeritus of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship
Paul S Morton preaching in 2023.png
Morton in 2023
Church Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship
Orders
ConsecrationMarch 1993
by  George Augustus Stallings
Personal details
Born
Paul Sylvester Morton

(1950-07-30) July 30, 1950 (age 75)
Residence Metro Atlanta, U.S.
Children3, including PJ Morton
OccupationPastor, 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]

Contents

Biography

Born into a Christian family, his father—Bishop C.L. Morton Sr.—pastored two Church of God in Christ 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]

Consecration of Paul Morton into the episcopacy, March 1993 Consecration of Paul S Morton.png
Consecration of Paul Morton into the episcopacy, March 1993

Morton was consecrated into the episcopacy in March 1993 by Independent Catholic episcopus vagans George Augustus Stallings of the African-American Catholic Congregation in New Orleans, [9] [10] and by 1997, Greater St. Stephen grew to 18,000 members in 3 locations under his pastorate. [11] Prior, in 1962 and at the age of 20, his brother C.L. Morton Jr. was consecrated as a bishop for the Church of God in Christ. [12]

In November 1993, Paul Morton—along with J. Delano Ellis, Wilbert Sterling McKinley and Roy E. Brown—established the Joint College of African-American Pentecostal Bishops. [13]

In 2005, Morton founded Changing A Generation Full Gospel Baptist Church in Metro Atlanta. [14]

In 2013, he announced his intent to retire as Presiding Bishop of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship. [15] Two years later, in 2015, he retired from his office as leader of Full Gospel. [16]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Leadership". Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  2. ↑ "Bishop Paul S. Morton". CBN. Archived from the original on June 5, 2024. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  3. ↑ "300 unique New Orleans moments: Greater St. Stephen Missionary Baptist Church organized in 1937". NOLA.com. December 28, 2017. Archived from the original on December 16, 2024. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  4. ↑ "Bishop Paul S. Morton, Sr. Biography, Songs, & Albums". AllMusic. Archived from the original on October 16, 2023. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  5. ↑ "PJ Morton | Artist". Grammy. Archived from the original on March 13, 2025. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  6. ↑ DuPree, Sherry S. (September 13, 2013). African-American Holiness Pentecostal Movement: An Annotated Bibliography. Routledge. p. 347. ISBN   978-1-135-73717-7.
  7. ↑ "The Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship: Giving Baptists A Choice". Black and Christian. Archived from the original on May 21, 2024. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  8. ↑ "Pentecostal Baptist fellowship conference at Convention Center". Baltimore Sun. July 10, 2002. Archived from the original on May 9, 2023. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  9. ↑ "Bishop Paul Morton enlightens people on finding great success". Gainesville Sun. Archived from the original on April 2, 2025. Retrieved April 2, 2025.
  10. ↑ Greater St Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church (March 19, 2023). Bishop Paul S. Morton 30th Episcopal Anniversary:The Making Of A Bishop @ GSS East | March 19, 2023. Archived from the original on April 2, 2025. Retrieved August 22, 2024– via YouTube.
  11. ↑ "Soaring Souls, Soaring Sights -- Baptist Church Thinks Big, And Far Beyond Walls Of Worship | The Seattle Times". archive.seattletimes.com. Archived from the original on December 13, 2024. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  12. ↑ Spelbring, Meredith. "Bishop C.L. Morton dies: Preacher will be missed all over the world". Detroit Free Press. Archived from the original on March 28, 2023. Retrieved July 27, 2025.
  13. ↑ "About the Joint College of Bishops". Joint College of Bishops. Archived from the original on November 21, 2021. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
  14. ↑ Maxwell, Joe (August 1, 2008). "The Calm After the Storm". Charisma Magazine Online. Retrieved August 23, 2025.{{cite web}}: |archive-url= is malformed: flag (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. ↑ "Full Gospel chooses Bishop Paul Morton's successor". Louisiana Weekly. Archived from the original on March 5, 2025. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  16. ↑ "Bishop Paul Morton retires", WDSU New Orleans, July 16, 2015, retrieved October 16, 2023
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