OUR HISTORY
History
Founded in 1903, The Church of the Living God, the Pillar and Ground of the Truth, spoken by the Apostle Paul in his letter to his protége, Timotheus (I Timothy 3:15), was revived in these last days by St. Mary Magdalena Lewis-Tate (1871-1930), who is the First Chief Overseer and Mother in true Holiness. St. Mary Magdalena felt moved by the Holy Ghost to go out into the world and preach the Gospel, first at Steel Springs, Tennessee. She chose as her co-laborers in the Gospel, her two little sons, the elder one, Walter Curtis Lewis, and the younger one, Felix Early Lewis.
In Paris, Tennessee; Paducah, Kentucky; Brooklyn, Illinois; Greenville, Alabama, and throughout many other cities and states in the United States, St. Mary Magdalena stood up and boldly preached the Gospel in the cleanness of the Word of God of things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. Two of her first converts and recipients of the Holy Ghost were her two sisters at Paducah, Kentucky, Queen Esther Edwards and Dora Louvenia O'Neal, who became ministers and bishops in the Church. By 1908, St. Mary Magdalena had a number of local bands in many places set up and organized. This period became known as The Period of the Do Rights (1898-1902).
The first great General Assembly of the Church was held in 1908 at Greenville, Alabama. At this great Pentecostal revival of the Church, nearly one hundred people received the baptism of the Holy Ghost and Fire. At this assembly much business was transacted for the Church, but more spiritual than temporal. Mother Tate (as she was affectionately known by her followers) was appointed to the bishopric and ordained First Chief Overseer of the Church by the elders present at the first General Assembly in 1908. The first four state bishops were ordained at Quitman, Georgia in June 1914. They were Bishops J.D. Padgitt, B.J. Scott, W.C. and F.E. Lewis.
--Taken from: The Constitution, Government, and General Decree Book of The Church of the Living God, the Pillar and Ground of the Truth, Inc., 1924, (pp. 4-7).
