Garfield Thomas Haywood

Pentecostal Assemblies of the World

1880 ~ 1931

Garfield Thomas Haywood was born April 15, 1880, in the small farming community of Green Castle, Indiana. The Fourth of nine children born to Benjamin and Penny Ann Haywood, he was reared in a Christian home. Garfield attended both Baptist and Methodist churches. When he was three years old his parents moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, and settled down permanently in Haughville, a west-side suburb. His father worked in the foundry, and his mother was an outstanding woman who by her own industry and ingenuity managed to bring up her large family on her husband's meager wages.

Garfield attended school in Haughville, including two years at Shortridge High School. His education was relatively meager by todays standards as he had to drop out after his sophmore year and go to work to help support his family. However, it was while in school that he discovered that he had a talent for character sketching. He first sought employment as a cartoonist, and was hired by two of the local negro weekly newspapers, namely the "Freedman" and "The Recorder." On February 11, 1902, he married Ida Howard of Owensboro, Kentucky. They had one daughter who they named Fannie. After quiting his job as a cartoonist, he went to work at an iron foundry where his pay was somewhat better.

In 1907 Garfield was invited to visit a little Apostolic Faith mission by his long time friend and fellow "Knights of Pythias" lodge member, Oddous Barbour. The mission was pastored by a black minister named Henry Prentiss. Oddous Barbour's wife was attending the Apostolic mission known as the "Tin Shop" located on West Michigan, Street. Prentiss had come from the Azusa Street revival where he had received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. At first Garfield was not impressed with the Holy Ghost and speaking in tongues, and thought that Oddous was joking with him. Eventually Garfield conceeded to visit  the church, and on a cold snowy night he made the trip by himself to the mission. At the invitation, he found himself walking down the isle under conviction. He raised his arms to repent of his sins when the power of the Holy Ghost hit him like a bolt of lightening. He fell prostrate to the ground speaking in tongues.

Shortly after his conversion, Garfield was called into the ministry. In 1908, Brother Prentiss resigned the church and returned to the East. Brother Haywood was left in charge of the mission with a membership of only 13. At this time the church was still meeting in the "Tin Shop". As his revelation knowledge began to expand, people began to take notice, and the church began to show signs of physical growth. By 1912, the church had grown to several hundred as they moved into their new location on 11th and Senate Avenue.

When Bro. Glenn Cook brought the message of baptism in Jesus' name to Indianapolis in 1915, Elder Haywood's congregation had grown almost 500 members. After he accepted the Apostolic formula of baptism in Jesus' name, 456 members of his congregation followed him into the waters of "Fall Creek" and were rebaptized. Due to the enormity in size of Haywood's church, clearly gave it the distinction of being called the "Mother Church" of the Jesus' name movement. Each year Elder Haywood held a convention at his Apostolic Faith Assembly, where saints and ministers gathered from all over the United States to listen to the Word of God as it was taught by the great champions in the Apostolic movement.

William Lee Bonner

Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ

1921~Present

The roots of the illustrious life of Bishop William L. Bonner began in 1921 at his birthplace in Bolden County, Georga. Bishop Bonner as he is well known and respected in the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ, left Georiga in the early 1940's, and went to New York City. He had just been baptized under the ministry of Elder bolinger. When he left Georgia, William had no interest in being a preacher, but only to become a businessman.

Upon his arrival in New York, Bishop Lawson offered him a job as his personal chauffeur. Shortly thereafter, he received the gift of the Holy Ghost. Then, after he and Bishop Lawson's secretary, Ethel Mae were married, William received his call to preach.

In 1947, Bishop Lawson sent Elder Bonner to Detroit, Michigan to pastor a small storefront church.Under his anointed ministry the little church began to grow. In 1961, Bishop Lawson passed away, and Bishop Bonner was called upon to assume the pastorate of the "Mother church" Refug Temple in Harlem, New York. However, he remained the pastor of the church in Detroit, fulfilling the unique responsibility of pastoring two churches t the same time.

In 1973, he was elevated as the Presiding Bishop of the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ. bishop Bonner is a preacher's preacher.His style is unique, and his anointing is as real as it gets. Today, Bishop Bonner pastors churches in Detroit, New York, Mississippi, Washington, D.C., and South Carolina. He has also built the William L.Bonner School of Bible and Theology, located in South Carolina. The COOLJC as an organization is in coonstant revival. The churches are filled to capacity as people are finding the Pentecostal power through this great body of Apostolic believers.

Bishop William Lee Bonner was inducted into the Apostolic Ministers Hall of Fame in 2007. Audio and Video recordings of W.L. Bonner are available in the audio/video library of the Apostolic Archives International.

 James E. Tyson

Pentecostal Assemblies of the World

1927~Present

James E. Tyson was born May 25, 1927 in the mountains of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, the first child of Cleophus and Annia McCray Tyson. At the age of 15 James' fathe, desiring to expose his family to a more varied life, transplanted them to Youngstown, Ohio. James' life and character were shaped by several key factors. His parents' insistence that he be brought up in a godly environment.

At the age of 16 he left Johnstown and ventured to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he lived with an aunt and uncle, worked in the shipyards as a welder and went to high school at night, graduating from Standard Evening High School in Philadelphia. James' inventivness and technical aptitude surfaced during this period of his life. It was during this period that his well-known ability to articulate intelligently on just about any subject was developed. This ability came to bear early in his life with his deep yearning to learn and his discilpined reading patterns.

Apparently, working on the ships in the shipyards his apetit whetted for the sea, because he soon enlisted into the United States Navy as a stewards mate where he served at the NRS, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, NTC Bainbridge, Maryland: Tad; Cen. Shoemaker, California. After his training, he served aboard the USS Argonne, USS APL27, USS Lexington and USS Shangri-La, where he sometimes spent as long as three months at a time at sea.

In 1946, James was baptized with the Holy Ghost in Youngstown, Ohio, under the pastorate of the late Bishop Raymond L. Robinson. James and Evelyn Hanesworth were united in marriage on June 18, 1948, and to this union was born five children. In 1947 James was called to to the ministry. He has had a long and stories career. Beginning with serving as a lay minister, Bishop Tyson moved through the ranks as an assistant pastor under Bishop Robinson, and has pastored five assemblies including his present charge. Bishop was also chosen to serve the PAW as diocesan of the Oklahoma State Council, the Iowa/Nebraska State Council, the Montana and Dakotas Council, and is currently serving as diocesan of the fourth Episcopal District. In 1998 Bishop Tyson was elected as the Assistant Presiding Bishop of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World. He is renowned as a dynamic preacher, teacher, scholar, great builder, visionary, and lover of mankind. James E. Tyson was inducted into the Apostolic ministerial hall of Fame in 2007. Audio and Video recordings of James E. Tyson are available in the audio/video library of the Apostolic Archives International.

Samuel Nathan Hancock

Pentecostal Churches of the Apostolic faith

1883~1963

Samuel Nathan Hancock was born November 9, 1883 in Adair County, Kentucky. His parents were John Wyatt Hancock and Lottie Winston Wheat. To this union was born six children. The Hancock family was happy but poverty stricken. In 1888 John moved his family from Kentucky to the small town of Norwood, Indiana to seek better working conditions. It was not long after the move to Indiana that Sam's father left the family home.

Because of the broken home, at the tender age of 13, Sam was compelled to drop out of school in the 7th grade and go to work with the railroad in order to help his mother support the family. Sam alway's credited his mother, rather than his father with being the source from which he built his Christian life. In 1900 at the age of 17, Sam yeilded his heart to God while attending Penick Chapel, an interdenominational church.

Being a musically inclined person, Sam found himself neing drawn to the music world. He joined a band in which he played the trombone. In 1908, he married Bertha Valentine, and to this marriage two children were born; a son, Norlen, and a daughter, Geraldine. In 1913, before either child reached their 19th birthday, their mother passed away. Three years later Sam married Anna Wilks.

In the meantime, Sam's mother and sister were filled with the Holy Ghost under the leadership of G.T. Haywood. Having the zeal for God and while striving to seek God's favor, Sam also begn attending the Apostolic Faith Assembly pastored by elder Haywood. After hearing the Word of God concerning the Apostolic faith, Sam was baptized in Jesus' name, and subsequently was filled with the Holy Ghost on September 5, 1914. His wife Anna was saved a short time later.

Two years after his conversion, Sam was called into the ministry. Anna proved to be a faithful and helpful companion to him in this new endeavor. Elder Hancock preached on the streets of Indianapolis, Indiana for several years. In 1917 , he became the assistant pastor to Elder G.T. Haywood. He was ordained  in the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, and for a period of time served as district elder over the state of Indiana while residing in Indianapolis.

In 1921, Elder Hancock became the pastor over a small group pf people in Detroit, Michigam. As a result of his consecration the church began to grow, and by 1929 the membership had grown to well over two thousand. The move from Christ Temple in Indianapolis to Detroit would mark the beginning of one of the worlds greatest ministries. In 1927 Elder Hancock was elevated to the bishopric in the PAW.

In 1957, the Pentecostal Churches of the Apostolic Faith was established by a group of men who pronounced Elder S.N. Hancock as their Presiding Bishop. After Anna passed away, Bishop Hancock married Bishop Haywood's widow, Sister Ida Haywood. After a short illness Bishop Hancock passed away on Sunday, August 18, 1963. Bishop Samuel Nathan Hancock was inducted into the Apostolic Ministerial Hall of Fame in 2007. Audio recordings of Samuel N. Hancock are available in the audio library of the Apostolic Archives International.