Community members, City of Memphis officials, Church of God in Christ (COGIC) clergy leaders and other community leaders gathered earlier this week for another historic moment at Mason Temple. Congressman Steve Cohen and his office organized the meeting to announce the $1.2 million federal grant for renovations to the temple.
Mason Temple was, of course, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his last, and arguably most powerful, speech before he was assassinated in Memphis. Unlike the meeting that evening in 1968, where Dr. King addressed black sanitation workers who were fighting for equal and fair treatment, this meeting was for a happy occasion.
“We have an iconic building, a landmark — there’s no facility like Mason Temple in the world,” said Bishop Brandon B. Porter, senior pastor of Greater Community Temple. “Somebody say amen!” Porter also serves as the jurisdictional prelate and a member of the general board for the national COGIC.
The church not only holds historical value, but cultural significance, as it was one of the first and largest Black-owned and operated churches in the United States. The church was built by Charles H. Mason, the late founder of the COGIC denomination.
The current presiding bishop of COGIC, Bishop J. Drew Sheard, said Mason Temple is a place where “faith has always met history, and where the ordinary has always produced the extraordinary.”
The church is also where the current COGIC headquarters is located, and is currently led by Pastor Gary Lee, who also was recently appointed to vice president of the COGIC International Youth Department.
The grant will be used to modernize and make upgrades to the church, which was built in 1940. It replaced the “Tabernacle,” which burned down in 1936. Mason Temple is a three-story building made of brick, steel, stone and concrete that originally held 5,000 in the main auditorium and 2,000 each in the assembly room and balcony.
“You can’t build another building that will give you the same feeling that was had right here in between these walls,” said Mayor Paul Young, as he addressed the historical prowess of Mason Temple. “You can’t hear anything about Civil Rights without hearing some of the words that echoed throughout this place.”
For 101 years, the National COGIC convention was held in Memphis before moving for the first time to St. Louis in 2010. It returned to Memphis from 2022 through 2025 and the renovations of Mason Temple will ensure some part of the convention will return to Memphis.
Bishop Keith Kershaw, chief operating officer for COGIC said the April Call Meeting, or the annual business meeting, will be in Memphis, among other national COGIC events.
The $1.2 million grant is part of a larger $18 million package Memphis is receiving. Another historic building, Clayborn Temple, which was set on fire last year, also will receive a $3 million restoration grant.
General Facts about COGIC:
- Founded in 1897 but reorganized in 1907 by Charles Harrison Mason in Memphis, TN
- It is the fourth largest protestant denomination in the United States.
- Beliefs: Holiness-Pentecostal; salvation through grace; sanctification and baptism of the Holy Spirit; the Holy Trinity — God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
- Currently has 6-8 million members globally.
- Bishop J. Drew Sheard has been presiding bishop since 2021 (serving with his wife, powerhouse gospel singer, Karen Clark-Sheard).
- Beloved Bishop G. E. Patterson served as the presiding bishop from 2000 to 2007
- Memphis hosted the COGIC International Holy Convocation for 100-plus years before it started moving locations.
- Mason Temple is the headquarters of the International COGIC.
