Jonathan DesVerney Gospel Channel

— Jonathan DesVerney
When The Title Becomes The Idol:
Book Sold on Amazon

Chapter 4
When the Position Creates Competition

A title can create competition even when there is no money attached to it.
That fact says something important about human nature.
If a position paid a large salary, competition would be easy to understand. People compete for jobs every day. But church culture sometimes produces intense rivalry over positions that provide little or no financial benefit. What they provide instead is visibility, access, influence, and recognition.

For some people, that is enough.

A Pastor or Bishop can create a new committee, department, board, auxiliary, or office, give it an official name, and suddenly people who did not know the position existed can become deeply invested in who receives it.

Why?

Because the title changes social standing.

Now someone gets introduced. Someone sits closer to the front. Someone appears on the program. Someone is included in meetings. Someone can say, “I am the President of…” or “I am the chairperson of…”

The work may be difficult and unpaid, but the title feels valuable.
Competition itself is not always unhealthy. Wanting to lead can come from a sincere desire to serve. The problem begins when disappointment turns into bitterness.

One person is selected, and another person feels rejected. Instead of supporting the new leader, the disappointed person may begin to criticize them, question their qualifications, repeat rumors, gather allies, or quietly hope they fail.
At that point, the issue is no longer service.

It is identity and status.

I have seen people carry grudges for years because they were not chosen for a position. I have seen relationships change because one person received an appointment another person believed belonged to them. Sometimes the pain is real. The selection process may actually have been unfair. Politics may have played a role.
But even when the process was unfair, we still have a choice about what kind of person disappointment will make us.

A title should never have enough power to destroy your character.
If somebody else receives the position, you still have your gift. You still have your experience. You still have your integrity. You still have opportunities to serve.
There is a powerful freedom in realizing that no committee can vote on whether God gave you a gift.

Committees can decide who receives a particular office. Leaders can decide who appears on a particular program. Organizations can decide who carries a particular credential. But those decisions do not determine the total value of a person's life.
Sometimes not receiving a title reveals whether we wanted to serve or whether we wanted to be seen serving.

That can be a painful question.
It is also a necessary one.

When you can continue working after someone else receives the title, you prove that your purpose was bigger than the position.

5 days ago | [YT] | 48

Jonathan DesVerney Gospel Channel

This is Chapter 7 from my new book 📖 When the Title Becomes the Idol, available now on Amazon. Get your copy today!

Chapter 7
When Losing a Title Costs You the Church

One of the saddest things I have witnessed is people leaving the Church because they lost a position.

Sometimes the departure is immediate. A person is removed as Pastor, President, missionary, department leader, musician, officer, or committee chair, and suddenly they stop attending.

Sometimes the hurt lasts much longer.

Families can carry bitterness across generations. Children and grandchildren may grow up hearing about how a grandmother, grandfather, father, or mother was mistreated forty years earlier. Eventually the original dispute becomes part of family identity.

“They did our family wrong.”

That sentence can outlive everyone who was in the meeting where the decision was made.

Church hurt is real. Leaders can make unfair decisions. Politics can damage people. Some removals are handled badly. Some people are embarrassed publicly when the matter could have been handled privately. Some leaders protect favorites and mistreat others.

None of that should be minimized.

But we also have to ask whether an institution's mistake should be allowed to destroy a person's relationship with God.

A title can be taken away. A position can end. A credential can be revoked. A committee can vote differently than we hoped. A new leader can choose a different team.

Those things hurt.

But they do not erase every sermon you preached, every person you encouraged, every prayer you prayed, every lesson you taught, or every gift you developed.

Years ago, I once had a Pastor who had been removed from a leadership position ask me to take down his preaching videos because he was no longer connected to the church and denomination.

That request troubled me.

People had been blessed by those messages. Someone may have found hope because of a sermon he preached. Someone may have learned something that changed their life. Yet the usefulness of the ministry suddenly became tied to whether the minister still held a particular organizational position.

That raises a hard question: Was the calling attached to the title, or was the title supposed to serve the calling?

If a message was true before the removal, why should it become worthless afterward?

Of course, there are situations where content should be removed for serious reasons. But losing a title by itself does not automatically erase the value of everything a person ever did.

Our identity in God has to be bigger than organizational placement.

Otherwise, every leadership transition becomes a spiritual crisis.

Sometimes a season ends. Sometimes we are removed fairly. Sometimes unfairly. Sometimes we outgrow a role. Sometimes a door closes because another door needs to open.

The mature response is not pretending the pain does not exist.

The mature response is refusing to let the pain have the final word.

You can grieve a position and still keep your faith.

You can disagree with a decision and still keep your character.

You can lose a title and still keep your calling.

1 week ago | [YT] | 58

Jonathan DesVerney Gospel Channel

When Church Politics Silences the Gift: Is Censorship Killing Authenticity in the Church?
(Long post alert)

Whenever a large religious denomination or institution exists, politics will eventually become part of it. That is human nature. If you study Church history, you will find leaders who were not only powerful preachers but also skilled politicians who understood influence, relationships, image, and power.

Anyone with a major platform or high position has to walk a tightrope. The higher you rise, the more carefully people watch what you say and do. Sometimes that pressure causes leaders to stop being themselves and start protecting an image.

When God brought me back into the Church to give my assignment and blessed me with a platform, God told me that the people who would come against me would be people who preach his name. The first time I experienced that was when a very famous mega preacher sent me a cease-and-desist letter—not because I had attacked him or even shown him on my platform, but because he did not want himself or his ministry appearing on my platform. At the time, I did not understand it. Looking back, however, I understand his concern differently. He had spent years carefully building a public image, and if someone else controlled the platform, he could not completely control how he was presented. He was censoring his image, making it about how he looked to the World and not God's will for his ministry. Of course, his large Church empire crumbled, and he no longer has a platform.

That experience taught me something: where image becomes extremely important, politics and censorship are usually close behind.

I sometimes wonder whether we will ever see another Bishop Louis Henry Ford-type personality in the Church. Bishop Ford wasn't perfect, but he was authentically himself. Today, being “safe” often seems to be rewarded more than being original.
Now, I understand why the Church needs boundaries. A denomination cannot allow every extreme or hateful statement made by an individual preacher to represent millions of members. Leadership has a responsibility to protect the institution.

But my concern is this: when does protection become control?

Even when studying COGIC history, there are subjects people become uncomfortable discussing. There are complicated personalities, painful controversies, leadership struggles, and events involving figures such as Bishop J.D. Husband, Charles Mason Jr. (“Bob” Mason), Bishop O.T. Jones Sr., and many others. Yet those difficult chapters are still part of our history.

Loving the Church does not mean pretending the Church has never made mistakes.
Over the years, Bishops and other leaders have called me privately and spoken openly because they know their conversations are safe with me. You would be surprised how differently some leaders speak when the cameras are off, and they don't have to give the politically correct Church answer.

I appreciate those conversations because I love real Church talk—not just political Church talk.

My biggest concern is what happens when politics and censorship become more powerful than gifting.

I once spoke with an evangelist who was overwhelmed with joy after being invited to preach at the Women's Convention. It was an opportunity she never imagined receiving.

Then someone in leadership reportedly sent her a sermon and expected her to preach it essentially word for word.

Think about that. Her gift helped get her onto the platform, but once she arrived, she wasn't trusted to use the very gift that opened the door.

Again, I understand the need for accountability. You cannot simply hand everyone a microphone and let people say anything they want.

But order should never become spiritual suffocation.
Sometimes the safest people get the platforms.
Sometimes the same families receive the recognition.

Sometimes children of prominent leaders receive opportunities because of their last names, while incredibly gifted people without famous connections remain unnoticed.
The Church has always had powerful family dynasties, but there was also once room for somebody nobody knew.

If you could preach, somebody eventually heard you.
If you could sing, somebody heard you.
If you could play, somebody put you to work.

There was room for somebody to walk into a meeting unknown and leave with everybody asking: “Who was THAT?”

I fear we are losing that.

Today, we often see the same preachers, singers, musicians, and personalities circulating through the same platforms. Eventually everything starts sounding alike.

The preaching becomes predictable.
The singing becomes predictable.
The conferences become predictable.

Everybody starts copying everybody else because everybody is trying to fit into the same approved mold.

And eventually, we put God inside a box that we built ourselves.
Even testimony service has disappeared from many churches. Yes, testimony service could be unpredictable. Somebody might talk too long or say something completely unexpected.

But sometimes an ordinary person stood up and gave a testimony that changed the entire atmosphere of the church. That kind of spontaneity is becoming rare. The Church needs order, accountability, and wisdom. But it also needs originality.

Don't kill somebody's gift simply because you cannot control it. Not every critic is jealous, and not every disagreement is persecution. Sometimes correction is necessary. We should remain humble, teachable, and respectful of authority.
But sometimes systems become uncomfortable with people who carry something they cannot control.

So if God has given you a gift, remain humble and use wisdom—but don't allow politics and censorship to convince you that your gift has no value.

The Church needs leadership, but it also needs authenticity. It needs tradition, but it also needs room for God to do something we didn't plan. Because when everybody has to preach the same, sing the same, dress the same, and think the same just to receive an opportunity, we stop producing originals and start producing copies.

And the Church was never built by copies

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Jonathan DesVerney Gospel Channel

Order of Service tomorrow for Mom's Celebration of Life ❤️

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1 month ago | [YT] | 560

Jonathan DesVerney Gospel Channel

This is what a blessed retirement looks like on a Tuesday afternoon. ❤️

My Spritual Parents Presiding Bishop Emeritus Charles Edward Blake Sr. and Lady Mae enjoying time with their grandson, Lawrence "Champion" Blake Jr. What a reminder that after years of faithful service, God also blesses His servants with seasons of rest, family, and joy.

Please continue to keep them in your prayers as they continue to pray for and inspire so many.

The Legacy continues...

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Jonathan DesVerney Gospel Channel

ARE FAITH HEALERS PHONY?
By Dan Burley -

September 17, 1953


On a recent hot July night in Chicago, gold-toothed Dr. John E. Watley, pastor of the Houston, Texas, Holy Temple Refuge, was interrupted in the midst of a radio sermon by a woman who rushed into the revival tent carrying crutches under her arm.
"I'm cured! I'm cured!" she shouted. And with the audience echoing "amen," she told how she had been listening to Dr. Watley's "healing prayer" on her radio at home, and that the "spirit had moved" within her, making her put aside her crutches for the first time in years. She said she ran the 10 blocks from her home to the tent church to testify.

Like the Chicago woman, scored of persons all over the U.S. today claim miraculous cures at the hands of faith healers. Yet, although such healing has been performed since Biblical times, skeptics continue to raise the question: "Are faith healers phony?"

Actually, these critical observers find little argument to support their doubts of the age-old custom of faith healing and it's practitioners. For almost always the attendant publicity given to such cures as that of the Chicago woman more than overshadows any attempts to discredit such healers.

Among Negroes today, most faith healers are licensed ministers in the Church Of God In Christ sect, third-largest Negro denomination, which was started a half-century ago by rebellious ex-Baptist.

Famous in the movement is trumpet-playing, 42-year-old Elder Charles David Beck of Buffalo who, besides pastoring flourishing missions in Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit and Baltimore, broadcasts on Buffalo's ABC network station WKBW.

Beck gained considerable fame during the 1930s when the late USA Top General John J. Pershing was near death from a complication of diseases and had almost been given up as hopeless. Introducing himself as an "ambassador extraordinary plenipotentiary" (which he said meant "an ambassador from the Kingdom of our Lord, Jesus Christ"), Beck asked permission to pray for the ailing hero.

He prayed and the next morning Gen. Pershing came out of a nine- day coma. Two weeks later he went to Washington, was examined and pronounced in good health. Later Pershing went to Europe and lived eight years longer.

While many whites claim "cures" by Negro "healers," white practitioners have also emerged in recent years and found a following among both Negro and white. In Chicago, for example, Rev. William W. Freeman of Joplin, Mo,. regularly attracts huge crowds at the Coliseum when he conducts his "Freeman Healing Campaigns." Many come to him in wheelchairs, on crutches, or are led by children and seing eye" dogs.

So great is his following today that special police are detailed to handle the crowds at his meetings, and on one occasion he baptized over 500 Negroes in mass ceremonies in Lake Michigan. Perhaps the most widely-publicized instance of faith healing was that attributed to Detroit's Prophet Jones who was recently gifted with a $13,000 mink coat by two Chicago sisters who wanted to show their gratitude for his curing their 70-year-old mother of a goiter. They told newsmen that their mother had been healed by the "Prophet" after following his instructions to visit Gary, Indiana,. and drink water from a fountain at a bus terminal he designated.

Occasionally, a touch of the bizarre is introduced into rites conducted by some faith healers. In Birmingham Alabama., for example, Elder Dwight (Gatemouth) Moore, an ex-blues singer, climbed into a casket as a human "corpse" on one occasion to symbolize the "burying of sin" and attracted an audience that paid $1 a head to get in.

Similarly, in Little Rock, Ark., Rev. T. M. Chambers once conducted an Easter Sunday service with a kennel of howling dogs in the pulpit. These, he said, were symbolic of the dogs that licked the wounds of Lazarus. On another occasion, he applied for but was refused permission to "walk" the Arkansas River.

Whether or not faith healers are endowed with special powers, remains a moot question, defying a satisfactory explanation. But Chicago's COGIC Elder Utah Smith sums it up this wise: "There ain't no mystery about how I heal the people. I just give them the medicine of God and they walk, see and talk and then they go on about their business."

Buffalo, New York's COGIC Elder Charles Beck, prefaces his radio broadcasts with this statement: "I myself, make no personal claims to bless or heal. I am only an intercessor through prayer. God works out the problem.

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4 months ago | [YT] | 39

Jonathan DesVerney Gospel Channel

The Early Days Of The Church Of God In Christ -

When Bishop Mason returned from the Great State of California after the Azusa revival, he immediately began to preach the concept of speaking in tongues as a New Testament doctrine with such boldness that people from other denominations began to attend his services.

Mason's increasing numbers meant the loss of members in other established denominations and, as a result, opposition soon surfaced. Outraged progressives alleged that Mason fell prey to the heretical doctrine of speaking in tongues because of his lack of theological education.

African Methodist Episcopal Bishop Daniel Payne registered his disdain for the so-called commotion occurring in these religious services when he remembered that he once "requested a pastor stop his congregants from dancing," and informed the pastor, "to sit down and sing rationally," because the way in which they worshiped "was heathenish and disgraceful to themselves and the race."

Opposition grew so great that Mason began receiving death threats, but he stood bolder and firmer, proclaiming, "If you fight this truth, you will die" because he believed he stood for God and His word. In an attempt to escape the constant harassment, his Lexington congregation began worshiping in a "brush harbor" in the woods.

Finding a suitable place in the forest, members cleared an area of brush, tied poles to small trees, and laid branches and weeds atop the makeshift structure to form a roof. They brought planks to be used for seats or placed sawdust on the ground; nevertheless, as church services began, the loud singing made finding Mason and his congregation easy for his opponents.

Congregants became victims of adversaries who threw rotten eggs and who, on occasion, fired gunshots into worship meetings. Even under such conditions, Mason remained undeterred, and while leading his Lexington congregation, he expanded his ministry into Memphis, where residents also viewed the concept of speaking in tongues with the same disdain and suspicion.

Adept at addressing the needs of the poor, Mason conducted his first revivals in Memphis on street corners and later in a tent referred to as his tabernacle. As word of the tent services spread throughout Memphis, the number of attendees grew to well over a hundred within two years. The enlarged membership forced the congregants to purchase a lot at 392 Wellington Street, where his male followers built a wooden structure and named it Saints Home Church of God In Christ.
The Wellington Street congregation flourished as the city's black population continued to provide a steady flow of converts whose testimonies attested to the benefits of membership in the denomination.

By late 1907, however, trouble loomed on the horizon as local newspapers reported that Mason began holding all-night meetings that often ran into the early morning.
The Memphis racist Commercial Appeal published an article titled
"Fanatical Worship of Negroes going on in the Holiness Churches."
that played up stereotypes held by whites about black religious beliefs. The article read:

Some time ago, Rev. Mason had a "visitation of the Holy Spirit" and began to speak the language used by the Spirit. Then the test was applied to the congregation. If the members of his church could not speak and understand such language, they were not sanctified and could not be saved. This gave rise to one of the most remarkable religious fervors that has ever struck even the Negro church.

The pastor pretended to speak the language of the Spirit, and the wise ones of the congregation got onto his curves and began using a strange, idiotic jargon, which was equally meaningless to them and the preacher. As a matter of self-defense, both the minister and the "wise ones" of his congregation pretended to understand each other, and the result was the language of the Spirit, which all "understand" and which is"meaningless" to all.

The minister would exclaim, "Hicks, hicks!" and the congregation would answer back, "Sycamore, sycamore, sycamore!" and such insignificant words, which lifted the congregation to the highest point of ecstasy, showing what has been contended for years, that the Negro's religion is sound instead of sense.

The negative press garnered resentment from the educated black populace of Memphis, as they remained aware that Mason's antics, no matter how foolish some perceived them, directly affected their standing in the city since whites often did not make distinctions when viewing the black population, rather choosing to see them as monolithic.

Therefore, it can be argued that educated black people felt Mason's services threatened progressives' efforts to gain equality in the eyes of whites as they stressed proper dress, respectable behavior, and a refined liturgy.

George Cashwell, a member of Mason's Wellington Street church, authored a letter to the Apostolic Faith, which further revealed the resentment many black Memphians held toward Mason's worship services. Cashwell recalled that he had never been "met with such power of the devil [as in Memphis]."

In the letter, he recounted the story of a man who came to Mason's church during a worship service. So enraged by what he witnessed, the man tried to drag his wife out of the church. The author revealed, "The Glory to God overpowered the man when his wife began to speak in tongues.

"Cashwell concluded that the man was so touched he became a regular attendee of the services. While the testimonial provides valuable insight about Mason's services, it also raises questions about gender. Due to the charismatic nature of Pentecostalism, women became active participants in church services.

Accounts reveal that during Mason's services, both males and females often lay together at the altar in search of the Holy Spirit. So the husband's anger could have been generated by his wife's lying with male members, which, at the time, would have been deemed improper in all other public spaces.

However, the overall use of the altar by women reveals the transformative nature of COGIC, as both pulpits and altars were viewed as sacred and holy places, yet only men occupied them. The fact that Mason allowed women to access the altar in the very same manner as men reveals that COGIC was ahead of its Baptist and Methodist counterparts in how it viewed women's roles in religious services.
Viewed as progressive acts by today's standards, most within the black community would have condemned the actions as scandalous and improper, which further demonized COGIC.

Credit to -
Historian Calvin White Jr.
The Rise to Respectability: Race, Religion, and the Church Of God In Christ

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Jonathan DesVerney Gospel Channel

Bishop C.H. Mason Preaching at the COGIC Holy Convocation in Year 1926

Short dress pride, low necked pride, men proud over their success over others, lawyers proud over their arguments in sentencing someone for gain, judges proud over their power to send men into custody, men and women proud of their fine homes and automobiles, women proud of their fine homes and automobiles, women proud of their powers of attraction that bewitches a man turning his from his home, his wife and his children; man proud in his wickedness in taking to himself another man's wife, and bringing shame and disgrace to himself and to others; the rich man proud of his ascendency over the poor, having gathered his gain by fraud and keeping back the hire from the poor. National pride brings forth wars and pollutes the land, causing blood to touch blood; all of the characters God will work within storms, earthquakes, and great noise, and with flames of devouring fire.

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Jonathan DesVerney Gospel Channel

I am sad about this loss, this is a tough one... But I am praying for my Spiritual Father and Mother, Bishop and Lady Mae Blake, along with Lawrence Blake's wife, Jeanine Blake, and the entire Blake family. 🙏

Below is the statement given to me to post

The Blake family announces with deep sorrow the passing of our beloved Lawrence Champion Blake, who transitioned on January 27, 2026, after a courageous battle with cancer. He was 54 years old.
Lawrence was a devoted husband, loving father and grandfather, faithful son, and a shepherd after God’s own heart. As senior pastor of Palm Lane Church of God in Christ, he served with humility, compassion, and an unshakable commitment to redemption. Though he endured a season of physical challenge, he faced it with courage and conviction. We believe he transitioned from labor to reward having never yielded to doubt, defeat, or despair, but instead having fought the good fight, finished his course, and kept the faith. His legacy will continue to speak through those he loved and served.
The family invites the public to join us in celebrating Lawrence’s life and ministry at his Homegoing Celebration, to be held on Wednesday, February 11, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. at West Angeles Cathedral, located at 3600 Crenshaw Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90016. A public viewing will take place from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. prior to the service.
During this time of profound loss, the family respectfully requests privacy as we grieve, reflect, and honor Lawrence’s life together.
We are deeply grateful for the prayers, love, and support extended to our family and to the Palm Lane and West Angeles church communities during this difficult time.
— The Blake Family

7 months ago | [YT] | 708

Jonathan DesVerney Gospel Channel

I am proud to announce that the Jonathan DesVerney Gospel Channel has partnered up with COGIC Videos!

COGIC Videos is currently owned by the Green family.

The Late, Great General Board member Bishop Samuel Green Jr. is 100 percent responsible and owned all COGIC National video recordings before Presiding Bishop Emeritus Charles. E. Blake Sr. took office in 2007. After Bishop Blake took office, the Church of God in Christ took over filming the Holy Convocation, and later on in the years, all the other National Conventions as well.

All COGIC National Services from the 1970s to 2008 are owned by the Green family. It is because of Bishop Green's vision and money that we have video footage of all our Holy Convocations and National Conventions from the 1970s and up.

The Jonathan DesVerney Gospel Channel is thrilled to partner with COGIC Videos to help promote and remember our COGIC Past!

God Bless the memory of the Late Great Bishop Samuel L. Green Jr.

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