About Us
Changing A Generation, the Full Gospel Baptist Church was birthed out of the legacy and rich history of Greater St. Stephen Missionary Baptist Church, which was organized on January 6, 1937 in a rented hall on South Liberty Street in New Orleans, LA
Rev. Morton was elected Pastor of the church on December 27, 1974. He took the ministry even further than his predecessors because of a dual anointing. Bishop Morton was a trailblazing visionary and under his leadership Greater St. Stephen experienced phenomenal growth and expansion on every level. He continued to heed the voice of God and kept growing and made many accomplishments.
Bishop Morton heeded the voice of God again and accepted the Office of Bishop and was consecrated on May 19, 1993 as the first Presiding Bishop of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International—“giving Baptists the Right to Choose.”
The birth of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship, International is in essence the story of a tremendous move of God beginning in the last decade of the 20th century. Since 1994, when over twenty-five thousand people attended the first Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship Conference in the Louisiana Superdome, the spiritual religious freedom that makes Full Gospel Baptist unique has impacted Christian men and women across the world.
The Lord made it clear that He intended to use Bishop Morton to bridge the gap between Baptist and Pentecostal traditions not simply on a local level, but nationwide. Just as the Lord planted the seed that would grow to become the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship within Bishop Morton, He orchestrated the Presiding Bishop’s connection with national and international leaders with the same heart and mind.
The Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship builds upon the traditional Baptist Church as its foundation. That Baptist heritage is embraced yet balanced with more charismatic influences. It is the desire of those who have been drawn to this movement to experience every Biblical command and inheritance promised in the Word of God. Full Gospel Baptist is one of the first Christian fellowships with such an inclusive nature. It encompasses the scope of the Pentecostal movement for its spirituality, the Baptist Church for its structure, and the Word Church for its emphasis on the Word of God.
The multi-cultural and multi-denominational Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship is structured with an Episcopal Hierarchy. The “Tiers of Leadership” include the Bishop’s Council, College of Bishops, General, State and District Overseers, Financial Assistance Council, and Senior Pastors. A truly international movement, hundreds of Full Gospel Baptist Churches exist in Africa, Asia, the Bahamas, Germany, India, Canada, Great Britain, Italy and of course North America. Each year the Annual Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship Conference ministers to nearly 30,000 people through its School of Ministry classes, spirit filled worship services and community outreach efforts. The Fellowship’s major initiatives since 1994 include: church planting in Africa and India; the dispensation of multiple $5000 grants to struggling churches; the development of the Full Gospel Baptist Sunday School Curriculum, which supports the Christian Education Ministry throughout the world.
Captured by the phrase “The Right to Choose”, that freedom is based on the belief that the Gospel of Jesus Christ must be promoted by recognizing the free expression of the gifts of the Spirit as a viable part of the Body of Christ. The Fellowship is convinced that the choice to exercise these spiritual gifts is imperative for the local New Testament Church to fully function as God has intended.