Church founder celebrated in his Nazareth

901-333-2019

Mississippi erected a historical marker outside the Holmes County Courthouse in Lexington in honor of the Memphis-based Church of God in Christ, founded in Lexington in 1897 by Charles H. Mason.

The Pentecostal Heritage Connection, led by Mary Patterson of Memphis, initiated the effort for the marker. Patterson is the widow of former Presiding Bishop J.O. Patterson.

“If Memphis is the Church of God in Christ’s Jerusalem, then Lexington is its Nazareth,” Mrs. Patterson told the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center in discussing the marker.

The church’s roots in Lexington run deep. Mason founded COGIC in Lexington after being shunned by the African-American Baptist community in Jackson because of his teachings. He preached from the steps of the courthouse before eventually establishing St. Paul Church of God in Christ, which became known as the denomination’s mother church.

Mason was arrested in Lexington for allegedly preaching against World War I, and the jail cell where he was held is open to the public and draws hundreds of visitors a year.

Jim Woodrick, director of the historic preservation division of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, said the marker will join more than 1,000 other markers approved by the department since 1949 honoring a variety of locations.