Our journey began in 1979 with a group of about ten people, which consisted only of Reverend Godbolt’s immediate family. The Lord gave Reverend John Godbolt the vision of becoming a pastor; of course it was not without opposition. Many said it was not the time for him to pastor, and that he should remain where he was, but God said otherwise.
The name chosen for the church was Praise Temple Church. The Godbolt’s home was the Sunday morning meeting place until a Seventh Day Adventist Church agreed to allow us to hold services in their building, beginning on the second Sunday in October of 1979. We also held services at the Sheraton Inn on Bragg Boulevard for approximately one year; Wednesday night Bible Study continued to be held in the home of the Godbolts. Later, a building in downtown Fayetteville on Hay Street was found for us to have church. Staying there for about a year, we experienced some good times, but also some very challenging ones.
The early 80′s served as a transition period for the church. Leaving Hay Street in order to have a place of our own, we purchased a small piece of property on North Street in hopes of building our own facility. We rented a small house and renovated it, holding services there until our building could be completed. The visitations from God were powerful and life changing. During this period, we learned that the property we had purchased was not suitable for building a church; therefore, we were able to sell the property back to the original owner and move to another location. We were given the nickname the “Tabernacle Church”, because we moved from place to place.
Pastor Godbolt then found a building on Russell Street that had once been a feed store and nightclub. We renovated it, sanctified it, and moved in. The Russell Street Praise Temple Church is where we were first introduced to the Crucified Way Message and the work of Rev. B.R.Hicks. This introduction proved to be life changing for our pastors and the members of the church.
We had great services in the Russell Street location and plenty of opportunities to crucify our flesh. It wasn’t long before we experienced our first breaking and entering, which occurred during a weeklong of services. We had special guests coming to visit us on that Friday night, but when we arrived at church that evening, we found the doors were partially opened and half of our musical equipment was gone. Somehow we pulled together and made the service a great learning experience rather than allowing it to become a time of defeat.
After staying on the Russell Street for about two years, Reverend Godbolt met a gentleman named Bishop Adams who owned a church that had been converted to a funeral home and chapel located in Parkton, NC. Bishop Adams offered to rent us the property with an option to buy. With our pastor being as progressive as he is, and wanting to own church property, we prayed, and God instructed us to move to Parkton. The pastor’s testimony is that God had to move him to that little country town to work on his pride. For nearly two and one-half years, God worked on all of us as we drove down those long, country roads to a church that had been a funeral home. Also during the stay in Parkton, Dr. and Mrs. Godbolt made the decision to join Christ Gospel Churches International, Inc. We found Rev. Hick’s ministry invigorating. The Word she preached was a new level of Daw-bawr Word and we experienced Christian growth and spiritual understandings like never before. Our name changed from Praise Temple to Christ Gospel Church in 1983. God has tremendously blessed us since that transition while following the Lord’s Headship.
In 1983, Pastor heard about a church that was for sale in Fayetteville, located on North Plymouth Street. The Lord blessed us to purchase the property, so we moved back to Fayetteville that same year.
Although we finally had our own building, we were not without opposition. The church had what was called a seepage well. There were times when the water table was so low that we did not have fresh water to flush the toilets. We had to haul water on the back of a truck in a large Pepsi container to flush the toilets. We experienced great challenges with the odors from the bathrooms and from the old building. Even more challenges came during the winter months. On many Sunday mornings, Pastor Godbolt and Brother Dennis Williams would go under the church, attempting to relight the furnace. They would later tell us how humbling it was to be under the church trying to start a fire, while the members were in church shouting like they were on fire.
North Plymouth Street had its burglars too! Pastor’s bass guitar was stolen, his daughter’s tape player was taken out of her car, gas was siphoned out of vehicles while we had church, and the fifty-foot chain purchased to keep Friday and Saturday night lovers out of our parking lot was stolen.
Although we loved and appreciated our church, our Sunday School rooms, fellowship hall, office space, and other facilities were limited, and we recognized the need for a larger facility. After a few years we again sought the Lord’s headship for a new place. We remained at the Plymouth Street location from 1983-1995.
Finally, Pastor met a man named Pinky Jones. Mr. Jones was a trustee of a church on Person Street. He sought out Pastor Godbolt and informed him that his church was looking for a buyer — they were going to be selling and moving to a new location. God places people in our lives at the right time! The church was worth nearly $800,000.00, and seemed totally out of our reach, but God did a miraculous work, and on the fourth Sunday in May of 1995 we moved to our present location.
We have only just begun. We will not stop until the Lord returns. We still have a desire to go onward, upward, and forward in this ministry. Our vision now is to build a new sanctuary on these grounds and use the present sanctuary as a fellowship hall. Over the years God has wrought many miracles. Just as He has provided for us in our wildernesses, He will continue to make ways, make our bitter waters sweet, and lead us to the Promised Land!