The Church of God of Prophecy St. Thomas District is celebrating an­other significant milestone in the annals of our church's history in this Northeastern Caribbean region. This is an exciting period as we proudly yet humbly and thankfully celebrate our 90th Anniversary since the church was established in St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. Thanks be to God.

The Church of God of Prophecy is a vibrant organization in the community with a formidable past and glorious future. It traces its early beginnings on St. Thomas to January 1, 1926, at 2 a.m., when the first local church was organized personally by the first General Overseer, A.J. Tomlinson, with 16 charter members. Bro. Farnham served as Pastor at that time.

Services were conducted in a small building on Factory Street near Windward Passage Hotel. Like the early New Testament Church, this group of believers worked together with the same earnest mind and fervent spirit for the same great cause—the cause of Christ and the Church of God.

The group subsequently relocated to another building on Norre Gade near Roosevelt Park, where it functioned for a few years. With the blessings of the Almighty clearly evident, it was soon necessary for the congregation to seek a larger facility, and members secured a sec­tion of the Francois Building opposite Chase Manhattan Bank on the Waterfront. This area was popularly known as Fish Wharf.

Like everything else, the church experienced growing pains. It strug­gled against numerous pressures, varied opposition, and leadership problems. But if God is for us, who can be against us? Through his guidance, this faithful body of believers surmounted the obstacles, survived the persecutions, and showed steady growth.

Then came the memorable Sunday of February 18, 1945, when an en­ergetic young man named Moses Stephens joined the church. Brother Moses, who had earlier accepted Christ as his personal Savior with another religious group, testified that he had received a vision from the Lord confirming that the Church of God was indeed the church of the Bible. Later that year, he was appointed assistant pastor by then-Pastor-Overseer Bishop A.L. Brooks, and the following year at the Annual General Assembly in Cleveland, Tennessee, Bro. Stephens was named Overseer of the church in the Virgin Islands.

After several years of worshipping at Fish Wharf, an unforgettable rainstorm flooded the building during the annual convention of May 1960, which was in progress, propelling the members to initiate a major building program. Pastor Stephens and the Finance & Appropriations Committee spearheaded it. Negotiations led to the acquisition of land at #20 Gaml, and with the full cooperation of the members and community, the church building and parsonage were soon erected. By May 1961, exactly one year after the Fish Wharf flooding, the build­ing at Gamle Gade was completed and dedicated.

Other churches had been organized in the British Virgin Islands at Long Look, Hunturns Ghut, Jost Van Dyke, and Anegada. Then came Christiansted, St. Croix, in 1958. Additional churches were organized in the B.V.I. and then Frederiksted, St. Croix, as well as at #262 Hos­pital Ground on November 28, 1974, and at C5 Hoffman on August 26, 1980, in St. Thomas.