Lakeview Community Temple Church of God in Christ

Look where the Lord has brought us.

1. 1961The founding

   A lot on George Road

   On a Sunday evening in the early spring of 1961, Elder Harvey Jones and his wife, State Chair Lady Ella Mae Jones, came to look upon a vacant lot at 316 George Road that had long served as the neighborhood's softball field. By 1962 a building stood on that ground. The builder completed only the exterior; Elder Jones and the older children of Sister Ada Williams finished the rest themselves.

   Lakeview Revival Center Church of God in Christ was born, and it soon became known across the area for revivals that ran two weeks at a time, night after night, well past midnight. Among its founding members were Sister Ada Williams, the church's first pianist, and Mother Tennessee White, its first Church Mother.

2. 1965Elder Sherman Davis Jr.

   Lakeview Church of God in Christ

   Elder Sherman Davis Jr. became pastor in 1965, changing the congregation's name to Lakeview Church of God in Christ before his family relocated to Tacoma, Washington. During a period of transition in the early 1970s, Elder James McLemore and Elder Harold Davis Sr. assisted briefly with pastoral leadership at the church.

3. 1975–2017Bishop Jesse James Lipford

   Where there is plenty of good room

   In 1975, Elder Jesse James Lipford was installed as pastor, beginning a ministry at Lakeview that would span more than four decades — longer than the tenures of all who preceded him combined. He came with his wife, Missionary Merdine Lipford, who went home to be with the Lord in August of that same year. In 1976 he married Missionary Ernestine Royal Lipford, who served alongside him for the remainder of his pastorate.

   Under his leadership the congregation received the name it bears today: Lakeview Community Temple Church of God in Christ. He remodeled and enlarged the building at 316 George Road, but the work entrusted to the church soon outgrew that ground. Pastor Lipford testified that the Lord had told him there was yet work for him to do, and that it could no longer be done on George Road. The Lord then led him to 4999 Elvis Presley Boulevard, where the congregation worships to this day — a place, as the members are fond of saying, “where there is plenty of good room.”

   His teaching shaped a generation of members, and one saying in particular is still repeated at Lakeview: the Lord “was with us when we were wrong to get us right, and with us when we were right to help keep us right.”

   

   

   In November 2017, during the Holy Convocation of the Church of God in Christ, he was consecrated an Auxiliary Bishop, an occasion that marked the fullness of his ministry. One month later, in December 2017, Bishop Jesse James Lipford went home to be with the Lord.

4. 2018Pastor Jesse E. Lipford

   The question before the congregation

   On Sunday, January 28, 2018, Elder Jesse E. Lipford was ordained pastor, succeeding his father. On that evening he set before the congregation the question that has guided it since: “Do you want to go into the Promised Land, or do you want to stay in the wilderness?”

   Under Pastor Jesse E. Lipford's leadership, the gospel is preached with conviction, the word of God is taught with clarity and integrity, and the worship is executed with excellence and sincerity. As such, souls are saved, the people are edified, and most importantly, God is glorified.

   

5. TodayThanksgiving

   The congregation looks back and gives thanks for how far the Lord has brought it. He has given sound doctrine, wisdom, power, and love. He has kept and strengthened His people; He has healed, delivered, and set free; and above all, He has saved souls.

   Therefore the members of Lakeview Community Temple continue to declare: “Our church is a blessed church, and we are thankful.”