Welcome

The Christ Holy Sanctified Church was first established in Keatchie, Louisiana in 1910 under the lordship of Jesus Christ, as given to His servants, the late Bishop Judge and Sarah King. Sometime after World War I (c. 1918), Bishop Judge King and his family moved to Los Angeles, California, in search of a better life for his family because of racial prejudice in the South. Traveling from city-to-city, along the way, they preached in open fields and underneath brush-arbors while planting spiritual seed for a future harvest.

Bishop King's popularity and powerful message of holiness and sanctification grew and had spread rapidly throughout California. Not long after making his way to the Bay Area, and finding a new home in San Francisco, it was in 1925 however, that he heard the voice of the Lord instructing him to "move out," and sent him to establish a mission church, across the bay, in West Oakland.

The first Christ Holy Sanctified Church in Oakland was located in a two-story house on Seventh Street. Seventh Street was culturally rich, diverse, and had a colorful social nightlife. During the post-war years, nearly a half-mile area along Seventh Street was known as "hell's half acre." It was called this because of seedy nightclubs, prostitution, derelicts, street alcoholics, and sometimes open street violence. It was one of the Bay Area's well-known nightlife attractions. People from all over the Bay Area—black and white—and visitors from other parts of the country and world would frequent many of the popular nightclubs and bars. Many great jazz musicians and blues singers are said to have made their beginning on Seventh Street in West Oakland. The Seventh Street Mission, as it was known, was located in the center of this cultural Mecca.

Under the leadership and direction of the Holy Spirit, Bishop Judge and Sarah King preached and led hundreds of souls to Christ. They preached on street corners, in front of bars, and invited people into their homes. Pimps, prostitutes, and drunken sailors all heard and believed the gospel of Jesus Christ. Miracles, signs, and wonders followed their ministry, and the church grew rapidly into one of the great centers of evangelism in the classical Pentecostal tradition in the Bay Area. Popular revivalist and evangelist throughout the country came to conduct revival services at the church. The congregation later moved to a larger building at 1711-7th Street.

Bishop Judge King died in 1945, leaving the church in the hands of his son and able assistant, Bishop Ulysses S. King, Sr. Bishop King was a progressive thinker, spiritual leader, church administrator, organizer, and an anointed preacher and musician. He saw the church in a much larger context within the Christian community. He had great zeal and vision for the church. He believed the doctrine of holiness and sanctification could be taught in other communities of faiths without fear or prejudice. So, he became a member of the Center for Urban Black Studies in Berkeley, California, and later received an Honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the same institution. He was also a member of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, and other community organizations. His vision was to see the local church become a center of influence within the heart of the community.

However, in 1960, the U. S. Postal Service purchased several blocks of land and property on Seventh Street to build their new Main Post Office. The Seventh Street Mission had to find a new home. Bishop King, Mother M. K. Williams, and Deacon Tommy Thomas looked at several church buildings that were for sale throughout Oakland. After much prayer and discussion together, the Holy Spirit directed them to North Oakland. There they found and purchased a building from the Evangelical & Reformed Church, our present church home.

For over sixty years in the ministry, Bishop Ulysses King, preached and served the church, and the people of God, everywhere. He took the message of salvation to Lagos and Uyo, Nigeria West Africa in 1972. Later a church was established in Uyo, Nigeria, May 12, 1976. Bishop King traveled across the United States preaching wherever a door—denominational, non-denominational, and independent alike—was open to him.

On July 5, 1985, Bishop Ulysses S. King, Sr. was called home to be with the Lord. His vision for the church, thankfully, continues and lives on under the leadership of his youngest son, Ulysses Stephen King, Jr. (better known as Pastor Stephen King). Effective and transformative change followed. Because of the faithful leadership of our church Fathers, Memorial Tabernacle Church was established as the new name of the church. Under new leadership the church has emerged as an influential center of Christian outreach in our city, denomination, and Christian community at large. We give praise to God for where we have come and look forward to where He will lead us still.

For more information about the history of Christ Holy Sanctified Church, read Fountainhead: The Beginning (A History of Christ Holy Sanctified Church) a book written by Bishop Ulysses S. King, Sr., revised and edited by Ulysses S. King, Jr., Xulon Press, 2020.