Bishop Riley Felman Williams

1897-1952

Bishop Charles H. Mason, founder and organizer of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), commissioned this anointed servant of God to the State of Alabama as noted in Matthew 28:19: Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Bishop Riley Felman Williams was born in St Francisville, West Feliciana, Louisiana, on May 18, 1897. After his conversion to holiness in New Orleans, he left for Florida. After fellowshipping with brothers like Bishop Cohn and Bishop Nesbitt, the Lord led him to Thomasville, Georgia. In his memoirs, Bishop Williams states the following:

I heard the Macedonia call through Sister Matilda Berry of Troy, Alabama, saying, "There are two sisters over here contending for the faith; come over and help us.'' So, after receiving the sanction of Bishop Mason, I took over Alabama. I preached on the streets daily, and the Lord restricted my ration to ten cents per day, with which I purchased white potatoes. In the morning, we ate liver and white potatoes for breakfast and gravy and potatoes for supper. One day while sitting under a grocery shed, I saw the postman coming. If this postman leaves me a letter from Bishop Mason with some money, I will go to Alabama. Sure, enough, the postman stopped at my gate with a letter; I ran to the house and opened my letter. It was from Bishop Mason, who was in Los Angeles, California. It read as follows:

Dear Sir:

While praying this morning, your suffering came before me. So here is a little help of seven dollars. May the Lord bless you.

Bishop Williams left his wife with their three-month-old baby for Alabama. He met Sister Matilda Berry in Dothan, Alabama, and they board the train for Samson, AL. Upon arriving in Samson, he met J.M. Mainor, J.H. Thomas, A.L. Burke, the Smith brothers, L.H. Ford, and 44 others who had dissented from the Triumph Church. Under J.M. Mainor’s leadership, they were planning to organize an independent church. They met in a Methodist church in Samson where Bishop Williams preached from Luke 24:49 – “Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high”. This service lasted through midnight and the building overflowed to the outside, where individuals sat in trees and atop cars. Everyone was eager to hear the Gospel message. On Sunday, when this group of leaders met, they decided to join the Church of God in Christ under the leadership of Bishop Williams. The Church of God in Christ officially originated in the City of Samson, Geneva County, Alabama.

In 1920, Bishop Williams became Overseer, and he spent months in Alabama preaching on the streets, storefronts, and bush arbors. He pastored and built churches in High Bluff, Dothan, Abbeville, Capps, and East Birmingham. Under his leadership, by 1926, the Alabama Jurisdiction consisted of 19 churches.

He even lived briefly in Abbeville, teaching the Saints the way of holiness and the doctrine of sanctification as essential to humanity’s salvation. He had a significant impact in Alabama, encouraging the Saints to draw closer to God and live a life of holiness. He taught that sanctification was the only path to salvation and encouraged them to strive for holiness. In his memoir, he stated that the churches where he presided as pastor were East Birmingham and Abbeville. In East Birmingham, he purchased three lots and built a church and parsonage, and the church size was 40ft by 82ft. In Abbeville, the building size was 36ft by 55ft. Also, he organized and constructed a school in Abbeville for the saints’ children that he called Franklin Baldwin Institute of the Church of God in Christ on three acres. The state board of education furnished two teachers - Sister Eufaula Franklin and Sister Sally Baldwin. These two blood sisters were educators who left Birmingham, AL, with a serving spirit and longing to teach the Saints children in this rural community far away from city life. During this time, many African Americans did not have access to public education, especially in the rural parts of Alabama. The students in this school were grouped according to age and grade level. The enrollment consisted of 25 to 35 students. During the 1940s, a school building was constructed out of concrete blocks by Deacon Charles Vaughn, Brother Dot Peterman, and other carpenters in the church. This building consisted of five classrooms and an auditorium. When Bishop Mason commissioned Bishop Williams to build a temple in Memphis (later known as Mason Temple) in 1941, these same men met him in Memphis to construct this building, now a memorial landmark. The COGIC membership of Alabama played a pivotal role in establishing our national Church of God in Christ.

In this context, the question arises, how did a man from Louisiana come to these rural towns like Abbeville, in the lower part of the state to start churches? Undoubtedly, one of the answers is the working of the Holy Ghost since one story explains it this way: Bishop Williams was in Georgia and requested to purchase a train ticket to Alabama as far as he could go. At that time, that train last stop occurred in Abbeville. When he got off the train, he started walking and heard a group of ladies talking about a revival. This conversation gave him confidence that he was in the right place. Then, he continued walking toward the African American community, and a lady sitting on her porch saw this stranger walking into the community. This woman recognized the man from a dream and shouted to her family, "That is the man I saw in my dreams." When Bishop Williams reached her with the leading of the Holy Ghost, he placed his hand on her head, and she received the Holy Ghost and began speaking in tongues. From this convert, who was Missionary Minnie Lee Jones, COGIC became a reality in Abbeville. A similar story about Bishop Williams exists in every rural community like Abbeville.

Bishop Williams took on numerous roles in the COGIC. He served as overseer for the State of Georgia for 23 years and became overseer for Ohio in 1931. In addition, he was appointed Home and Foreign Mission Board President and Vice-President of the Education Board.

Bishop Williams attended both public and private schools in Louisiana. He also attended Selma University in Selma, Alabama, and Baptist College in Birmingham, Alabama. He completed his bachelor’s degree in theology at Cleveland Bible College. He took graduate Business Law and Philosophy courses at Western Reserve University and received his Doctor of Divinity Degree from Greater Payne University of Birmingham, Alabama. Bishop Williams credited his 33+ years of training under Bishop C.H. Mason as the most profitable for his ministry success. From 1920 until his death on March 18, 1952, at 54 years old, Bishop R.F. Williams served as the bishop of the Alabama Jurisdiction.