The History and Spirit of the House of the Lord Churches
A very important piece of history was left out of the chapter on Mother Inez Conry, although it was recorded in Chapter 38. History was made when Mother Conry became the Bishop, the National Prelate of our churches. It was the first time that a female bishop succeeded a male bishop. At this point in history it may still be the case. Thus in 1952, long before there was any discussion even about a woman being a pastor. Bishop Daughtry far ahead of his time used his influence for this monumental development. So, Mother Inez Conry became Bishop Inez Conry. Let it be kept in mind we only have one bishop in our church and that bishop is the Chief Officer, the National Presiding Prelate over all of our churches.
Herbert Daniel Daughtry Years (1960-2019)
With the death of Mother Inez Conry, Reverend Dr. Herbert Daughtry, the fourth son of Bishop Daughtry became the National Presiding Prelate of the House of the Lord Churches. The Reverend did not come to the national office on flowery beds of ease. The eight years that he spent before assuming the office of the Bishop, were years of trials and tribulations, testing, loneliness, poverty, adversity and hard work, etc. Before proceeding with the 2024 Fulton Street pastoral experience we would like to include three very important insertions: (I) Mother Inez Conry (II) “Our Creed of the House of the Lord Church” (III) Progression of Ministry that should’ve been recorded in the chapters dealing with Bishop Daughtry. Here is the creed of our church:
Our Creed
We Believe in God the Father, Maker of all things, Who is no respecter of persons; and we believe in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, Who was uniquely anointed to manifest God and to redeem humanity.
We Believe that Jesus was essentially African in origin. While Abraham, the father, was located in Asia, after hundreds of years in Egypt, northern Africa — and Canaan — during which obvious assimilation of religion, philosophy, medicine, art, architecture, engineering, etc., occurred, what was passed on to Jesus was Africanness.
We Believe that in His redemptive work, Jesus, employing different methods, identified with and focused His ministry primarily toward the poor, sick, powerless, and rejected.
We Believe His Very Person and work (and also His servants in every age) produced an inevitable conflict with societal rules, Jesus’ redemptive work creates a new person, who in turn, constitutes a new society whose interests, values, mores, lifestyle, and ethics are/were often in direct conflict with systems and rulers of this world.
We Believe that God, the Father, and Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit, call, fill, and send human beings of every race, nationality, gender, class, and age to continue the ministry of Jesus Christ.
We Believe that Jesus will come again — as He promised. While it is not absolutely clear what this means, we believe that when Jesus returns, there will be a dramatic supernatural in-break into history; at that point a new heaven and a new earth will begin in which peace and righteousness will flourish.
We Believe that scientific discovery, space exploration, and political and economic revolutions are all part of the divine plan in which God, through Jesus Christ, is at work, moving all things toward His consummation.
As the Reverend Daughtry grew in his ministry, he began to identify certain times and issues which brought about the progression. In the preparation for the 50th year of his ministry and the 50th year of Jubilee he produced a document which spelled out the Progression. He wrote:
A word from the Reverend Dr. Herbert Daughtry Sr., (The People’s Pastor)
During my 50 years of ministry, God has inspired me to be multidimensional and ever expanding - presently there are seven dimensions- the number seven is the number of perfection- the prioritizing of or emphasis on which dimension at any given time depends upon God’s direction.
In the beginning of my ministry there were three dimensions:
I. Spirituality
Commitment to God through Jesus Christ and growing in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, teaching and practicing all the religious exercises which includes prayer, fasting, bible study, healing, etc. in an ever deepening relationship to God.
II. Afrocentricity
Studying and teaching the role of people of African Ancestry in Christianity in particular and in the world generally.
III. Human Rights and Self-Determination
Programs, activism, advocacy working with and for the human family to be all God intended, with a priority on the least in society.
1971, during a time of prayer and study in the Catskill Mountains, God revealed to me the importance of two more dimensions:
IV. Limitless Potential
Emphasizing the Biblical truth, we are wonderfully, fearfully made and we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
V. Prosperity
God wants us to prosper, but to prosper means more than having money. It means to be purposeful, productive, healthy and happy. Material goods can enhance not replace the above. Put God first and all things can be ours.
VI. Optimum Health
In 1984, I became a vegetarian vegan, consuming no animals or animal products. The quest for optimum health became an essential part of my ministry.
VII. Witness
Always my ministry encouraged the believers to testify to the world what great things God has done for them. We are saved to partner with God to save the human family. We are blessed to be a blessing. All that we do or say ought to lift up Jesus Christ as the Savior of the human family.
Of course all of the above is comprehended in Salvation- to be saved from alienation from God and saved to oneness with God, producing a life acceptable to God.
As time progressed I added three more dimensions to his ministry which may not have been expressed in explicit language - similar to witnessing, but they were always there. The fact that from the very beginning of my ministry I declared God had called me to convert the world to Jesus Christ.
Later when I resigned from the church and started the Herbert Daughtry Global Ministries, I felt led to express the vision in secular language - “Save the Planet, Save the People”.
VIII. Peace and War
June 12, 1982 we participated in the greatest gathering of peace activists and supporters before or since. Over one million people gathered in New York and conducted demonstrations in front of the United Nations and it concluded with a march to Central Park. I spoke at both locations. The issue was nuclear disarmament.
The Iraq War (1990-1991)
The first Iraq war, I was invited to give the invocation in the House of Representatives. I prayed that the war would end. When I arrived home later in the day I learned that President George H.W. Bush had ended the war. My Congressman Ed Towns who was responsible for inviting me to give the invocation recorded the prayer on a bronze plaque and called it, “The Prayer that ended the war”.
IX. Climate Change
As it became clearer that the climate had changed and was changing increasingly and more dramatically, I became more vocal and active in the climate change movement. We held rallies, workshops and seminars, etc. at the church.
X. Save the Planet, Save the People
During Covid-19 pandemic, March 2020 I coined the phrase and launched the Save the Planet, Save the People Movement. Covid-19 added a third menace to human survival. Now we had:
War with nuclear weapons
Climate change, which already wiped some islands off the map
Covid-19
At the time that it appeared on the scene and began to spread across the world like a purifier, it was a deep concern. How did it start and how to stop it? Will there be other strands that we have not seen or that had not yet put in an appearance?
If ever there was a time when the human family needed to unite. That time has come, while at the same time we must continue to fight for human rights, self-determination, environmental and economic justice, liberation and freedom.
To be continued…