In February 1927, Bishop C. H. Mason appointed Elder L.C. Page as leader of the “Group of Evangelists” within the Church of God in Christ. By his own admission, Elder Page did not know the first thing to do, so he just preached the gospel. Bishop Mason later gave Elder Page a second charge in the fall of 1933. He instructed him to organize and supervise the National Evangelist Board. Not long after these instructions, Elder Page began having Evangelist Board meetings in different parts of the country. The first meeting was held in Memphis, Tennessee around 1937. The early conventions of the Evangelist Board were basically crusades led by Evangelist Page and a few other Evangelists from across the country. Those in attendance were few and the delegates stayed in private homes. The first year the convention was headquartered in a hotel was in 1969 in Dallas, Texas. This was the first convention following Elder D.L. Austin’s appointment as the first Convention Chairman in the Board’s history. Bishop Page was a noted soul-winner and these conventions reaped large numbers of converts who received the Baptism of the Holy Ghost.
In 1981, Bishop J.O. Patterson appointed Dr. Edward Lee Battles President of the Department of Evangelism. During his administration, Dr. Battles organized Regions to oversee evangelistic ministry in various regional areas across the country. He also instituted the Annual Prayer Breakfast, conducted Evangelistic Crusades across the country and developed the Church of God in Christ National Evangelist Registry. Dr. Battles served as president until his death in December of 1996.
In 1997, Bishop Chandler D. Owens appointed Evangelist Richard “Mr. Clean” White as President of the Department of Evangelism. Evangelist White continued to seek the Lord in prayer for direction in leading the department to a “Higher Level of Excellence”. He continued to build on the department through expansion of the Regional Administration into 10 geographical locations across the country. He appointed Regional Presidents to serve as Liaison’s to the Jurisdictional Presidents. Through his leadership and vision he emphasized the importance of “Deliverance, Development, and Demonstration”, which resulted in the new department theme… “It’s All About Souls!” Evangelist White stood on the premise that after a soul has received deliverance through salvation, he or she must be taught and trained for spiritual development to become a strong and mature believer.
In 1951, Dr. Reatha Herndon was appointed as Elect Lady of the Evangelist Department. She served faithfully for many years with Bishop Page, Dr. Battles, and Evangelist White. In January 2001, she was emeritized and Evangelist Maria Gardner was appointed International Elect Lady by Presiding Bishop Gilbert E. Patterson.
Bishop Patterson also re-appointed Evangelist Richard White as International President. Evangelist White served until his elevation to the Office of Jurisdictional Bishop in 2004. Elder Dennis L. Martin, Sr. was appointed as International President of the Evangelist Department in 2005.
In 2009, Our visionary leader, Presiding Bishop Charles E. Blake, Sr. appointed Pastor Willie James Campbell to the office of President of the International Department of Evangelism and Evangelist Rita Womack as International Elect Lady.
