GTOMI Brief Church History


CELEBRATING 31 YEARS OF MINISTRY

Thirty one (31) years ago, the late founder Bishop Clarence Lassiter and his wife, Co Founder & current Senior Pastor of GTOM, stepped out on Faith and began a full time work in ministry. At that time, they were both still employed in the secular world, while raising up and building the temple of God, now affectionately known as GTOM or Gospel Tabernacle Outreach Ministries Inc.


Bishiop Lassiter and Pastor Marilyn were the perfect complement of gifts that God sent to oversee the body of Christ at GTOM. Bishop handled the leadership, administration, and finance areas, while Pastor Marilyn handled the training and development around the preaching and teaching of the word of God. They both used their gifts of wisdom and knowledge to counsel and provide spiritual guidance to any member in need. God sent in committed laborers to work closely with Bishop and Pastor Marilyn to ensure that all sections of the ministry had close oversight, training, and supervision.


After GTOM membership began to develop, our numbers grew from approximately 25-50 members to 75 active members. During this growth spurt, Bishop negotiated the purchase of our current building at 145 Oakland Avenue in Providence over a period of about four (4) years. The Lord gave us favor with the owner of this building. Mr. Brown, the owner, would only sell to GTOM because we took such great care of his property during the time we were leasing it. He did not want to negotiate with any of the other tenants who were also vying for the bid to purchase this that is considered an historic landmark in RI. After much prayer and negotiation Bishop was able to purchase the building for less then a quarter of its worth, with everything inside the building – chairs, pews, tables, desk, furniture.


In February of 2004, after the passing of her late husband, who was the founder of GTOM, God called Pastor Marilyn into the ministry full-time as the Senior Pastor. Pastor Lassiter continues to build on the vision that the Lord had given to her late husband. As we press forward and look back to 30 years ago to understand where God has brought us from please take a moment to review the Vision Statement. These are the words that Bishop Lassiter and Pastor Marilyn wrote back then, which still stand ever so mighty and powerful today for our membership at GTOM. To this end our Senior Pastor and Associate Pastor are continuing the vision of building a strong body of believers. We invite you to come out on Sunday’s at 10:30am to fellowship witness the many blessing that God has given us.

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