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OUR DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT

Superintendent Sam L. Townsend, Sr., D.D. 2nd Administrative Assistant to the Jurisdictional Prelate, is the founder and Senior Pastor of the Greater Glory Ministries, Inc. COGIC, an inner city ministry serving the inner city communities of Washington State.  He is a respected speaker and is active locally, in the state, and nationally.

 

Pastor Townsend, married to his wife Gwendolyn since 1970, is the father of fourteen children in addition to having been licensed as a permanency planning foster parent for almost twenty years.  Sam received his Associates of Arts Degree in Police Science in 1972 and his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Community Services in 1975, in order to better serve his community, the elderly and children/families.  Along with his leading work with the Greater Glory Ministries, he was the Agency Director for the GloryLand Infant, Child Care & Learning Center, is a member of the Bishop’s Executive Council, a member of the National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI), and a member of many other local, state and national boards and initiatives regarding the natural and spiritual welfare of children and families.  Superintendent Townsend was one of the founders in October 1988 of the One Church, One Child of Washington State, Inc. doing business as the UJIMA Community Services agency.  In July of 1999 the UJIMA agency became the first statewide African American licensed placement agency in the State of Washington which fully serviced the African American children, families and communities in Washington State.  After 26 years of service, OCOC/UJIMA joined with 3 other African American child welfare agencies to form the InterCultural Children and Family Services at which time Sam ended his tenure as OCOC/UJIMA Board President.

 

Pastor Townsend accepted Christ as his personal Savior on February 4, 1973 and six months later was called to the ministry. For the next eight years he served under the ministry of Supt. F.L. James at the Tolliver Temple, COGIC in Seattle. In 1979 he served as an interim pastor of a small congregation in the area and then on July 10, 1980 he was directed by the Lord to a small house on South Findlay Street where he founded the Greater Glory, Church of God in Christ in Seattle, Washington. The ministry later moved to the corner of Madison and Martin Luther King Way and then to its present location ½ block south of South Graham Street on Martin Luther King Jr. Way South. 

 

Beginning with a membership of 6 (Pastor Townsend and his wife, Brother and Sister Carty, sister Sharon Brown, and Sister Debbie Chelly), this ministry has grown with a strong membership which has produced a number of community-serving ministries housed in the South Seattle building with over 500 capacity sanctuary, two fellowship/meeting halls (one on each floor), 7 offices including executive offices, kitchen and dining facility, and Community/Outreach Center. 

 

In March of 2000 the Ministry expanded to the Tulalip Indian Reservation for a 2-year start-up ministry where Pastor Townsend was the only African American pastor to have a church building in the heart of this Indian reservation.   In January 2001 Bishop T.L. Westbrook, the Washington State Jurisdictional Prelate of the Church of God in Christ, appointed him District Superintendent over several churches in the ever-growing Old Landmark District.   In the Summer of 2014 Washington State COGIC Prelate positioned Superintendent Townsend as a Sr. Administrative Assistant.  As our Jurisdictional Administration changed, in 2021 our newly appointed Jurisdictional Prelate appointed our Superintendent as the 2nd Administrative Assistant in this Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction.

 

Superintendent Townsend is a man with a vision and in 2010, the Greater Glory, Church of God in Christ was incorporated with its own 501(c)3 non-profit status as the Greater Glory Ministries.

In 2019 our District Superintendent received his Doctorate Degree...Dr. Sam L. Townsend, Sr., D.D.

 

Superintendent Sam L. Townsend, Sr., D.D. continues his visionary thrust and heart for his community, for families, for the elderly and for children.  With a devotion to the Old Path, the District which he leads remains the Old Landmark District where "We Shall Not Be Moved!"

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