Pastor Culver's Story
Moving to Columbus, Ohio in 1993, after graduating from Jackson State University, Pastor Culver fellowshipped at Meredith Temple under the late Hezekiah Meredith; then he became a member of the Greater Liberty Temple C.O.G.I.C. under the tutelage of Pastor Willie Cupe. In 1996 he revealed the Pastoral call upon his life and received the blessings of Pastor Cupe to go forth.
Resurrection Power Church was birthed into existence no March 17, 1996. The late Gloria Smith, her daughter, the late Venita Saunders, and Sherry Benson (Pastor’s sister) were the three adults that helped pastor to organize the church. The first service was held at Walnut Ridge High School, 4841 Livingston Avenue with seventeen in attendance and 500 dollars for collection. Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt Osborne and Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Halliburton were also present in the first service and has been with Resurrection Power since.
Later that year, in October, Pastor Culver married Regena Brown, who became his help meet. Truly she was sized up and cut out for this pastor and the people of Resurrection Power!! Nineteen ninety-six was truly a year of awesome beginnings and bountiful blessings for Pastor Culver and the Resurrection Power Church. Resurrection Power held service for 6 months in the school. Subsequently, Gloria Smith found a building which was a prior bank on Hamilton Road in Whitehall. Pastor and Gloria met with the owner, Bill Swad, and the deal was made for seven hundred dollars a month and after 6 months the rent would be eight hundred. The lease was signed in September and after the wedding in October, Resurrection Power moved into the small bank which held about 75 to 80 people.
It was in this bank where God came through and made daily and weekly deposits of His grace and favor. So many souls were saved and bodies were healed. Many came and withdrew countless blessings from His storehouse. As expected, the ministry outgrew this place and because of zoning issues the city declared that the building was not zoned for an assembly. At least twice the city came and tagged the building and prohibited service from being held. On one occasion the first department came through and interrupted service. As a result, Resurrection Power had to move worship outside in the parking lot for two consecutive Sundays. Like always, as a result of persecution the church grew and God favored the church through Bishop Seaborn. Bishop was of a different denomination and could have that as an excuse to overlook our crisis, but being the man that he was and is, he gave Resurrection Power full access to his church for two years.
During the span of these four years, Resurrection Power was tested and challenged and could easily have given up. There was no outside financial support from anyone. Pastor and his wife gave 20 percent of their income and received no remuneration or salary from the church. Others were giving faithfully as well, as a result of this, the church was able to have in its savings a little over $100,000 dollars. After two years (July 24, 2001) at God’s Grace Church with Bishop Seaborn, the Lord opened a door to purchase our own building. On July 27, 2001 Resurrection Power moved into a beautiful edifice in Whitehall with a seating capacity of 210.
It was here that the church started launching its international ministry in various countries and hosting 24 hour prayer conferences. The first service was held in May 2006, with delegates from Jamaica, Bahamas, Mexico, India and the U.S. In 2007 and 2008 delegates from the Philippines were added. The International Prayer Conference catapulted the ministry into missions and outreach across the seas, sending teams from our local church into India, Philippines and Thailand to work with orphanage centers, schools, and the prostitutes of Thailand. Today in India there’s a beautiful facility that Resurrection Power assisted to build which seats 500 people and accommodates 100 plus orphanages. Today in Gahanna, a suburb of Columbus, the Lord has blessed Resurrection Power with a 1.6 million dollar facility, coupled with a three hundred thousand dollar guess house adjacent to its 7.5 acres of land. Through tithes and offerings the Lord is fulfilling His word