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COURSE I – “Parts I & II: Historical Tenets of the National Adjutancy”
Overseer Antonio Buckley
The Historical Snapshots of the National Adjutant Corp
Historically, the Presiding Bishop has charged the National Adjutancy Corp with the sacred task
of standardizing the fundamentals of our ceremonial, liturgical and protocol traditions. The
Presiding Bishop Joseph Oglethorpe Patterson as the Church continued to expand
organizationally and as he developed its ceremonial pomp and circumstance, had a strong need
for men and women that would serve, set up and assist in these ceremonies to fulfill the worship
of its organizational denomination - the Church of God in Christ. This ministry as we know today
is called the National Adjutancy Corp. The National Adjutancy Corp was developed and did
evolve in the home of, then, Military Officer Air Force Colonel Jesse Delano Ellis, as he assisted
as an Elder at Pentecostal Temple Institutional Church of God in Christ of Memphis,
Tennessee. Elder Ellis was given permission to gather men and women who would help in this
ministry. Therefore, the Elder Phillip Aquilla Brooks, of Detroit, Michigan, Elder Walter Emil
Bogan of Flint, Michigan, and Elder Roy Lawrence Hailey Winbush of Lafayette, Louisiana and
Elder Floyd Eugene Perry of Cleveland, Ohio were asked to work and serve on the newly
formed Adjutancy as active members of the Corp.
Their first act as a Corp was to assist the Presiding Bishop in the elevation service of, then,
Jurisdictional Secretary, Timothy Titus Scott of Clarksdale, Mississippi, to the office of
Jurisdictional Bishop in Northern Mississippi, after the death of Bishop B. S. Lyles in 1972.
Additional brethren were added: Elder Marcus Butler of Jackson, Mississippi and Elder Bufford
Terry of Cleveland, Ohio.
The Adjutancy Corp was established as the mechanism through which these essential traditions
could be preserved and enacted. The essence of this servant ministry in the Church of God in
Christ is long-standing. However, the Corp has been under formal organization and appointed
leadership since 1976, under the administration and direction of the first elected Presiding
Bishop - His Grace, the Honorable Bishop James Oglethorpe Patterson, Sr.
The first uniform that distinguished the Adjutancy Corp. was a black cassock trimmed in red
piping. This later was upgraded by Elder Ellis. During the Convocation of 1976, then, Elder P. A.
Brooks was appointed Chief Adjutant and Elder Ellis, to his disappointment, unknowingly was
giving position of Adjutant Apostolic; This was done in order that Elder Ellis could continue to
assist the Presiding Bishop in forming the ceremonial, liturgical, protocol and uniformity of the
denomination. Elder Jesse Ellis was considered very vocal and did not always agree on all
matters with the Presiding Bishop therefore Bishop Patterson kept Elder Ellis close.
Women were added to the Corp. The General Supervisor of the Women’s Department Mother
Mattie McGlothen of San Francisco, California, sent Mother Rebekah Gorham, of Hartford,
Connecticut, to represent the Women’s Department. Mother Emily Bram- Bibby of Brooklyn,
New York was sent because of her influence with Presiding Bishop Patterson. During the
Convocation, the altar was prepped and fell short of what was needed for proper protocol
decorum in preparation for the communion service. As a result, Elder Ellis approached the
Trustee Board for funds and were denied by, then, Elder Willie Lee Porter of Memphis,
Tennessee and Elder Roger Jones of Flint, Michigan. After exhausting all avenues Mother
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