Arthur Nabors gladly accepted the fellowship into their unoccupied structure on Railroad Street. Consequently, store-front services began in Shellman, Georgia under the leading of Brother Daniel Bryant. During this time of fellowship, it was made very clear by the spirit that the Lord would have this truth established in Shellman. Having received this word from the Lord, we proceeded to investigat
e the possibility of building a place of worship. Bishop Noah, Mother Rebecca and Brother Daniel rode to Shellman to investigate possible sites that were for sale. It appeared at one point that there was absolutely no place available for erecting place of worship for God’s people. However, in His own time and in His own way, He permitted us to contact Mrs. Carrie Rivers who was interested in selling her approximately four acres of land along with the two houses and several pecan trees thereon. Shortly after making this contact with Mrs. Rivers, representatives from the Executive Council of our church were informed about this location and the opportunity to purchase the same. After several of them came to Shellman and investigated the situation, they determined almost immediately that this location would be quite ideal for the location of a place of worship. Hence, the clearance building was attacked. This task took several months. When the Lord spoke that the time had come to build in Shellman, Bishop Noah and others took building materials from the torn down Red, White and Blue building in Douglas to begin construction of the new church. As usual, Bishop Noah was the chief engineer of the project. Among his helpers were Brother Daniel, Jacob Jones, David Evans, Donald Fountain and Carl Bryant. Sisters included Marsha Hillman, Clemmie Cooper, Naomi Bryant, Elizabeth Jones, Ethel Byrd and Sally K. Brinson. Mid August 1975 marked the beginning of full-time labor on this temple. August and September were unusually hot months. They labored very faithfully in the 95-99 degree temperatures. The winter months were unusually cold this season but the work went on. The crew seemingly had a mind to work and nothing was kept from them that they imagined to do. The dedication services were held the third Sunday in March 1976. Mother Ethel Gaines and her two daughters, Sister Ethel Lee Byrd and Sally K. Brinson were the three beginning supporters of the work since they lived in Shellman and Cuthbert. Following the time of the dedication, the Lord had Evangelist Cooper to remain at the Shellman
church for a good number of months. There she conducted noon-day and weekly night services. It was at this time additional seeds were sown and the Lord continued to give the increase. The memories of those who have gone on and who supported the work at Shellman are:
Mother Ethel Gaines, Mother Charity Hart, Mother Sarah Rivers, Sally K. Brinson, Ethel L. Byrd, Mother Leola Johnson, Mother Dunwoody, Mother Lula Prince, Brother Daniel Bryant, Brother Carl Bryant, Brother Eddie Lewis, Brother Edward Johnson and Brother Conrad Rudd,
