Bishop Charles Manuel (Sweet Daddy) Grace, who immigrated to the United States from Cape Verde off the coast of West Africa, established Savannah’s first House of Prayer on W. 31st Street in 1926 (seven years after building the first House of Prayer in West Wareham, Massachusetts), which promoted emotional worship fueled by marathon preaching and spirited brass bands and often resulted in faith healing. As with evangelical faith in general, this less-restricted religious setting had broad appeal. Grace’s visits through the eastern United States from the 1920s to the 1950s always involved long processions, massive tent revivals, and hundreds of baptisms. The 1964 building credits Bishop W. McCollough as Grace’s successor and the church’s builder. Bishop S. C. Madison renovated and expanded the building to its present form in 1995. This is one of several houses of prayer in Savannah with an overall colorful and creative as well as professional and up-to-date appearance, and features multiple crosses adorning the walls as well as tricross supports acting as columns for the porch. Seated lions flanking the entrance and winged golden angels with upturned hands standing on the roofline further ornament the church.
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The United House of Prayer For All People of the Church on the Rock of the Apostolic Faith
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