Our History

In 1987, Pastor Jim Lowe was called to pastor The Guiding Light Church. He agreed to pastor the church for six months while he sought God to see if this was really God's will for his life. With fifteen members, mostly family, Pastor Lowe began to teach God's Word. The first building was a very small church in the Woodlawn area of Birmingham, Alabama. It had about four pews on each side and a small choir area.

 

A short time later, after the church lost that meeting place, someone offered the use of the Dr. Pepper Warehouse for Sunday services. These services were held there for several weeks with no air conditioning. Garage doors on opposite ends of the warehouse were opened to allow the air to flow through. Besides having a place to worship, one of the advantages of the warehouse was that the congregational singing of a few sounded like a mass choir.

 

The members would visit neighborhood homes and invite people to church. They would often share home-cooked meals and promoted a family atmosphere. In these humble beginnings, the church grew to 75 members in a matter of weeks. The quick growth and blessings of God confirmed to Pastor Lowe that he was following God's will. Pastor Lowe understood that God had called this small group of believers to do an awesome work that would impact the world. As a result, The Guiding Light Church was incorporated in 1987.

 

Later, the meetings moved to a church building on Kimberly Avenue in East Lake. There the church overcame great challenges, as the TV ministry was started. The congregation grew to 300 members so The Guiding Light Church moved to its location on Roebuck Drive in 1995.

 

The previous challenges were now understood to be preparation for the job God was preparing the ministry to do. The TV Ministry expanded and the Internet Ministry began. The membership grew to more than 3,500. Again, the ministry moved in 2007 but this time to a large new facility on John Rogers Drive in Birmingham that was built to accommodate all of its ever-growing needs.

 

"Bishop" Lowe has witnessed the Mighty Hand of God prospering this ministry during its almost 20 years of existence and, through unity and faith, God will do exceedingly and abundantly more.