Rev. Clarence Gorman was born near Mt. Sterling, Illinois in May 1909, and was the third child in a family of seven children. In 1942, God placed a call on his life to preach the gospel.  The first service was on March 14, 1942, located in a small part of town called "Little Italy".  With only seven people in attendance, the Wood River church was born.  

 

​The Holy Spirit swept through those early meetings bringing a hunger to the community.  In 1944, as more people began to attend,  the church had to move from the little mission house to a larger building often called the "chicken house" because it was a building used to keep chickens.  A few years later, they started a building fund, bought some property and began building a new building of their own.  Unfortunately, being unskilled laborers themselves, the walls were crooked and the roof had a sway in it; thus earning the name the "sway-back church".  Not too many years after that, another building was built, which became our place of worship for more than forty years.​​  Rev. Clarence Gorman served as pastor until his death on May 30, 1975.

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Rev. Alfred Daves was born on July 27, 1937.  He is one of 13 children born to Joe and Pearl Daves in Wayne County Missouri. His family moved to Illinois in the mid-1940's and were invited to the "chicken house" where a group of people were gathering for church services in Wood River, Illinois.  In 1948, his mother was invited to go with some of the sisters in the church to a Camp Meeting in Shepherdsville, Kentucky.  When she returned home, she told her husband and family of how the Lord had opened her eyes to the body of Christ. 

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In 1955, Rev. Alfred Daves was called into the Ministry. He became the new pastor of the Wood River assembly after the death of Rev. Gorman in 1975.  In July 1986, the Wood River church moved to Godfrey, Illinois, which is we are are located present day.  

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Since being called into the ministry in 1955, Brother Daves has served as our Pastor for over 47 years. In July of 2022, we commemorated his ministry and announced his retirement; and formally recognized the ministry of his son, Brother Jason Daves, as our new Pastor.  

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Brother Jason, with his wife, Janet, have eight children, Caleb (Jessica), Josiah (Rebecca), Esther, Seth, Elizabeth, Naomi, Pearl and Ezra.