Our History

A mighty Pentecostal revival came to the St. Louis area and spread to Granite City in 1920. Bro. Carl O’Gwin was the pastor of the First Assembly of God in Granite City, where revival meetings were taking place. Hearts were set aglow as many people from surrounding communities came to the meetings and were saved. One such group of new converts came from Venice.

The new Pentecostal believers living in North Venice found it difficult to get transportation to the Granite City church. Most of them did not own a car and many of them could not afford to ride the street car several times a week to attend the revival meetings. The decision was made to conduct services in homes in North Venice.

The little group began to grow and soon a rented building was acquired for services. The first church building was called the old Rock Mission on Douglas Street. It had been a tavern and apartment house. While the worshippers were trying to have church service downstairs, dance parties were being held upstairs.

Soon the church felt the need of a new place of worship, so they bought a lot on Douglas Street and built a new tabernacle out of car shop lumber donated by American Car Company. This building would be called Assembly of God Tabernacle. It had a dirt floor, covered with sawdust, and no Sunday School rooms. Many souls found the Lord in a revival held in this building in 1922.

On January 18, 1923, the congregation was officially recognized as North Venice Assembly of God. In the next few years many evangelists preached at the Tabernacle and they soon outgrew the building.
A suitable location was found at the corner of Selb and Calhoun, however, the owner, Dr. Lee, declared he would “never sell to a bunch of holy rollers”. The people kept praying and later Dr. Lee agreed to sell. On March 18, 1935, a special business meeting was called. It was agreed to purchase the two lots at Selb & Calhoun from Dr. Lee and borrow money from Roy Graham of Eminence, MO and mortgage the old property on Douglas Street.

The corner of Selb and Calhoun was home to North Venice Assembly of God from 1936 to 1958.
In 1948, Bro. J. R. Randolph became pastor. The church saw tremendous growth under Bro. Randolph’s ministry. Easter Sunday attendance on April 1, 1956, was 485. Now, there was a need for a bigger building to worship in.

Several locations were considered for the new building, but finally it was decided to rent the old City Theater building on State Street in downtown Granite City. It needed some remodeling, some classrooms, and a lot of cleaning up to be ready for use as a church. A two week revival was held there in March 1958, and on June 1, 1958, the theater was purchased for the sum of $70,000.00. City Theater now belonged to North Venice Assembly of God. Since they were no longer in North Venice, but in Granite City, and the theater building was called City Theater, to save money, it was agreed the new name would now be City Temple to keep costs down when changing the name on the front sign.

The first service as City Temple was held on Sunday night, June 22, 1958. City Temple became a revival center which was the vision of Bro. Randolph. Many well known preachers and singing groups came to City Temple in the old theater building. A radio broadcast was also started from this church in 1961. Pastor Randolph was killed in an auto accident while traveling to General Council in 1963, and his son Allen followed him as pastor for the next 3 years.

In 1976 and 1977 a new building was erected on an eight acre building site on Maryville Road under the leadership of Pastor A. E. Cope. The first worship service on Maryville Road was new Years Eve, 1977. A huge educational building called the Family Life Center was added in 1994 and includes a modern gymnasium, well-equipped kitchen and fellowship hall, 11 classroom and a game room. Now the fourth and fifth generation descendants of the early Christians in North Venice are carrying on a great tradition of worship, fellowship, preaching and praying. City Temple has been a lighthouse to the community for more than 85 glorious years and will continue to declare the gospel of Christ until He comes. Praise the Lord and to God be the glory!

Now City Temple, it’s a new day and time. We may do things a little different than we did in 1922. We may do things a little different than we did in 1958. We may even do things a little different than we did in 1977. But we are still here carrying on with great traditions, moving ahead with new traditions and looking forward to the future traditions that God has in store for us. We may have come from a small tavern building or a sheep shed, but we are and always have been a part of a mighty move of God.

Now leading the way is Pastor Rich Cope, son of Rev. A. E. Cope. Tradition carries on, but the world has changed and the church must change with it. Not to be of this world but to be inviting to the world.