BISHOP LORENZO L. KELLY

Founder & Pastor

Faith Temple Church of God in Christ

Rapid City, South Dakota 

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Jurisdictional Prelate

Church of God in Christ Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction

State of South Dakota

 Bishop Lorenzo Lee Kelly was born in Winter Park, Florida on February 18, 1943.  The family moved to Evanston, Illinois in 1955, where he attended Haven Junior High School and  Evanston Township High School, graduating in June 1961 He worked one year and attended Loop Junior College the next year. In August 1963, he had the honor of being the first black male to be hired in a North Shore Bank during those heated times of civil unrest of the 60’s.  As his job became a career, he worked his way up within the bank being promoted as he went and while pursuing higher education through the American Banking Association. He started in the Proof Department, worked as a teller for a number of years before serving as Customer Service Staff, Assistant Cashier, Personal Banking Officer and, finally, as Assistant Vice-President and Drive-In Bank Manager.  God gave him favor within the bank and without, in the Evanston and surrounding community.

As a young boy in Florida, his family had been members of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Winter Park. In Evanston, they became members of the Springfield Missionary Baptist Church.  This is where Kelly met his bride-to-be, Evelyn Ann Heard, and where both of their families were members. On October 10, 1964,  he and his fiancé Evelyn A Heard were wed at the Springfield Baptist Church in a beautiful ceremony, attended by a standing room only crowd of friends and family from the churches and the community.  To the union of Lorenzo L. and Evelyn A Kelly was born three beautiful sons  --  Thomas, Scott, and, Loren. They are blessed to have two daughters of marriage -- Shelly is married to Scott and they have three awesome daughters – Mikaela, Aleah, and Jahnaya; and, Cara,  is married to Loren and they have one beautiful daughter – Beatriz.  The Kelly’s are blessed to have many-many other children whom they love as though they were born to them.

In 1969, Kelly moved his church membership from Springfield Baptist to Faith Temple Church of God in Christ, also, in Evanston, Illinois where the pastor is Bishop Carlis L Moody, Sr. In 1973, Kelly under the leadership, teaching, and tutelage of Bishop Moody, acknowledged the Lord’s call upon his life as a minister of the Gospel. Kelly became a licensed minister on January 20, 1974 and immediately began attending the Moody Bible Institute’s Evening School Division in Chicago, Illinois (this school is not associated with Bishop Carlis Moody). Graduating in May 1978,  he continued to serve in the ministry of Faith Temple Church of God in Christ in Evanston. He was ordained as an Elder on August 25, 1979 by Bishop Louis Henry Ford.  In August 1982, the Kelly’s were led by the Lord to move to Rapid City, South Dakota, to begin their ministry.   He left the bank management position at First Bank of Evanston, after nineteen years and she left her office manager position at College Entrance Examination Board’s Midwestern Division, after four years.  The new church which they founded in Rapid City was named after their home church in Evanston, Illinois, Faith Temple Church of God in Christ.

On November 12, 1990, Kelly was promoted to the office of “Bishop” -- from being an ordained elder to the Bishop of the State of South Dakota for the Church of God in Christ (appointed by the late Bishop Louis Henry Ford, the appointment was ratified by the 1990 General Assembly). He was officially consecrated to the office of Bishop on May 30, 1991 in Rapid City at a service officiated by the late Bishop Ford.  As a Bishop, he is one of, approximately, 175 other Church of God in Christ bishops and is a member of the COGIC Board of Bishops. Bishop Kelly is frequently invited as a guest Evangelist/Preacher to churches all across America as well as to foreign countries. 

He served as Jail Chaplain and has ministered to inmates at the Pennington County Jail as well as State Prison inmates for more than fifteen years. In addition, he served on the Pennington County Jail Advisory Board for over twelve years. Over the years, he taught a weekly life-changing class entitled “Maximized Manhood” for the male inmates with up to thirty men attending weekly, there was always a long waiting list of those desiring to attend.  He writes and visits prisoners throughout South Dakota and the surrounding states as a follow-up to those from the jail. He retired at the end of December, 2006 from his regular involvement with the jail.  Because of his work in the Rapid City community, Bishop Kelly received the South Dakota Education Association’s Human and Civil Rights award in 1995. In May of 2002, he received the “Liberty Bell” Award from the Pennington County Bar Association for his work with jail and prison inmates.  In May of 2006,  he received the “I Believe In Kids” award from Wellsrpring, Inc.  In February of 2006, he received the first “King Spirit” award for ‘unity in diversity’ from the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Rapid City.

Bishop Lorenzo L. Kelly is quite a MIRACLE as he is the survivor of an aneurysm of the thoracic aorta which he suffered and underwent emergency surgery for replacement of 18” of his aorta on January 28, 2006.  Medically speaking, only ten percent of people are blessed to get off the operating table but then to be able to go on and live a good, healthy life is rare.  He died approximately five times during the surgery and had other severe complications including accidentally receiving fourth degree burns to the front of both legs.  He had a number of surgeries while he lay critically ill for several  weeks and later additional skin graft operations to repair the damaged legs.  During hospitalization, he sustained the hospital staph infection which has killed hundreds of people but thank God he lived.  He also had an e-coli infection in his left knee cap, twice, between the skin graft surgeries.  It’s been a long suffering way over the past year but God’s grace and mercy have proven to be enough to bring this great man of God through to complete recovery.

Faith Temple Church will be celebrating its 26^th Year Church Anniversary along with the 18^th Year Jurisdictional Anniversary on July 27th  – August 3rd , 2008.  We’re hoping the community will come and be a part of the celebration and rejoicing along with us as we have a lot to rejoice about!