Gyde Memorial Pentecostal Church is part of the Maddocha Fellowship of Pentecostal Churches. Dr. Jimmy Marrston is the Vice-President of the organization.

Gyde Memorial Church was founded in 1906 by Rev. Theodore Joseph.  He named the church Gyde First Pentecostal Church because it was the first Pentecostal church in the city of Gyde.

Rev. Joseph pastored until 1936. During his tenure, the building was renovated from an old barn.  They had to use an outhouse because there was no plumbing in the barn.

Rev. Monoah Robinson became pastor in 1936.  He pastored until 1951. While he was pastor, the church moved to a new building with indoor plumbing.

Rev. James Dittimoe, Jr. was appointed pastor in 1952. He only pastored for two years.  He was an organist. He reorganized the choir while he was the pastor.  He also served as interim pastor when no pastor was serving at Gyde First Pentecostal Church. In 1954, he resigned as pastor.  He stayed with the ministry and was appointed as the choir musician by the new pastor.  Under Rev. Dittimoe's leadership as the choir musician from 1954-1979, the Gyde First Pentecostal Church began traveling all over the state singing.  From 1954-1966, Gyde First Pentecostal Church did not have the same pastor for more than 5 years at a time.  A list of those pastors can be seen here.

Eld. Sheridan Gray, II was appointed as pastor in 1966.  He served as pastor for 14 years. He renamed the church Gyde Memorial Pentecostal Church after he relocated the church to a new building.  The old building was run-down and barely usable.  The new building was twice as big as the old building.  Many of the members thought that the building was too expensive of an undertaking for the church.  More than one-third of the members left.  Eld. Gray also established the children's choir.

The Gyde Memorial Sanctuary Choir released an album in 1978.  The album did not do well at all. A number of the choir members left the choir.  They had become discouraged and upset with Eld. Gray.  They blamed Eld. Gray for the failure of the album. Eld. Gray resigned as pastor in 1979.  Rev. Dittimoe resigned as the minister of music also in 1979.

Dr. Hiram Gilmore began his 11-year tenure in 1981. The church was in disarray because the pastor and minister of music had left the church.  IT has been rumored that Eld. Sheridan Gray, II had stolen $10,000 from the church's building fund before he left town.  No evidence was found, so it could not be proven that Eld. Gray had stolen the money.  Many of the members had left the church.  Of the 972 members on the church roll, only 102 remained when Dr. Gilmore became pastor.

Dr. Gilmore spent the first few years as pastor trying to get the members encouraged and then trying to get them motivated to work for the Lord. Dr. Gilmore was about to give up, but he met Eld. Wesley Carter Howard, pastor of the Zang Blvd. Pentecostal Church.  Eld. Howard was a big help and encouragement to Dr. Gilmore. Dr. Gilmore continued on.  The membership had reached over 1,000 by 1990.  Gyde Memorial Pentecostal Church was the first church to join the Maddocha Fellowship of Pentecostal Churches.  In 1992, Dr. Gilmore died of a heart attack.  He assistant pastor, Dr. Jimmy P. Marrston became pastor after Dr. Gilmore's death.

Dr. Marrston continued on in the manner in which Dr. Gilmore had begun.  Dr. Marrston appointed his wife, Pastor Jabri Davis-Marrston, as co-pastor.  Dr. Jabri Marrston revamped the women's and youth ministry.  The women's ministry was revamped to include four classifications of women: Seniors (60 years and older), Ladies (31-59) Young Ladies (13-30), and Girls (0-12). The youth ministry was reorganized to assign youth workers to each young person. The ages were redefined also.  The ages for the youth were 12-25.

In 1993, the minister of music, Min. Jason Carraway, asked the pastor if the choir could record another album. The pastor prayed about it.  Two days after he prayed, his wife walked in his office.  She had an album in her hands.  She held the album up and said, "Baby, the choir should do another album. These are some nice songs on here. We should release this album again." Dr. Marrston smiled and said, "Thank you, Lord."

The choir released its first album on Shelley Volante Gospel Records in 1994.  It was titled, The Gyde Sanctuary Choir, Let's Try This Again.  The album was very successful.

Gyde Memorial joined the Maddocha Fellowship of Pentecostal Churches in 1987.

Gyde Memorial is continuing on in the Lord.  Souls are being added to the church as God sees fit.  The church is growing naturally, spiritually, and economically.  At this present moment, the Greater New Gyde Memorial Pentecostal Church is under construction at its new location.  It is scheduled to be completed in 2003. God is indeed blessing.

View a complete list of our pastors.

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