Bishop H. E. Honea
 

I recieved word today that Bishop H. E. Honea, founder of the First Church of Jesus Christ, Tullahoma, Tennessee, passed away early this morning, June 10, 2008. Bro. Honea served as the General Chairman of the organizarin he founded in 1966. He was a fine brother and my friend and brother in the Lord. I have no details at this time, will post as soon as arrangemeents are announced. Please pray for the Honea family. Thank you.

Re: Bishop H. E. Honea
 

Praying.

Re: Bishop H. E. Honea
 

I only met Bishop Honea once. That was back in 1958 or 1959 at a convention of The Church of Jesus Christ Pentecostal Faith in Niles, Michigan. At that time he was a skinny kid and so was I. I lost track of him until I saw his name mentioned on this forum. I contacted him by letter last year and he phoned me and told me he was suffering kidney failure and was on daily home dialysis but was not discouraged. At that time he was waiting for a kidney transplant. I have been praying for him but had not heard anything further until I saw the post about his death.

Re: Bishop H. E. Honea
 

It is true. My Bishop worked with Bishop Honea as an assistant for several years. He announced that he died tonight at service.

Re: Bishop H. E. Honea
 

http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover..._01_00079.html
This site has info on many Apostolic or Oneness groups.

First Church of Jesus Christ
1100 E. Lincoln St.
Tullahoma, TN 37388

The First Church of Jesus Christ is a Pentecostal group chartered in Tullahoma, Tennessee, in 1965 by Bishop H. E. Honea (b.1938), who has served as its chairman for thirty years. Honea grew up in Taft, Tennessee, and was called to ministry as a teenager. He began to preach when he was 16 years old and pastored churches in Alabama, Louisiana, Indiana, and Illinios before becoming pastor of the church in Tullahoma, Tennessee, in 1961. He remains pastor of that church.

The church is composed of those ministers, missionaries, and deacons licsensed by the church and the members of the local congregations affiliated with it. It is their belief that the Church of Jesus Christ is a company of company of baptized believers who adhere to the form of doctrine preached by Jesus and his Apostles, who have associated in the faith and fellowship of Jesus Christ, who are governed by the rules of the New Testament church, and who possess the gifts of ministry (Romans 12:6–8). The church continues the revival begun on the Day of Pentecost, 33 A.D. (Acts2). The Church of Jesus Christ is the name of God's church and the incorporation and charter make no provision for ever changing its name.

The church affirms the One True God. Jesus Christ is the name of the One True God. He reveals himself as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is not considered the third person of the Godhead, but rather the manifestation of the Spirit of God (the creator) coming to dwell in the hearts and lives of men. This position is generally termed "oneness" or "Jesus only." The church practices the ordinances of the Lord's supper, foot washing, tithing, and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ. The church does not allow membership in secret societies and specifically decries the teachings of snake handling, the seed in the serpent doctrine, the spiritualizing of the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's supper, the denial of a denial of a physical resurrection, and the denial of marriage. This doctrine is similar to that of other Apostolic pentecostal churches, such as the Church of Jesus Christ (Kingsport).

The First Church of Jesus Christ is headed by the Chairman, assisted by the Vice-Chairman, Assistant Vice-Chairman, and the state bishops. Together they constitute the board of bishops. The board of bishops holds the property of the church in trust. Missionary work is carried out in Jamaica, Haiti, Philippines, Africa, and India.

Membership: In 2002, the church reported 10,000 members and 250 ministers in the United States and an additional 8,000 members and 175 ministers on the mission field.

Periodicals: Banner of Love.

Sources:
Articles of Faith and By-laws of the First Church of Jesus Christ, Inc. Tullahoma, TN: First Church of Jesus Christ, n.d.

Re: Bishop H. E. Honea
 

I met him a couple of times.

Re: Bishop H. E. Honea
 

The website for The First Church of Jesus Christ is
http://thefirstchurchofjesuschrist.org/default.aspx

The organization was chartered back in the nineteen sixties. Bishop Honea and some others were part of The Church of Jesus Christ Pentecostal Faith and there was going to be some type of merger with one of the other Church of Jesus Christ organizations so Bishop Honea and others formed a separate organization. If Bro. Michael Flemming sees this, he might be able to shed some light on it. He was with one of the Church of Jesus Christ organizations until he joined the UPC a couple of years ago. I've been part of 3 different organizations who used "Church of Jesus Christ" in their names but I don't know who all split off and re-chartered and all that stuff. Over the past year I have often thought of calling Bishop Honea and picking his brain to find out some of the Church of Jesus Christ history but I never did it. Now he's dead and any information he could have imparted to me is gone.

The numbers in the article above for The First Church of Jesus Christ sound pretty high. Maybe they are "evangelistically speaking." I think the organization had dropped to about a dozen ministers or so before Bishop Honea died. I never was part of his organization and only met him once and that was about 50 years ago when he and I were both young preachers.

Re: Bishop H. E. Honea
 

I wonder what will happen to The First Church of Jesus Christ organization now with the Chairman's passing. I don't think there are many ministers/members left.

I really don't know how many groups are out there that use the words "Church of Jesus Christ" in their name.

Bishop Boyd Lawson, son of the late Bishop Mark Lawson, is chairman of a group. They have 2 websites. One is out of date and the other is under construction:
http://thecojcint.net/ (under construction)
http://www.angelfire.com/tn3/cojci/ (out of date)

I get a magazine regularly from a group in Indiana that uses that name. Their web site is http://www.tcojc.org/

I don't know if the group chartered by Bishop Mark Lawson in 1927 is still alive or not. Over the years there have been divisions and splinters and battles.

Re: Bishop H. E. Honea
 

I think the Kingsport group has that charter?

Re: Bishop H. E. Honea
 

I thought so too. They had a web site at http://tcojc.us/index.htm and their Presiding Bishop or General Overseer was listed as Anthony Adinolfi but now if you go to that site it is an individual congregation. I don't know if that group still exists as an organization (hard to think that it wouldn't) or if it has been merged with some other group or what.