Five years before establishing Word of Oasis, Bishop Henry R. Williams had been the Pastor of Cumming Street Church of God. Having experienced a supernatural move of God in his life; he felt moved by the Spirit of God to leave the denomination he had grown up in all of his life. Knowing that he had a mandate from God to teach people the truth of God’s word uncompromisingly, Bishop along with his loving helpmeet, Pastor Gwendolyn L. Williams established, Victory Temple Evangelistic Center Church, Inc., a non-denominational, Word of Faith Ministry; September 9, 1991, at 10:00 o’clock A.M., at the law offices of Langdale, Vallotton, Chapman & Linahan, 1007 North Patterson Street, Valdosta, Georgia.
Bishop and Pastor Gwen along with members who decided to continue to follow the ministry underwent great persecution and ridicule. Determined not to be moved by what they saw but by what they believed, Bishop and Pastor Gwen continued to lead the congregation in faith by teaching God’s word boldly and unashamedly. The church began to grow as a result of teaching the Word of Faith. With a strong witness from God, Bishop Williams led the congregation from 1400 Lake Park Road to 425 Connell Road, in an old Video Warehouse storefront. We met at this location from July 1990 – December 1993.
During the first year at Video Warehouse location, we were negotiating to purchase this multiplex facility. The owners recanted on our verbal agreement to purchase this facility and sold it to the church next door. We leased the building from the adjacent church with the understanding that we were secured with the facility until we could purchase or build a church of our own. Well, within one year, this agreement was broken as well. We were given 30 days notice by the Pastor and the Finance Committee to relocate our entire ministry. What a low blow this was to our ministry!
However, God still being a faithful God; before being asked to vacate the Connell Road premises, God opened a door for Bishop and Pastor Gwen, along with the congregation, to purchase the property and build the present facility. From January 1994 – July 1994, we met in the ballroom at the Holiday Inn. In July 1994, Bishop Williams led the congregation into a temporary mobile chapel, designed for church usage. We met for worship services in the mobile chapel on this present plot of land from July 1994 – May 1998.
The Lord gave Bishop Williams a vision to build three connecting dome structures. Not known to the public, plans were in progress to break ground on the first phase of the domes, June 1998. To our surprise, the day after closing a great revival meeting with Elder Tommy and Evangelist Brenda Todd, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, a tornado demolished our building, May 7, 1998. Though this was a devastating storm, it also was a great blessing for us. We broke ground on our present facility in July 1998. During the construction of our present church building, we met at J.L. Newbern School gym from May 1998 – March 1999. May 2, 1999, we officially dedicated the first phase of our triple dome complex.
In 2000 the ministry went International and planted 30+ churches in Sierra Leone, West Africa under our Overseer, Pastor Dandison Coker. He along with full-time staff members run our international offices in the capital city of Freetown. Countless thousands are ministered to through feeding programs, business training on how to become self-sufficient and of course preaching the gospel through our gospel, outreach, ministries held through the provenances.
Bishop was led to change the name of the ministry to Word of Oasis on August 31, 2012. The name change embodies more of the spirit and direction that the Lord had been dealing with him to reach those who have lost their faith and connection with God. Word of Oasis is a ministry that is refreshing to those who are in need of a renewed relationship with the Jesus of the bible and not the figure organized religion has painted of Him. The ministry employs full-time and part-time employees, as well as, a volunteer staff. These volunteers along with the paid staff assist Bishop Henry and Pastor Gwendolyn in providing services to the needs of our congregation, as well as, our community.