Gerald Flurry - Founders

Founders

Gerald Ray Flurry (born April 12, 1935) is the founder and Pastor General of PCG. It is taught within PCG that he is "That Prophet", a divinely appointed successor to Armstrong, akin to Elisha after Elijah.

PCG was founded by Flurry and his assistant pastor John Amos (1929–1993) and incorporated in the United States on December 20, 1989. They were previously ministers serving Oklahoma City and Enid, Oklahoma WCG congregations at the time.

Flurry graduated from Ambassador College, Pasadena, California, in 1970 and became a WCG minister in 1973. In 1975 he was transferred to Pasco, Washington.

Eventually he transferred to Oklahoma in 1985. During the three years after Herbert Armstrong's death in 1986, WCG made several doctrinal changes that Flurry objected to as doctrinally false. He began to make known his opposition to these changes and produced a manuscript that would become the book, Malachi's Message to God’s Church Today. These events led to his being summoned by WCG leaders to appear before them. Flurry and Amos were disfellowshipped from WCG in 1989 for challenging the doctrinal changes.

A group of supporters began to form around Flurry at this point, including John Amos, Tim Thompson, Vyron Wilkins, Dennis Leap, Frank Garcia, Wilber Malone, Don Marshall, Jim Mortensen, Don Roth and Winston Davis. They disagreed with the doctrinal changes occurring in WCG. Together 12 people met for the Philadelphia Church of God’s first service on December 16, 1989. On December 20 the PCG became an incorporated entity. With the founding of PCG one of its first actions was to publish Malachi's Message to God’s Church Today and distribute it to as many WCG members as possible.