Structure
The leadership of the PAW consists of a Presiding Bishop and a Board of Bishops. The board also includes lay-directors from various regions of the United States and emeritus bishops who once served but are either semi or fully retired.
Under the oversight of the Board of Bishops are geographical units called councils, or dioceses. Councils correspond to state or national boundaries and each council is headed by a diocesan bishop, who is appointed by the Board of Bishops. A diocesan bishop can have as many as three assistants, called suffragan bishops. These suffragan bishops hold only the authority given them by the diocesan bishop. Typically they will have authority over a region or part of a state. Reporting under the suffragan bishop are district elders, who oversee and assist the elders (pastors and their churches) in his district. A district can contain as few as three churches and with typically no more than 25.
In 1998, the number of PAW churches in the US was 1,750 served by 4,500 clergy.
The following is a list of Presiding Bishops:
- Garfield Thomas Haywood (1925–1931)
- Samuel Joshua Grimes (1932–1967)
- Ross Perry Paddock (1967–1974)
- Francis L. Smith (1974–1980)
- Lawrence E. Brisbin (1980–1986)
- James Archie Johnson (1986–1992)
- Paul A. Bowers (1992–1998)
- Norman L. Wagner (1998–2004)
- Horace E. Smith, M.D. (2004–2010)
- Charles H. Ellis III (2010–Present)
Read more about this topic: Pentecostal Assemblies Of The World
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—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 2, ch. 2 (1962)
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