A Pentecostal Church in Downtown Rapid City
Faith Temple Church of God in Christ sits at 715 Kansas City Street, in the center of Rapid City, South Dakota, on a block with a history that reaches back further than the church itself. The congregation that worships there today describes its calling with a simple motto: Loving God ... Loving Each Other. Founded in 1982 as a Church of God in Christ mission, Faith Temple has grown into a multi-cultural congregation that crosses racial, economic, and generational lines, and is known across the Black Hills for its open arms and for hands-on work among the poor, the imprisoned, and the sick.
From Evanston to the Black Hills
The story of Faith Temple begins in Evanston, Illinois, in the home congregation pastored by Bishop Carlis L. Moody of Faith Temple Church of God in Christ. In November 1981, Sister Barnetta Pearson contacted Bishop Moody, then President of Home and Foreign Missions for the denomination, to tell him of the need for a COGIC pastor in the Rapid City area. The timing was right; Bishop Moody's mandate was to plant mission-based ministries across the Midwest. In January 1982 he sent Elder Lorenzo L. Kelly to South Dakota to investigate, and Elder Kelly preached at the Ellsworth Air Force Base Chapel during that visit.
The response was strong enough that Kelly returned at the end of May 1982 to lead a week of nightly revival services. Souls came to salvation and many received healing and deliverance. Sister Evelyn Kelly flew out for the weekend, met the people, and sensed the same call on their lives. The couple met with Bishop Moody, who agreed a mission was needed but counseled Kelly to count the cost before stepping away from his banking career. Kelly and his wife decided it was all or nothing, and on July 29, 1982, they returned to Rapid City for good. On August 1, 1982, Faith Temple Church of God in Christ was born. Elder Kelly was officially installed as pastor on October 16, 1982.
The Sanctuary on Kansas City Street
The address 715 Kansas City Street has been a place of Christian worship since 1879, when the first church organized in Rapid City, a Congregational congregation, was formed there. That first body dedicated its first building in May 1883, became self-supporting in 1886, and was for many years the only self-supporting church in the Black Hills. On December 15, 1914, a new and larger church building was dedicated at a cost of $22,000.
Faith Temple purchased the building on February 27, 1984, for $109,500, and the congregation moved in on March 4, 1984. With what the church describes as "a mind to work" and the help of the Lord, the members paid off the long-term mortgage on November 5, 1990, nearly three and a half years ahead of schedule. The sanctuary remains a beautiful downtown landmark, and the story of that early payoff is told as part of the congregation's identity.
Bishop Lorenzo L. Kelly and Lady Evelyn Kelly
Bishop Lorenzo L. Kelly was born in Winter Park, Florida in 1943 and grew up in Evanston, Illinois, where he worked his way up through North Shore banking from the proof department to assistant vice-president and drive-in bank manager. He married Evelyn Ann Heard on October 10, 1964, at Springfield Missionary Baptist Church. The couple had three sons - Thomas, Scott, and Loren - and a large extended family of spiritual children.
Kelly joined Faith Temple Church of God in Christ in Evanston in 1969 under Bishop Moody's ministry. He was licensed in 1974, graduated from the Moody Bible Institute Evening School in 1978, and was ordained an Elder in 1979 by Bishop Louis Henry Ford. In November 1990, he was elevated to the office of Bishop of South Dakota for the Church of God in Christ, and was consecrated by Bishop Ford in Rapid City on May 30, 1991. From that role he planted four other churches in South Dakota, in Box Elder, Hot Springs, and Sioux Falls. He served as Jail Chaplain at the Pennington County Jail for more than twenty years, taught a weekly "Maximized Manhood" class to male inmates, and sat on the Pennington County Jail Advisory Board. His community work earned him the South Dakota Education Association's Human and Civil Rights award in 1995, the Pennington County Bar Association's Liberty Bell Award in 2002, and the Well Spring "I Believe In Kids" award in 2006.
Bishop Kelly survived an emergency surgery in January 2006 for an aneurysm of the thoracic aorta, an event that included being revived five times on the operating table, fourth-degree burns to both legs, a staph infection, vision loss, and vocal cord damage. He went on to record a CD, "My Songs," and to co-author the memoir "ALIVE AGAIN! My Story: A Miraculous Memoir."
Lady Evelyn A. Kelly (1945 to 2014) served as the church's business administrator, treasurer, director of the Women's Department, overseer of the Youth Department, a licensed Evangelist, and, in August 2006, was elevated to the office of Pastor by her husband, serving as Co-Pastor alongside him. She founded Everose Productions Recording Studio in 2004, coordinated a Good Friday Concert that drew together four denominations in an 80-voice choir with the Black Hills Symphony Orchestra, and served on community boards including the Crisis Pregnancy Center, Black Hills Habitat for Humanity, the Black Hills Symphony Orchestra, and as a hospice volunteer. She also served as Acting Jurisdictional Supervisor for the South Dakota Women's Department from 1995 to 2007.
Bishop Troy Michael Carr, the Present Pastor
Bishop Troy Michael Carr succeeded Bishop Kelly and now serves as pastor of Faith Temple and as Prelate of the South Dakota Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the Church of God in Christ. He was born in New Orleans in 1963, the son of an Air Force officer, and came to faith in the Church of God in Christ as a child in Hawaii. He sang and directed choirs as a teenager, earned a Bachelor in Business Administration from Loyola Marymount University in 1985, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force. His first duty station was Ellsworth AFB in South Dakota, where he served as a missile launch officer beginning in 1986. He recommitted his life to Christ in 1987 and joined Faith Temple, where Bishop Kelly had recently founded the work. He was licensed as a minister in 1989, ordained an Elder in 1992, and earned an MBA from the University of South Dakota in 1991. After Air Force assignments away from Rapid City, he returned on January 3, 1993, in obedience to what he describes as a clear word from the Lord that Rapid City was where he was meant to be.
Over the years, Bishop Carr has served Faith Temple as choir president, praise and worship leader, Sunday school teacher and superintendent, youth pastor, board member, and chief adjutant to Bishop Kelly. In September 1993 he was appointed Jurisdictional Secretary of the COGIC for South Dakota, was consecrated as Auxiliary Bishop in December 2015, and was assigned by the General Assembly in April 2017 as Prelate of the South Dakota Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction. He serves on the Rapid City YMCA's mission focus team and is president of ACTS Ministries, a nonprofit devoted to "Affecting Communities Through Serving." He and his wife, Evangelist Twana H. Carr (Lady Twana), have eight children and grandchildren.
Sunday Worship and the Weekly Round of Prayer
Sunday morning worship at Faith Temple begins at 10:00 a.m. and runs through 11:30 a.m., with Sunday evening worship following at 6:00 p.m. Services are open to all, and the building opens again on weeknights and Saturdays around the discipline of prayer.
Nightly prayer is held Monday through Saturday at 6:00 p.m., a practice the congregation describes as simply "praying to the Father," whether out loud or in quiet meditation. Wednesday adds a structured hour: prayer from 6:00 to 6:30 p.m., followed by Kingdom Classes for all ages from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Kingdom Classes can also be joined remotely by video, with a Zoom meeting ID shared by the church.
Kingdom Classes, Men, and Women
Kingdom Classes meet weekly on Wednesday evenings at 6:30 p.m. and are open to every age group, making them the church's main mid-week teaching hour and a practical expression of the conviction that Christian education belongs to the whole family together. The Men's Fellowship gathers on the first Saturday of the month at 9:00 a.m. The Ladies Fellowship meets on the second Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., and an annual Women's Retreat brings women from across the region together for a longer time of teaching and refreshment.
What the Church Believes
Faith Temple's Statement of Faith holds that the Bible is the inspired and only infallible written Word of God; that there is one God eternally existent in three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; that the only means of being cleansed from sin is repentance and faith in the precious Blood of Jesus Christ; that regeneration by the Holy Ghost is absolutely essential for personal salvation; that the redemptive work of Christ on the Cross provides healing for the human body in answer to believing prayer; that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, according to Acts 2:4, is given to believers who ask for Him; and that the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit enables the Christian to live a holy and separated life in the present world.
The church recognizes three ordinances instituted by Christ: the Lord's Supper, feet washing (held subsequent to the Lord's Supper at the discretion of the pastor), and water baptism by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Divine healing is practiced through the prayer of the elders, the laying on of hands, and anointing with oil, in keeping with the epistle of James. The church looks for the personal, bodily, visible return of Christ and the rapture of the Church, and understands itself as a spiritual unity of which Christ is the divine head.
Reaching Out: Jail, Nursing Homes, and the Neighborhood
Long before Faith Temple was a congregation, its founder had a heart for those behind bars. Bishop Kelly served as Jail Chaplain at the Pennington County Jail for more than two decades and sat on the Jail Advisory Board for the same length of time. Lady Evelyn Kelly taught a weekly two-hour class, "Becoming a Woman of Excellence," to female inmates at the same jail for six years. The church continues that work through active Jail and Prison and Nursing Home ministries staffed by volunteers from the pews. Members also feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and provide financial help to families facing destitution. Bishop Carr leads ACTS Ministries, a nonprofit dedicated to "Affecting Communities Through Serving," and serves on the Rapid City YMCA's mission focus team.
Worship, Music, and the Livestream
Worship at Faith Temple is rooted in the Pentecostal and COGIC tradition: lively, expressive, and Christ-centered, with prayer, preaching, and congregational singing that has long included choirs, soloists, and a praise and worship team. Sunday morning services are broadcast live at 10:00 a.m. Mountain time on the church's YouTube livestream channel, with recordings available afterward. The livestream is a regular lifeline for members who travel, who are homebound, or who are not feeling well enough to attend in person. Communion can be taken at home by arrangement with the pastor.
Ways to Give and Stay Connected
Gifts to Faith Temple can be made online through Givelify, PayPal, or Cash App at $FaithTempleChurchRC. A Connection Card is available online for visitors who want the church to follow up with a call or visit, and prayer requests can be sent through the church's prayer email. The mailing address is PO Box 1453, Rapid City, SD 57709.
A Multi-Cultural House of Prayer
From its first week in 1982, Faith Temple has been a place where the gospel meets real need. Bishop and Lady Kelly left careers in banking and business administration to plant a church in a town where they were, in Lady Evelyn's words, "casually known as the 'Black' church," the only Black pastorate among more than a hundred local churches. What grew under their care, and now continues under Bishop Carr, is a congregation that is proudly multi-cultural and that has earned a reputation across Rapid City as a people who unselfishly love and a ministry that generously gives. The motto remains the same: Loving God ... Loving Each Other.