On the south side of Chicago, at 2750 West Columbus Avenue, stands the fourteen-acre campus of Monument of Faith Evangelistic Church, a congregation best known today through the teaching and television legacy of its late founder, Apostle Richard D. Henton. While Apostle Henton made his transition in October 2015, the church he built and the media library he left behind continue to shape the ministry that bears his name. The R.D. Henton Breakthrough Ministries, a 501(c)(3) organization headquartered at the same address, preserves his recorded sermons, broadcasts a weekly program called The Breakthrough Hour, and welcomes visitors to a Memorial Room dedicated to his life.

From the Rex Theatre to a Fourteen-Acre Campus

Monument of Faith began with sixteen people in a building that had no business being a church. On the evening of February 22, 1964, a young evangelist named Richard D. Henton opened the doors of Monument of Faith Deliverance Center at 6848 South Racine in Chicago. The structure had been the old Rex Theatre, closed and vacant for eleven years, its interior described in his own telling as a dark mass of dilapidation. Henton moved by faith before the business transaction was even complete, cleaning and repairing the building himself, building the pulpit with his own hands, painting and upholstering every seat in gray and red. By the time the church opened to the public on June 21, 1964, it seated more than five hundred, and his father in the gospel, Bishop E.E. Cleveland Sr., traveled from Berkeley, California, to preach the inaugural sermon titled "Dedicated."

Within seven years the congregation outgrew the Racine building. In February 1971, Henton purchased the former South Side Hebrew Congregation at 7359 South Chappel, a sanctuary with twelve hundred seats. Standing in the empty building on the day it was acquired, he heard the Lord say, "one more move." The Chappel mortgage was burned in June 1975, ahead of schedule.

That third and final location is the church's home today: 2750 West Columbus Avenue, a fourteen-acre complex that the church moved into in February 1998. The facility houses the main sanctuary, a chapel, bookstore, dining hall, television studio, classrooms, prayer room, office space, and telephone counseling facilities. The ministry once operated the R.D. Henton Christian Academy at 8101 South LaSalle before converting the building into the Breakthrough Cultural Family Christian Center, and the campus today functions both as a working church complex and as a destination for the Memorial Room, where visitors can tour exhibits about the founder's life and work.

The Life and Calling of Apostle Richard D. Henton

Apostle Richard Daniel Henton was born in Chicago in 1933 and raised in a household where his mother regularly took him and his siblings to a variety of churches. His call to preach came on December 14, 1948, at a quarter to twelve o'clock, while he was a fifteen-year-old sitting in his division class at Wendell Phillips High School, 244 East Pershing Road. He later recalled that the call was "loud and clear, reaching the depths of my soul." He was ordained to preach the gospel at the age of sixteen in 1949.

The early years of his ministry were marked by intensive Bible study, ardent prayer, and a willingness to preach in any church, however small. Ordination credentials came from the Deliverance Evangelistic Center in Newark, New Jersey, in 1962, and a Doctor of Divinity followed in February 1974 from Trinity Hall College and Seminary. By 1987 he had been consecrated to the office of Apostle through the College of Apostles. Two additional doctorates, Doctor of Missiology in 1995 and Doctor of Pastoral Studies in 1997, came from Logos Graduate School, and St. Thomas Christian College conferred a Doctor of Divinity in 2004. He also helped establish R.D. Henton Logos Bible College as part of the ministry's training arm.

He pastored Monument of Faith for fifty-one of his sixty-six years in ministry, shepherding a membership that grew to nearly five thousand. He founded the R.D. Henton Evangelistic Foundation in 1981 and was the executive producer of the Breakthrough Telecast, a weekly television program that aired on The Word Network (worldwide satellite and cable) and on more than six hundred thirty-three stations through the New Inspirational Network, along with WJYS/TV 62, WEDE TV34 Detroit, and the Total Living Network. He produced an extensive media library of more than six thousand audio, video, CD, and DVD titles. In January 1977, his two-hundred-fifty-voice choir traveled to Washington, D.C. to sing at the inaugural ceremony of President Jimmy Carter. He made his transition on October 22, 2015, and was honored with a National Homegoing Celebration at the House of Hope in Chicago, where musical tributes came from Pastor Shirley Caesar, Dr. Edwin Hawkins, Marvin Sapp, Marvin Winans, and the Barrett Sisters, and recorded remembrances came from Bishop Noel Jones, Dr. Bill Winston, Prophet Brian Carn, Bishop William Hudson III, and Pastor Kimberly Ray-Gavin.

Honors accumulated throughout his career included the N'Digo N'Faith Award in 2007, the Luminary Senior Citizen Hall of Faith Award from Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, and a proclamation from Illinois Secretary of State Pat Quinn in 2013. In February 2019, his archives were the subject of a preview exhibit at the Harold Washington Library, recognizing the man, the ministry, and the message.

Worship Services: Sunday Mornings, Sunday Afternoons, and Tuesday Night Anointing

The weekly rhythm at Monument of Faith is anchored by four regular gatherings. Sunday mornings and Sunday afternoons bring separate services to the main sanctuary at 2750 West Columbus Avenue. The Sunday Broadcast Service extends Sunday's reach to a wider audience, while the Tuesday Night Anointing Service, a long-running staple of the church's calendar, gathers the body for an evening of extended preaching and prayer.

All four carry the feel of a Pentecostal/charismatic tradition, with preaching in the line of Apostle Henton's continuing legacy and ongoing teaching from his successor, Apostle Mark A. Henton. Many of the recordings preserved in the church's archives carry the simple description "a rhema word from the Lord preached at the Monument of Faith Evangelistic Church in Chicago IL" - a phrase that has appeared on thousands of sermon labels over the decades. The 1977 inaugural participation and the regular television broadcast mark the congregation as one that has long identified worship and outreach as twin callings.

Crusades and conferences round out the calendar in addition to the weekly gatherings. The largest was the September 1994 City Wide Breakthrough Crusade at the U.I.C. Pavilion, where more than ten thousand people attended. Founder's Week, the Breakthrough Campmeeting, the Invaders of Destiny Conference, and the first International Breakthrough Crusade in London, England, in 2010 (hosted by Pastor John Francis of Ruach City Church) extended the church's reach well beyond the south side.

The Breakthrough Hour: From Radio to Worldwide Streaming

The Breakthrough Hour is the broadcast ministry that grew alongside the church. In March 1976, Monument of Faith aired its first weekly radio broadcast, expanding the pulpit to thousands of listeners across Chicago. In 1978, the program moved to television, transmitting by satellite via WCFC/TV38 and quickly becoming the top-rated telecast on the station for more than a decade.

Today, The Breakthrough Hour streams live. It airs every Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. CST and every Sunday at 7:00 p.m. CST, allowing viewers across the country and overseas to join the broadcast as it happens. The streaming is hosted through YouTube and the ministry's on-demand platform, which launched in June 2022 with more than two hundred sermons available for streaming and has since grown to a library of more than five hundred.

The media library that feeds The Breakthrough Hour is one of the most extensive in American independent ministry. Recordings range from the early 1960s - when the young evangelist was first preaching - through 2015. Operators of the on-demand service categorize the broadcasts by decade (1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s) and by service type (Sunday Morning, Sunday Afternoon, Sunday Broadcast, Tuesday Night Anointing, and Crusades/Special Services). Some of the classic recordings, priced at $2.99 each for download, include messages like "In The Name Of Jesus Rise Up And Walk" from October 4, 1981 and "I Believe God" from August 6, 1989.

R.D. Henton TV and the Online Sermon Archive

R.D. Henton TV is the ministry's free YouTube channel, anchored by hundreds of video clips and full-length sermons. The channel, established under the username RDHentonTV, hosts more than twenty-two playlists organized around themes like Throwback, Laughs, Praise Breaks, Fireside Chats, Rewind, Prayers, Crusades and Miracle Services, and Songs of Yesteryear. The page reports more than nine million views and three hundred-plus uploaded videos, with tens of thousands of subscribers around the world.

The clips give a feel for the man behind the ministry: sermons with titles like "Sanctification is not a denomination. If a church is a church at all, it should be sanctified," and "What God has said shall not be prolonged anymore." The same channel preserves musical moments from Apostle Henton's own album recordings, including "Thou, God, Seeth Me" and "The Mystery of Iniquity." Famous one-liners from the pulpit traveled further through his Gold Nuggets sayings - lines such as "Don't die over your setbacks, get up and make a comeback," "Faith will get you in trouble, but faith will bring you out," and "Walking with Jesus pays off."

The Memorial Room at 2750 West Columbus

Inside the church's fourteen-acre campus, the Memorial Room is a dedicated library showcasing the life, legacy, and ministry of Apostle Henton. Originally called the History Room during his lifetime, Apostle Henton personally assembled the space, gathering photos, videos, handwritten messages, plaques, and awards. It has been open to the public since his passing in October 2015.

Six themed exhibits walk visitors through the chapters of his life and ministry: Monument of Faith Deliverance Center, Monument of Faith Evangelistic Church, the R.D. Henton Christian Academy, "Never To Be Forgotten" (about his mentors), "Awards & Trophies," and "R.D. Henton Breakthrough Ministries." Admission is free, though donations to the ministry are encouraged.

The Memorial Room is open for self-guided tours Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., with Saturday and Sunday tours available by appointment. Reservations are scheduled through the ministry's reservation page or by calling the main office. The room is closed on major government holidays. A small bookstore inside the room offers books, CD and DVD sets, and exclusive merchandise that can be difficult to find elsewhere.

Books, Recordings, and the Online Store

Apostle Henton authored six books, all still in print through the ministry's online store. The titles capture the themes he preached for decades: "I Command You To Live," "Christian Warfare," "God's Chosen Children of Destiny," "God's Masterpiece," "Armed For Spiritual Warfare," and "The Experience, Episode, and Encounter of the Holy Ghost." Paperbacks range from five to twenty dollars.

The sermon archive goes deeper than the printed page. Browse the digital catalog and you will find series recorded across decades - "The Acid Test," "Healing Waters," "Vice Versa: God Can Reverse My Situation," "Judgement At The Church," "Let's Enroll In The School of Prayer," "The Breakthrough of a New Day," "Armed For Spiritual Warfare," "Thou Shall Have Good Success," and "What If We Don't?" CDs ship at a flat rate of $3.95 within the United States, with audio downloads and video downloads available for those who want instant access. Individual sermon tapes, numbered through the 900s across decades, are organized by Sunday Morning (SM), Sunday Afternoon (SA), Sunday Broadcast (SB), Tuesday Night (TN), and Crusades/Special (CS) categories.

Speaker Sermons and Conference Messages

Apostle Henton frequently hosted conferences at Monument of Faith, and the resulting speaker sermons are sold through the same catalog. Recorded messages from Bishop Marvin Winans (Founder's Week 2001, Breakthrough Campmeeting 1999), Bishop Darrell Hines (Fellowship Conference 1993), Dr. Donald Parson (Invaders of Destiny Conference 2006), Prophet Kevin Powe, Bishop E.E. Cleveland, Bishop Gilbert Patterson, Bishop Rance Allen, Bishop Noel Jones, Bishop Paul Morton, Bishop Larry Trotter, Prophet Brian Carn, Bishop Charles O. Miles, Evangelist Juanita Sapp, Bishop H.W. Goldsberry, Bishop Clarence McClendon, Bishop William Ellis, Bishop Roy Brown, Dr. Jamal Bryant, Apostle Donald Alford, and many others all flow from the ministry's continued commitment to networking with leaders across the wider church.

Continuing the Legacy Under Apostle Mark A. Henton

Apostle R.D. Henton's son, Apostle Mark A. Henton, carries the work forward under the banner "Continuing the Legacy." Photographs of the next generation appear in the photo library, and the ministry's on-demand platform, broadcast schedule, bookstore, Memorial Room, and resource distribution all continue to operate under his oversight. The Breakthrough Hour, the Memorial Room, and the online store remain active, supported by a small office staff reachable Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at 773-918-0187 or by email at contact@rdhenton.org.

Through the gift shop, online archive, televised broadcast, livestreamed services, and Memorial Room visits, the work that began at 6848 South Racine in 1964 - the cleaning and repairing of an old theater to make room for a new church - still reaches around the world.