Bishop Floyd I. Douglas

Pentecostal Assemblies of the World
1887 ~ 1951

 Bishop Floyd I. Douglas was born, May 10, 1887 in Nelson County, Kentucky. He was the only son of Betty and Charles Ignatius Douglas. Floyd became motherlass at the age of five, and five years later his father passed away. Afterwards, he became the custody of his grandmother, Mrs. Ary Ann Wright, who loved, and cared for him until he reached the age of fourteen, then she passed also.

The 180 acre farm purchased with proceeds of her labor as a cook at a Catholic convent was home sweet home to Floyd, and Mrs. Wright. With the school months being five out of the year, Floyd's progress along the literary lines was not too rapid. During the winter season when it was too cold for school to be held, he was privileged to study in the home of Mrs. Amanda Hall, a white school teacher who taught him to read and write with tolerable ease.

It was far from Floyd's thoughts, as it was from his means to enter college, but he seemed to have had an idea that the very atmosphere of college would assist him. Therefore, he continued to read books, and to absorb every possible bit of knowledge. There was a yearning that could not be stifled by the things that the rural afforded. His feelings were not the results of any marked cruelty in the treatment he received, but there was atugging at the strings of his heart that he himself did not understand.

At the age of fifteen, he moved to Louisville, Kentucky. His family being of the Catholic faith, Floyd received his religious training in St. Joseph Catholic School, Bardstown, Kentucky. Christened in St. Joseph Catholic Church, he was prepared to make his first holy Communion between the ages of ten and eleven years. He was a devout Catholic until he reached the age of twenty-three. He always regarded his religious experiences as the most important part of his education; it had the effect, not only of enlarging his mind, but also of restraining a disposition that was growing hard, and bitter over the disadvantages suffered by the loss of his parents.

Floyd greatly needed something that would help him to look beyond his bondage, and encourage him to hope for ultimate freedom, which is only found in Jesus Christ. While he was undergoing this experience, and while he was gradually being adjusted to the situation in which he found himself, he met a young lady by the name of Anna Bell Davis of Louisville, who played a great part in this portion of his life. On August the twenty-fourth, 1910 they were married. It was destined that Anna was to play a definite part of his early life's story. She was the first to become converted, and the first to be filled with the Holy Ghost.

In May, 1911 Floyd was converted to the Apostolic faith, and was later filled with the Holy Ghost the following September. His call to the ministry came in December of the same year. August 12, 1912 marked the opening of Elder Douglas' first church, with membership numbering about thirty-five. The location was at Hancock and Rosaline Streets in Louisville. Elder Douglas was an eloquent man, and was embraced by many, including, Bishop G.T. haywood, and Elder Alexander Schooler of Cleveland, Ohio. In 1918, Elder Douglas was elected to Field Superintendent in the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World. In Jily, 1919 he was instrumental in establishing the first District Council of Kentucky. By August, 1923 thirteen churches were subject to the mother church in the Kentucky Council. 

After laboring in Kentucky for twelve and one half years, there came a call from the west coast. Elder W.M. Carson, pastor of the Apostolic Faith Home Assembly, located at 1122 E. 33rd Street, Los Angeles had become ill, and his desire was that Elder Douglas should have complete charge of the church, and entire membership. In 1927, Elder Douglas placed the Louisville church in the hands of Bishop G.T. Haywood. In 1928, Elder Douglas became Bishop Douglas. In 1934, he bacame senior bishop because of certain changes in the PAW, and because of his credentials dating as far back as October 12, 1912.

On November 4, 1946 Bishop Douglas became very ill. He was confined to his bed for three months. Rest and quietness was a daily necessity. He was a man who fought with courage to the end, and was heard saying, "I have done my work." No stranger was he among us, nor a guest, but a father, pastor, bishop, our own dearly beloved. On April 20, 1951, Bishop Floyd I. Douglas fell on sleep, now awaiting the resurrection.