When the history of the King’s Chapel Church is told to generations to come, historians will curiously place their convex lens over a tiny village on the map magnifying the east side of Shinnecock Bay. Early settlers will recall this as Odd Village, just outside the Shinnecock Reservation.

Two such early settlers were Mary Kingsberry Jefferson and husband John Jefferson who were saved and received the baptism of the Holy Ghost while members of the First Baptist Church of Southampton, pastored by Reverend Green. The vibrant sound of Pentecostalism was somewhat new. As such, Pastor Green encouraged the Jeffersons to find a Pentecostal church where they could express the unction which now “sat upon them.”

Eager, indeed, to fulfill the passion of their new Pentecostal experience, the Jeffersons traveled to Hempstead every Sunday to attend services at the Church of God in Christ All Saints Temple, a Pentecostal church on Franklin Avenue which met their thirst for a greater spiritual outpouring. In 1937 the Jefferson family relocated to Hempstead and, as the Lord would order it, returned to Southampton in 1939. Yet while attending the Hempstead services, Mary Jefferson heard Pastor Joseph Arnold King – a Hebrew Theologian, scholarly and stately gentleman of Black Creek Indian descent himself- preach a message entitled “Drop Your Net Boys, Follow Me and I Will Make You Fishers of Men.”

The power of the message so heavily impacted Mary Jefferson that it stirred up the gift of evangelism within her and – in turn, putting her gifts to work in the field – souls were saved and filled with the Holy Ghost all over Southampton. Sadly, in 1939, one of the Jefferson daughters passed away and, at the request of the Jefferson Family, Reverend King, for the first time, came to Southampton to officiate the home going. By God’s divine providence, the closing benediction of this home going would become the opening stanza of a homecoming. For it was in the home of the Jefferson’s that Pastor King would embark upon the first of decades of travel to Southampton on alternating Sundays.

Soon a little brown house was purchased on Hillcrest Avenue as their first church building. Later, through the Lord’s favor, a small white church was built and became what is known today as the historic King’s Chapel Church of God in Christ. The original church archives would officially record Reverend J.A. King, Mary Kingsberry Jefferson and John Jefferson as founders of the King’s Chapel Church of God in Christ in the year 1939.

Some 20 years later, to meet the church’s growing needs, Pastor King spearheaded the expansion of the Chapel sanctuary which continued to develop even as the membership flourished during his 39 years of service. As his age progressed, however, Pastor King gradually moved toward retirement, which became official in June of 1978. While visiting family in August 1978 in St. Louis, the founding father of this historic temple let down his own net one final time and followed his Savior to the Heavenly King’s chapel not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Following the death of Dr. King, the church was sustained by the prayers and faithfulness of the members of the congregation until Bishop O.M. Kelly appointed Reverend Charles E. Quillen to the pastorate. During Dr. Quillen’s pastorate, the Eastern New York Jurisdiction endured the deaths of two state Bishops: Bishop O.M. Kelly and Bishop F.D. Washington. Consequently, Dr. Quillen and King’s Chapel joined the newly established Third Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Eastern New York under the prelacy of Bishop Frank Otha White. After serving King’s Chapel dutifully for 18 years (1978 to 1996), Dr. Quillen relocated south.  In February 2004, while residing in Georgia, Dr. Quillen went to be with the Lord. Upon Pastor Quillen’s departure, Bishop White cared faithfully for the church with complete devotion of an overseer for more than two years. Then the hour finally came, when after much prayer and deliberation Bishop White announced that he would be sending, literally, “the best he had,” his son Elder Frank Anthone White to lead King’s Chapel onward.

Immediately, new life was breathed into the Temple! Pastor White descended upon what was affectionately known as “The Chapel” as a forward-moving leader with all of the intellectual, professional and spiritual resources at hand to lift the ministry to an entirely new and energetic level. The results of his anointing for pastoral leadership quickly began to manifest: Under Pastor White’s leadership of 10 years The Chapel congregation has continued to flourish and grow not only in membership (drawing members from as far west as Queens and the boroughs of Manhattan as well from all across Long Island), but in ministerial services in response to Pastor White’s vision of “Marketplace Ministry: Taking the Church Outside the Box.” Among his many pastoral accomplishments, Pastor White efficiently mobilized the physical renovation of King’s Chapel and coordinated relevant social, educational, economic and evangelism focused projects which continue to enhance the growth of King’s Chapel.

In Pastor White, King’s Chapel once again stood proud in its tradition of having had some of the greatest Gospel preachers – all doctoral scholars in their own right – advance the groundwork of holiness in Southampton through its ministries. Today, King’s Chapel operates as one of the strongest religious bodies in the entire area under Pastor White’s mandate of excellence in the areas of missions, evangelism, Christian education, music and liturgical arts, and considering the critical demand of Pastor White by the most prestigious pulpits, conferences and summits in the nation – the Ministry of the Preached Word.

The reconstructed frame of Odd Village yet sits outside of the Shinnecock Reservation. Members of the Shinnecock Nation now sit and worship within the Chapel. Under this great man’s marketplace diagram for modern ministry, the Chapel operates where it is destined to be most effective to a hungry world: outside the box.