Over the past 60 years, the Unified Free Will Baptist Church has continued with great strides while staying focused on the mandate that Christ left his church.
Leaders, officers, and members have come and gone, but the work of our general church remains committed to consolidating the religious bodies of the Free Will Baptist Faith.
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The birth of this mighty movement began in September 1964, when the Northern (B) Division of the United American Free Will Baptist Church Annual Conference decided to withdraw fellowship from the General Conference of the United American Free Will Baptist Church.
The body decided to form a new connection known as the Unified Free Will Baptist Church under the leadership of Rev. Lloyd Taylor, Pastor of the St. Matthew UAFWB Church, New Haven, CT.
Rev. Lloyd Taylor was elected the first Annual Moderator, holding the distinction as founder, and Rev. Caldwell Thomas, Pastor of the Randall Chapel UAFWB Church Newark, NJ was elected Vice Moderator of our newly formed denomination.
In September 1972, the 9th session of the Unified Free Will Baptist Annual Conference convened and the leaders decided to establish the general conference. They sent Rev. Collie Edwers, NJ & NY, Rev. Otis Park, NY & CT, and Rev. Herman Epps, CT to form annual regional conferences.
The general conference leaders elected Rev. Lloyd Taylor as the General Overseer, Rev. Caldwell Thomas General as the Moderator, and Rev. Jonathan Powell as the Vice General Moderator.
In October 1973, the General Executive Board, held at the English Chapel in Bridgeport, CT, voted to change the church's structure by modifying the names of the clergy. They changed the title of Reverend to Elder and General/Annual Moderator to Bishop.
In December 1973, Pitts Chapel UFWB Church, in New Haven, CT, held the first consecration for the following ministers to the office of Bishop:
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Rev. Caldwell Thomas
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Rev Jonathan Powell
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Rev. Collie Edwers
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Rev. Anderson Adams
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Rev. Lawrence Bordeaux
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Rev Lester Coward
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Rev. Austin Atkinson.
In 1978, after Bishop Caldwell Thomas resigned, Bishop Jonathan Powell was elected General Bishop, and Bishop Collie Edwers was elected Vice General Bishop of the Unified Free Will Baptist Church.
As our denomination grew, the general church added the Second Vice General Bishop position, electing Bishop Curtis Gilmore, and accepted the following conferences into admission:
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Metropolitan NJ & NY, Bishop Curtis Gilmore
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Northeast CT, Bishop Walter Joyner
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Northeast Atlantic NJ, Bishop Robert Adams
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New England CT, Bishop Lester Coward & Bishop Aaron Gore
In April 2001, Vice General Bishop Collie Edwers passed away, and the Council of Bishops elected Bishop Hilton Rawls of St. Paul UFWB Church in Newark, NJ, to serve the unexpired term.
Bishop Jonathan Powell resigned in 2002, and Bishop Hilton Rawls became Interim Presiding General Bishop. In September 2002, the General Conference elected Bishop Elijah Davis as the new Presiding General, Bishop Hilton Rawls as the First Vice General Bishop, and Bishop C. Nathan Edwers as the Second Vice General Bishop.
Following Bishop Elijah Davis’s resignation in 2021, a special election was held on March 26, 2022, at the Pitts Chapel Unified Free Will Baptist Church in New Haven, CT, where Bishop C. Nathan Edwers was elected General Bishop.
Bishop Hilton Rawls was elected First Vice General Bishop, and Overseer Hellen Harris (the first woman) was elected Second Vice General Overseer of the Unified Free Will Baptist Church General Conference.
On September 16, 2023, during the 17th Triennial Session of the Unified Free Will Baptist General Conference, an election was held at Friendship Worship Center in Mt. Vernon, NY. Bishop C. Nathan Edwers was re-elected as the General Bishop.
Overseer Helen Harris was elected First Vice General Overseer, and Bishop-Designate Darrell L. McClam was elected Second Vice General Bishop-Designate of the Unified Free Will Baptist Church General Conference.
Submitted By: Archbishop C. Nathan Edwers, Historian
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