I wouldnt be able to talk to you today if I had made the decision not to stay until God moved me.

What is the purpose of the annual convocation and what do you hope people will gain from this years experience? Bishop Gadsden: Our annual convocation is a time for us to bring all of our supportive ministries and leaders from around the world to one location for the purpose of fellowship, strategic planning, and impartation. It grants us a wonderful opportunity to bring people who are connected to us from across the globesome as far as Spain and Africa. We come to sit down and hear what is on the Apostles and the leaders heart. We plan and we provide spiritual impartation. This is an valuable experience in which we want it to be beneficial to everyone who will attend. We want people to know that we love them and that we are here to support them. The convocation is a time of refreshing in the Holy Spirit and an opportunity to be refueled. This years theme Prophetic Passion will invoke us to understand what happens when church becomes a chore and ministry becomes inexistence. We are going to speak into our leaders and help them break the glass ceiling thats preventing them from achieving the vision thats in them. As well, were going to impart into the people who attend these churches. Its not just for the leaders. Its for everyone. People are seeking more than church programs and chicken dinners. They want more than inspiration, and this is what we strive to achieve. I believe Christ is an experience, and we will facilitate this experience during the convocation.

Michael

GADSDEN

RM: Youve been in ministry for a long time and have maintained that the mandate on your life is to reach the lost at any cost. How is this being accomplished through you? Bishop Gadsden: Ive been in ministry for more than 20 years, and I reach out into the community on a regular basis. We have a food and clothing give-a-way program that we manage. Its been very successful. Its promoted on television and throughout our entire community. We give away hot meals, groceries, and money for gas. We try to answer the plight of our community. We deal with the real issues, and we do all of this without charging a dime. We dont ask people to bring money. We dont lift up an offering when they come. We want to give something to the people in our community. Anyone can come. Its not just for the homeless or for those who are in need. Its for anyone who doesnt feel like cooking that day. This is something we do for those on the outside of this ministry, and for those in the ministry itself, I prepare a meal for them every Bible study evening. If you show up, well feed you. We have computers and sponsor adult education classes. We assist those who have been incarcerated. We work with people from all walks of society from the homeless to the doctor, and we do all of this so that everyone will be touched. We want people to feel the love of Christ, and what were doing is expressing His love. We are the citys ministry, and we want people to know that if any area of their life is broken, were going to be here. RM: It seems as if most of what youre doing involves outreach. What is the passion behind this? Bishop Gadsden: It is the fact that I was once there. I was in that place before. Everything that I am doing for other people is because I have experienced it in my lifetimesome things more than once. But God always sent someone who had a heart for people to come and help me. From that point on, I said I would live my life to help others.

I want to make a difference. I dont want to just have church. Thats the last thing I do. I know how to have church with my eyes closed. My father is a pastor and my family is involved in ministry. But my passion is to help people. I want what I do in this lifetime to speak for me when I am gone. I want my actions to tell my story. I dont want to past by anyone who I can help. My wife and I have never had a home where it was just my family and I. We have allowed others to live with us just to help them get back onto their feet. This is just my heart. This is what God has placed in me to do, and if I cant reach out to help anyone, then I am nothing. This is why I love the song that says, If I can help someone as I travel along this way, then my living is not in vain. This is what Im chasing after. Of course Ive been told Im crazy. People have said youre giving away good money and good food. Trust me. I have tried not to, but I cant help it. There have been days when I have had things taken from me and days when people have used me. But its just like fire. It is my prophetic passion to help people. RM: Youve modeled your ministry after the scripture Where theres no vision, the people perish (Pro. 29:18). How does this impact the church, the convocation, and all that God has purposed in you to fulfill? Bishop Gadsden: I try to take the vision that God has given me and transcend this to other people. I believe the way we see people will determine how we respond and act towards them. We should deal with ministry out of the heart of God and not out of the mind of man. We are supposed to treat people the way Christ did. He did not treat others how they treated him no matter how bad it was. He even went as far as to say forgive them because He understood they did not know that what they were doing was hurting Christ. Then, the Bible continues and teaches us to Let this mind be in you and I which was also in Christ Jesus [Phil 2:5]. So from this, I love

people and deal with people based on whats in my heart and not whats in my head. I can change my mind about helping you, but Ill never change my heart. I see whats happening in our communities and how this is scaring churches away in our city. Yet, we believe we can help. We can offer a solution to what is going on. I walk by faith [heart] and not by sight [head]. People often tell me I have too much passion. But this is who I am. Again, its my prophetic passion. RM: I dont believe there can be an instance when you have too much passion. Passion is what drives you when you dont want to do it [ministry]. Have you ever been in that place before? Bishop Gadsden: Yes, of course. As a matter of fact, this time last year I was living on the streets. I lived in my car. We had lost everythingthe house, the church, all of our moneyit was all gone because someone decided to steal from us. My wife took the kids and moved in with her parents and I lived in my car. I felt as if there was no one who could help me. RM: Now, I saw you last year at the Grace Gathering with a million dollar smile on your face. Bishop Gadsden: Youre right, and two weeks later all of this happened. As a matter of fact, Apostle Sammy C. Smith came and preached at the convocation last year. He prophesied to me that hard times were coming, and it wasnt two days later when these things began to hit the fan. We were in a multi-million dollar facility and we lost it. He told me, Thats not the facility that God wants you to have. I was looking at him like he was crazy because I had my 401K tied into this. Yet, he was exactly right. We lost it all. Still, I had to trust God. Even when I cant trace His hand, I have to trust His heart. I believe God has my best interest at heart. So, I sat in my car until my
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breakthrough came. Yes, I wanted to quit. I wanted to do something to bring myself out of it. I was even ready to go back into the world to do what I needed to do to help my family. Then God told me that I wasnt

my word, you will not die. I went back to Charleston that same weekend and the doctors took more x-rays. They compared them to the first ones. One showed cancer and the other showed healed. No cancer.

a good woman. Does this describe your wife, Kimberly?

Bishop Gadsden: It does. She is my biggest supporter. She is my biggest cheerleader. She is a worshipper. She makes preaching easy. Kimberly pastors the church. Im the overseer, but shes the pastor. Shes a mother, grandmother, and a wonderful woman who never loses sight that she doesnt have to be out front or on top. Thats what makes her so great.

At that point last year, I didnt have any money to eat. I didnt have a place to shower or to lay my head. Everyone I tried to call could not help me.
alone. He was there with me. There were some things He needed to share with me, and it turned out to be an astronomical experience. I wouldnt be able to talk to you today if I had made the decision not to stay until God moved me. There was nothing, and Ive never had a problem with it again. Ive been preaching ever since. I want to share that the moral behind this is that our churches have lost the sight of being a safe house. The church should be a healing center and a promotion platform where people can come in and receive direction. Their dreams and visions are dying because no one wants to open the doors of Gods house. Our children should be able to come to the church and receive an education. We should have a platform for entrepreneurs. This should be happening in the church. I believe God is going to bless us with a new facility, and this time, He has instructed me not to put a name on it. It wont have New Vision Outreach Center or my name on it. It will be The Vision Center because it will be for more than just church. Everything you need to live will be in this center.

RM: What has been the biggest lesson or obstacle youve had to overcome in ministry?
Bishop Gadsden: One lesson has been that in the midst of helping people, everyone will not appreciate what you do. I am past this. The next lesson has been to never give away anything youre not willing to lose. My father taught me this. I have giving away money, clothes, and so much more. I have given things to people who said they would repay me, bu thave never seen them again. Ive pulled people out of trash cans only to have them come into my home and steal from me. Yet, what I understand is that people and things can be here today and gone tomorrow. Its not about me. Its about God. These are His people. Im just here to do the work of the ministry.

RM: You often say, Its a matter of life and death. Is this what youre referring to?
Bishop Gadsden: People dont always understand that when you are plugged into God, you have to go where He tells you to go. Sometimes this means leaving your family and going to a place that He shows you when you get there. There are only two options. Either youre going to obey or youre going to disobey. For someone reading this article, this may mean life or death. At that point last year, I didnt have any money to eat. I didnt have a place to shower or to lay my head. Everyone I tried to call could not help me. Some people didnt even have the integrity to help me. Yet, at the same time, a lot of this goes back to my childhood. I was crippled as a child. My parents were told that I would never walk. I didnt even talk until I was five-years-old. I was hit in the head with an axe at the age of 14. The doctors said I would have severe brain damage for the rest of my life. Then, in 1989 I was told I had terminal cancer. They gave me six months to live. I was at the point of death. One day, I was in Sumter, South Carolina looking for a church that was opened. There was one. It was Grace Cathedral COGIC. The pastor at that time was Elder Sammy C. Smith. The doors of his church were the only ones that were unlocked and opened for me to enter that day. I wasnt even going to church at that time, but I knew I needed to be in Gods house that day. I asked Elder Smith if I could pray at the altar. He said, Sure son. Go right on in. He didnt even know me and he didnt ask me one single question. I laid at the altar and prayed and prayed and prayed. God spoke to me and said, If you preach

RM: Do you believe these are the other obligations God has called you to fulfill?
Bishop Gadsden: Yes. Preaching is only 25% of what I do. I believe He has called me to help raise leaders and to help pastors promote their vision. I am a behind-the-scenes person. I can tell you how to get ten thousand people to come to your church, but you have to be able to see it past the fact that I dont have ten thousand members. Thats not what God has for me. If youre going to have a worldwide ministry, you cant be stuck in one place. This is my gift to help the Body of Christ.

RM: Theres an old proverbial phrase that says, Beside every good man is