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 Crazy Praise Break At COGIC AIM 2013
Dorinda's 2013 COGIC AIM Praise Break (Baltimore, Maryland)
 AIM TV 2013-Live from Baltimore, Maryland-Hour-1

Bishop Mason was born the son of former slaves Jerry and Eliza Mason in Shelby County, Tennessee. He lived with his family in an unincorporated area near Bartlett. Mason worked with his family sharecropping and he did not receive an early formal education. As a child, Mason was greatly influenced by the religion of his parents. In 1879, when he was twelve, Mason joined the African-American Missionary Baptist Church; he was later baptized by his older brother, Rev. I. S. Nelson. In 1893, he began his ministerial career by accepting a local license from the Mount Gale Missionary Baptist Church in Preston, AR. On November 1, 1893 Mason entered the Arkansas Baptist College, but withdrew after three months because of his dissatisfaction with their curriculum and methodology. At this period he became enamored with the autobiography of Amanda Berry Smith, an African-American Methodist evangelist. Smith had become a convert of the new wave of Holiness that was spreading during the latter part of the nineteenth century. Those who had accepted the Holiness message testified of being "sanctified" and cleansed from sin. Mason claimed sanctification and began preaching the doctrine of Holiness and Sanctification in the local baptist churches. In 1895, Mason also became acquainted with Charles Price Jones, a popular Baptist preacher from Mississippi who shared his enthusiasm for holiness teachings, as well as J. E. Jeter from Little Rock, AR, and W. S. Pleasant from Hazelhurst, MS. These men spread the doctrine of Holiness and Sanctification throughout the African-American Baptist churches in Mississippi, Arkansas, and western Tennessee. In June 1896, these men conducted a revival, preaching the message of Sanctification and Holiness that eventually led to the expulsion for the local baptist association.^[2] In 1897, Mason and Jones, being expelled from the local Baptist Association for preaching Holiness, formed a new fellowship of churches named simply "Church of God." Mason suggested the name "the Church of God in Christ" (COGIC), a name he said came to him during a vision in Little Rock, Arkansas, to distinguish the church from a number of "Church of God" groups that were forming at the time. In 1900, Mason met a young woman named Alice Saxton and married her. However, she divorced him and said that she did not want to be married to a preacher. He vowed not to marry again, believing in only one living wife. In March 1907, Mason was sent by the church to Los Angeles to investigate the revival being led by Elder William J. Seymour, experienced the baptism of the Holy Ghost and spoke in tongues.
Soon after his experience in Los Angeles, he returned to Mississippi preaching the new Pentecostal teachings on the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, but found that Elder Jones, the general overseer of the group, was opposed to it. After much debate at the general convocation in June 1907, Mason was expelled from the church. Later in November, he established a new pentecosal group in Memphis. He was elected the General Overseer of his group. After years of conflict, he won the legal rights to the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) name and charter in 1915. In the years that followed, Mason ably directed his fledgling, commissioning traveling evangelists to spread COGIC's message, establishing working partnerships with various individuals, and particularly targeting the masses of African Americans headed for work in Northern cities.
After moving to Memphis and establishing it as the headquarters of COGIC, Mason founded and pastored the Temple COGIC. He established the annual "International Holy Convocation" to be held annually each year. As the church continued to grow, he established departments and auxiliaries including the Women's Department, Sunday School, and Young People Willing Workers (YPWW) which is known today as the International Youth Department (IYD). He also appointed overseers and established dioceses of the church throughout the country. Bishop Mason's preaching was very practical and his delivery was spontaneous, often moving from teaching to preaching to singing and praying all in one presentation. However, he is most known for his consistent, disciplined and deliberate prayer life. In fact, COGIC prides itself as a church built on prayer and fasting. Bishop Mason is credited with writing the prayer chant, "Yes Lord" that has become known worldwide and sung not only by COGIC, but countless churches and other reformations.

C.H. Mason and Lelia Washington 

date unknown

 In 1912, Bishop Mason married Lelia Washington, a year after the death of his first wife, and to this union were born seven children. Mason traveled the length and breadth of the country and many foreign lands preaching and establishing COGIC churches. Bishop Mason was not exclusive in his ministry, he preached in COGIC and non-COGIC churches alike. He also preached to interracial audiences as well. In fact Bishop Mason licensed several white pentecostal ministers and in 1914 he preached at the founding meeting of the Assemblies of God. In 1917, he was monitored by the government for speaking in opposition to America's entrance and support of WWI. His opposition, however, stemmed from the use of African-American men being called to fight for democracy abroad while having to face racism and discrimination here at home. In 1917, he also purchased 400 acres in Lexington, MS to establish the Saints Industrial and Literary School. The school began classes in 1918 and eventually became Saint's College. The college was the major institution of higher learning for cogic youth until closed in 1976. In 1926, Mason further organized COGIC by authorizing the church's constitution outlining the bylaws, rules, and regulations of the church. In 1933, Bishop Mason set apart five overseers who became the first bishops in the church. In 1942, after the death of his second wife, Bishop Mason married his third and final wife, Elsie Washington, who died in 2006. In 1945, Mason dedicated the now historic Mason Temple in Memphis as the church's national meeting site. At that time, it was the largest auditorium of any African-American religious group in the United States.