Trigger Warning: This article contains references to an individual's death.
The subject of Come Sunday on Netflix, Bishop Carlton Pearson, died on Sunday at the age of 70. According to his agent, the founder of a former megachurch in Oklahoma passed away on Sunday night in Tulsa hospice care from cancer. He was labeled a heretic, and lost his audience, but gained new ones after he rejected the notion of hell and supported gay rights.
A post on Pearson's page read, "We are saddened to inform you that Bishop Carlton D’Metrius Pearson, one of the most popular and influential preachers in America and around the world, who sacrificed everything for a message of unconditional love and acceptance by God, died peacefully the night of November 19, 2023."
How did Bishop Carlton Pearson die?
For two years, Carlton Pearson experienced an infection that progressed from sepsis to cancer. Pearson was discovered to have bladder-lining cancer in September 2023.
Who was Bishop Carlton Pearson?
Early life
Pearson was born in San Diego, California, on March 19, 1953. He sang with the World Action Singers while attending Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, where he was coached by Oral Roberts. He afterward joined the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association as an associate evangelist. He received his license and was ordained in the God in Christ Church.
AdvertisementMinistry life
He was regarded as a rising star in the Pentecostal preaching circuit early in his ministry and frequently made appearances on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, which exposed him to a global audience. The Higher Dimensions Evangelistic Center, which Pearson founded in 1981, grew to be one of Tulsa's biggest churches.
He was once one of only two African-American pastors, along with Dr. Frederick K. C. Price, to host a weekly national television preaching show that reached millions or hundreds of thousands of viewers each week. He is also recognized as one of the first black ministers to hold significant conferences in stadiums and arenas across the nation
In 2007, Pearson spearheaded a national movement of hundreds of clergy members to push Congress to enact historic anti-discrimination and anti-hate crime laws for the LGBT community. After being labeled a heretic and rejected by fellow evangelical leaders, Pearson went on to become a minister of the United Church of Christ.
In September 2008, Pearson delivered his last sermon at Higher Dimensions before the church was merged into All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa. Higher Dimensions eventually lost its building due to foreclosure.
Additionally, as a result of his convictions, Pearson resigned from the board of regents at Oral Roberts University, his alma mater, and broke with evangelist and university founder Oral Roberts.
Carlton Pearson's wife and children
At the age of forty, Pearson got married to the former Gina Marie Gauthier in September 1993 and they have two kids together. Gina Pearson filed for divorce from Carlton on August 25, 2015, and their separation became official on October 3, 2019.
Come Sunday on Netflix
The Gospel of Inclusion and Pearson's life were portrayed in the Netflix movie Come Sunday. Joshua Marston directed the film, which starred Chiwetel Ejiofor as the ferocious Pentecostal pastor, and it was released in April 2018.
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