Bishop Arthur L. House, Jr. was a native of Leesburg, Florida and served as the founder and Senior Pastor of the Open Door Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship in Hampton, Virginia. His educational background included an undergraduate degree in Sociology from Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, and additional study at Rutgers, The State University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and a Master’s Degree in Divinity from Shaw University. On November 14, 2004 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity Degree from Saint Thomas Christian College located in Jacksonville, FL and was a participant in the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship Department of Christian Education Graduate School of Episcopal Studies.
Bishop House was actively involved in community service outreach as well as political and civic organizations in the states of Ohio, New Jersey and Virginia. He served as President of the Hampton Branch NAACP in Hampton, Virginia from 1980-1993 spearheading voter registration, adult and youth membership as well as organizing support for persons by driving trucks of food and clothing to the victims of the 1989 Hugo crisis. His outreach continued as he was selected as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Bayview Citizens for Change on the Eastern Shore, Virginia. As a member of this board, he was been instrumental in creating livable conditions and securing financial resources to assist many families in that area.
Having joined the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship in 1993, Bishop House was appointed 1st Assistant to the Tidewater District Overseer Rudolph Lewis and served in that capacity for four years. In 1997, the late Bishop Antonio Thomas appointed Bishop House as the Virginia State Director of Social Action. Continuing in his love for servant hood and assisting in the fellowship, Bishop House was elevated and installed as the District Overseer of the Tidewater District of Virginia in 1998 and served in that capacity for six years. In February 2005, greater works were identified as Bishop House was elevated and affirmed as the General Overseer of Home Missions for the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International.
Bishop House was consecrated as the Bishop of Home Missions on July 11, 2006 in New Orleans, LA at the 13th Annual Conference of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship, International. At this conference he was also acknowledged as the 2006 General Overseer of the Year and in September 2006 received the Unsung Hero Award from International Presiding Bishop Paul. S. Morton, Sr.
Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal. We will always cherish the teaching, training and unconditional love our Bishop shared with us. The legacy continues!
I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it:...
