n 1884 he met the Georgia Conference at Valdosta, Ga., and
was ordained an Elder by Bishop W. F. Dickerson, and was
stationed at Quitman, Ga., remaining there two years. In
January, 1886, he was transferred by Bishop James A. Shorter
to the North Georgia Conference and stationed at Big Bethel
A. M. E. Church, Atlanta, Ga., the city in which he was
born. His mother had been a member of this church and its
old members knew him when a boy. There he remained four
years with great success, raising the largest amount of
dollar money that had up to that time been raised in the
State: by this he became one of the dollar money kings of
the connection for 1886 and was awarded a gold badge by the
Financial Department of the A. M. E. Church. Thus, in six
years after entering the ministry, he became pastor of the
largest church in the State at the age of twenty-seven
years. In 1889 he was assigned to Pierce's Chapel, Athens,
Ga., and served it three years. In 1892 he was made
Presiding Elder of the Athens District, which place he
filled for three years. In 1893 he preached the annual
sermon to the students of Allen University, Columbia, S. C.,
when the faculty and Trustee Board conferred on him the
title of Doctor of Divinity. In 1892 he was a delegate to
the General Conference of the A. M. E. Church, which met in
Philadelphia, and served as a member on the committee on
statistics.

In 1895 he was stationed a second time in Atlanta, at Allen
Temple, A. M. E. Church, remaining here four years with
great success and entertaining the session of the North
Georgia Conference in his last year. He was elected again to
the General Conference, which met at Wilmington, N. C., in
May, 1896, and served on the committee on revision of
discipline.

In 1899 he was elected not only a delegate but the leader of
his delegation to the General Conference, which met at
Columbus, Ohio, in May, 1900. Here he was elected without
opposition chairman of the Episcopal Committee, the most
important committee of the church; it is composed of all the
leaders of the delegations from all parts of the church, and
before this committee the Bishops appear for an examination
in their moral, religious and official character; it fixes
the boundaries of the districts an