Gino Jennings

Jennings was born the fourth of eight siblings on February 10, 1963. Both his parents[2] were ministerial clergy leaders at his father's uncle's church in Philadelphia. His father known as Ernest Jennings was a bishop and at the age of thirteen, after preaching his first sermon from Hebrews 11:6, the younger Gino was appointed an assistant pastor of the church in 1975.[2][3] As a teenager, after claiming the baptism of the Holy Ghost, he began preaching regularly under the tutelage of his father and great-uncle, and also began evangelizing at revivals and crusades at other churches around the city of Philadelphia with his parents.

In 1976-1978 when he was around the age of 15 he began preaching controversial sermons against the by-laws and doctrines of his great-uncle's teaching, much to his great-uncle's anger and dismay. After graduating from high school in 1981, he began preaching against his great-uncle's stances on Christian sanctification, holiness, and modesty in behavior, and clothing. Saying that the church and those in church leadership need to have stricter and more scripture based standards for such concepts. He also began preaching Nontrinitarian views, stating that he believed the Trinity perspective of God was false, and began preaching a distinct, Non-Trinitarian form of Modalistic Monarchianism. He also began preaching against and criticizing the stances and viewpoints that many people were starting to take within the church at the time. His great-uncle then temporarily suspended him of his ministerial duties, and made him take a one-year sabbatical leave of absence from preaching in the church. When he was finally given the opportunity to preach again, he told his great-uncle that he refused to back down from any of his viewpoints and teachings. Finally in 1984, at the age of 21, after going through repetitive cycles of being suspended from his ministerial duties and being forced to take sabbaticals from preaching, Jennings, his parents and his siblings left their great-uncle's church.[2][3]

He started the First Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ. (FCOOLJC) on May 21, 1984 in the basement of his family home, starting out with only 15 members, (family not included). Many of his teenage and young adult friends from high school and college, and their families also joined the church in 1984 as well. Between 1984 and 1988, several of the former members of his great-uncle's church began joining, and the congregation steadily grew. As time passed, several rooms of the basement and other areas of the house had to be used as overflow rooms.

Between 1986 and 1988, many members of his great-uncle's church began to antagonize First Church and taunt Jennings; calling him a false teacher, saying that he was putting too much of a strict emphasis on legalism. Several church and ministry auxiliaries were formed around this time as well, allowing Jennings to rent out auditoriums of public facilities around Philadelphia to use for First Church worship services and meetings.[2]

Between 1988 and 1989, Jennings began planting branch churches in other cities in Pennsylvania, and in other states such as Illinois, Michigan, Tennessee, Maryland, New York, and Virginia. The Services at the headquarters church in Philadelphia were moved to the auditorium of the former Hunting Park Recreation Center. In April 1989, First Church began having its services in the fellowship hall of an old Episcopalian Church building. Because the fellowship hall of the church was very large, the location provided enough room to accommodate the growing congregation. As the Philadelphia congregation exponentially grew, it was also at this time that Jennings fell in love with Darlene Gayman, a fellow member of the church whom he had been courting with. The two were married on April 15, 1989[4] when Jennings was 27. And to not take away from the focus of the ministry he also conducted a revival service after the wedding for the wedding guests as well.

By March 1990, Jennings and First Church had also set up their own local radio broadcasting equipment within their church and began broadcasting audio tapes and live recordings of their services on local Philadelphia radio stations. First Church was also given a thirty-minute international broadcast on WWCR Nashville, and a one-hour broadcast on WTMR Camden, New Jersey. Jennings then named the broadcasts, "The Truth of God" claiming that that was the name God gave him to give as a title to the radio broadcast, to help them reach souls and inspire interest in any Christians willing to tune in and listen. By 1991, over 11 radio stations across several states and even international radio stations in other countries in the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe were broadcasting Jennings' sermons to international listeners.

Many people of other denominations and churches have criticized Jennings and the FCOOLJC for some of their stricter beliefs and views, such as the rejection of women in church clergy based on 1st Timothy 2:12, whereby specifically which many Christians have accused them of being "religiously misogynistic",[5][6][7] and speaking in tongues (glossolalia) as a required sign of evidence of being baptized with the Holy Spirit. They also present a staunch advocacy for Nontrinitarianism,[2][3][8][9] water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, or Lord Jesus only,[3][9] requiring women to wear headcoverings and only long skirts or long dresses and rejection of the wearing of jewelry and makeup. Jennings also rejects the usage of the name "Christianity" for he believes that "Christianity" is a corrupted and tainted term. Instead the word that he believes more accurately describes the faith of the Saints, should be the term "Holiness," or the "religion of Holiness." [2][3]

On April 12, 1991, Jennings' father, Bishop Ernest Jennings died. The First Church Headquarters in Philadelphia hosted his funeral, and hundreds of people from all around the country came to pay their respects. Gino preached a very charismatic eulogy for his father which was heard on the radio and television across the country through the Truth of God broadcast.[2][3]

In November 1991, Jennings and First Church purchased an 18,000 square foot church building in the Kensington section of Philadelphia on 2431 Frankford Avenue. In February 1992, just after his 30th Birthday, the new headquarters was completed and dedicated. As time passed the ministries grew and flourished, and as of June 25, 2016, Jennings made settlement on a 200,000 square foot church facility on 5105 North 5th Street in the Olney section of Philadelphia, PA. The purchase was made after the building had been pursued by the church since 2014. The facility covers a whole city block and was previously owned by the Catholic Church. It also consists of two schools, a cafeteria, an administration building, and an old convent building that was converted into lodging quarters for members that could not afford anywhere to stay during large events held at the church. The main sanctuary can fit approximately 2,300 people and the lower autitorium can fit about 1,200. This building serves as the churches headquarters to this day.[2]

Throughout 1992 to 2016, Jennings also began going to other states around the country including Florida, California, Texas, Washington, Missouri, Colorado, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina, establishing branch churches and planting pastors in each state, further incorporating the ministries into its own stand-alone, independent church denomination. Today, the church can be found in over 20 states across the continental United States. Jennings is also continuing to work abroad establishing branch churches in Puerto Rico (which although it is a U.S. Territory, it is still considered foreign missions), England, Nigeria, the Philippines, Jamaica, Haiti, and New Zealand, and many more places around the world. His churches have also been dedicated to philanthropy and community services efforts.

Between February and March 2018, Jennings entered the media spotlight for his controversial sermons against women wearing excessive makeup, fake hair, wigs, and jewelry in church ; comparing women who do such things to Jezebel and Delilah.[10][7] Reverend Carla Dunbar called his comments erronous and degrading.[5] Jennings defended his statements by saying not to listen to how he sounded, but to what he said in defense of the teachings of Biblical modesty in dress and clothing.[7][10] Jennings agreed to meet with Jamaican entertainer "Mr. Vegas" to debate him. However he had Vegas escorted out of the building by security after an altercation that ensued between Vegas, the church's audio and visual team, and the other associate ministers on the pulpit.[11][5][12] This later led to the debate going viral throughout Jamaica, and two other ministers that agreed to debate him canceled.