Full Gospel Tabernacle is the church where soul and gospel legend Al Green has ministered since 1976. Green's journey to this pulpit is one of the most dramatic stories in American music. By the early 1970s, he was the most successful soul singer in the world — 'Let's Stay Together,' 'I'm Still in Love with You,' 'Here I Am' were all number one hits.
Then in October 1974, a woman he had refused to marry burst into his bathroom and poured a pot of boiling grits on him before taking her own life. Green survived the physical burns, but the spiritual wound went deeper. He experienced it as a divine rebuke.
Within two years, he had left secular music, purchased this small church in Whitehaven, and became its full-time pastor. He occasionally returned to pop music over the decades, but his primary calling became ministry. The church holds Sunday services that visitors are welcome to attend.
The choir is magnificent, the congregation is welcoming, and if you're lucky, Reverend Green himself will be at the pulpit. Some conversions are public and permanent.