Twenty-one years later the growing movement formally adopted the name Church of God. Ten years after the organizational meeting, a revival at the Shearer Schoolhouse in nearby Camp Creek, North Carolina, introduced the doctrine of sanctification to the community. Opposition to this doctrine led to severe persecution, but a spirit of revival prevailed and the Holiness believers experienced an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that included speaking in tongues and divine healing. Such experiences prepthe early twentieth century.
Under the leadership of our first General Overseer, A. J. Tomlinson, the Church of God adopted a centralized form of Church government with an inclusive International General Assembly (1906), launched a world evangelization effort beginning in the Bahamas (1909), inaugurated the Church of God Evangel (1910), and established educational opportunities for ministers and members (1918). Today Church of God ministries have more than 7 million members in 178 nations and territories.
Some 36,000 congregations serve around the world while regional and international ministries provide resources and support through our divisions of World Evangelization, Care, Discipleship, Education, and Support Services.
The Live Oak Church of God originally met in the Old Salem community, about eight miles southwest of Live Oak, when it was established in 1919. In 1939, the church moved into Live Oak and constructed a building on East Duval Street. In the late 1970's, the Church was relocated a third time on U.S. 129.
Live Oak, Florida is home to the burial place of Robert M. and Ida Evans, First Church of God Missionaries, traveling from Miami, Florida to the Bahama Islands.