The DuQuoin Gospel Assembly Church is a Pentecostal with a rich history dating back to 1919. This is when Brother John Trout first brought the Pentecostal message to the DuQuoin community.
Church services where held in a small building erected on our present property 1921 for less than a year. In 1931 the building at 19 North Leonard was rented and services were conducted by a number of different ministers.
In 1933 Brother Robert Pair, Brother Jess Vickers Sr. and Brother Albert Norris journeyed to Elco, IL to attend services there. Brother Pair approached Brother William Sowders at that meeting and asked if he could come to DuQuoin to help them. After thoughtful prayer, he replied “I cannot come, but I will send my son James.”
On September 8, 1933 Brother James Sowders and his wife Clara came to DuQuoin to begin pastoring the church.
Brother Beryl Clark became pastor of the church on February 11, 1953. He conducted his first service February 14, 1953. He pastored and oversaw the work until his retirement in 1984.
In the fall of 1965 Brother Jack Ross and his wife, Bobby, pastored the church for almost a year.
From July of 1977 into 1978 Brother G. V. Garretson was the pastor.
Brother Clark and the saints of the church began groundbreaking for a new sanctuary in March of 1981. Six months and ten days later the new structure was completed, debt-free.
In 1984 Brother Dennis Fitzsimmons and his wife, Florence, began pastoring the church.
Brother Fitzsimmons continued as pastor until January 15, 2012, when Brother Gaylen Holden and his wife, Karen, began pastoring.