Rising Together
Revived. Refocused. Recommitted.
Jude 3
Why I'm Running for Presiding Bishop of the
Pentecostal Assemblies of the World
I envision a Pentecostal Assemblies of the World united in holiness, love, and service under the lordship of Jesus Christ. I see a global fellowship of Spirit-filled believers “saved to serve,” where every generation and culture joins together in worship and compassionate outreach.
I see a church family that shines the light of Christ in every community — nurturing youth, strengthening families, and reaching souls worldwide through the power of the Holy Spirit. This vision is grounded in my deep commitment to holy living, to unity in the Body of Christ, and to the uplift of all people through God’s love.
A Letter to the Leaders and Workers
of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World
Bishop Mark Tolbert
Rising Together: Revived. Refocused. Recommitted.
Dear Executive Bishops Council, Board of Bishops, Suffragan Bishops, District Elders, Pastors, Elders, Evangelists, Ministers, and church workers of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, grace and peace be unto you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
With this letter I am announcing my intention to run for Presiding Bishop of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World.
God has blessed me to labor alongside extraordinary men and women whose faith, wisdom, and dedication have shaped the identity and legacy of our beloved organization. I have witnessed firsthand the power of their unity, sacrifice, and vision and I have been inspired. Through prayer, preparation, and the hand of God, I believe the Lord has prepared me to serve as the next Presiding Bishop -- to offer clear direction, courageous leadership, and spiritual stewardship.
For nearly sixty years, I have had the privilege of serving this great organization in so many capacities. My journey began as a young drummer. My father, District Elder Lee A. Tolbert, loaded up our family and a set of drums and we drove to Detroit, Michigan, where I played for the first time at the 1968 PAW Summer Convention. God allowed me to serve as praise and worship leader for the Tillman administration and then I progressed in local leadership roles, serving four years as council youth president, eight years as council chairman, and six years as a PAW regional lay director.
For the last 30 years I have served in PAW executive leadership including as General Treasurer, Diocesan Bishop of the Canada District Council, and now concurrently as Diocesan Bishop of Heart of America Council of Churches, Interim Diocesan Bishop of the California Central District Council, and the First Assistant Presiding Bishop of the PAW.
During this time, the Lord also enabled me to lead a team that has secured unprecedented resources for the purposes of strengthen PAW pastors, their churches, and our infrastructure. Our next endeavor includes launching a media campaign dedicated to spreading the gospel. These opportunities, provided by our partnership with the Lilly Endowment, are only the beginning.
Resources support the work but only the Spirit can revive the people. With all that we have gained in the last century, our greatest gift to the world remains our message of baptism in Jesus’ Name with the infilling of the Holy Ghost. My brothers and sisters, our moment is now. The world is spiritually hungry, the church is ready, and the Holy Ghost is stirring.
I firmly believe God will allow us to usher the PAW into its most impactful era yet -- faithful to our doctrine, responsive to our times, and bold in our witness. To ready myself, I am preparing to lead a pilgrimage to Topeka, Kansas, returning to the sacred site where the Holy Ghost fell in 1901. I also envision taking our international body to the historic Azusa Street in Los Angeles, where God ignited a Holy Ghost revival that transformed the world.
The hour has come for another outpouring of unmistakable power and global influence, not only in America but across the nations. Kindling this fire is one of my four key priorities, along with strengthening support for ministry, increasing income and resources, and increasing the PAW’s profile, reputation, and influence.
I want to commend Presiding Bishop Theodore L. Brooks, Sr., who has led this organization to a heightened level of spirituality and ethical compliance. He has laid a foundation from which we can build, and an opportunity to discern what God is saying to the PAW in this next season.
As we approach the upcoming election, I humbly ask for your support and your vote. With your prayers and partnership, I am prepared to lead our organization into a new era marked by spiritual power, organizational excellence, and global impact. Together, we will experience not just growth, but greater effectiveness for the kingdom.
Let us rise together—revived, refocused, and recommitted to “the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” - Jude 3.
See my preliminary plan and explore this website to learn more about the vision God has given me and my record of service, or to share with me your thoughts about the PAW’s future!
In His Service,
Bishop Mark Tolbert
First Assistant Presiding Bishop
Diocesan Bishop – Heart of America Council of Churches
Interim Diocesan Bishop – California District Council
Bishop Mark Tolbert's
Draft Plan for the Future of the PAW
Rising Together: Revived. Refocused. Recommitted.
The Pentecostal Assemblies of the World has been blessed with a rich history, strong churches, and faithful people. Now it is time to build on that foundation, strengthen what we already have, and prepare for what God is calling us to next. This administration wants to take care of our people, build up our churches, and make sure the PAW stays strong for generations to come.
Take care of our people
Build up our churches
PAW strong for generations
1
Strengthen Support for Ministry
We want every pastor, church worker, and leader to know that the PAW has their back. This administration will intentionally identify, train, and mentor young pastors and leaders so the work of the Lord does not stop with us, it continues to be strong after us.
2
Increase Income & Resources
Ministry takes faith but it also takes resources. We will be wise stewards and bring our best minds together. We will form a PAW “brain trust” of thinkers, planners, and problem-solvers to help guide smart decisions for auxiliaries and non-revenue generating ministries. We will pursue more grants by creating a grantwriting guild that helps secure funding to strengthen councils and the general body.
3
Increase PAW's Profile, Reputation & Influence
We want people to see that God is still moving in the PAW. We will launch PAW TV, a PAW streaming platform to share preaching, teaching, worship, and testimonies from around the world. We will tell our story digitally by strengthening our website and social media presence—including weekly reports of baptisms and Holy Ghost infillings from PAW churches around the world.
4
Strengthen Our Young People
We will strengthen and reignite IPYPU programming for this present generation. Building upon what has already been established, this administration is committed to expanding more engaging, spiritually meaningful, and culturally relevant opportunities that speak to the real lives of our young people while anchoring them firmly in the Apostolic doctrine and Pentecostal experience.
5
Focus on Legal & Policy Issues
We will establish a committee of publicly elected officials from PAW churches to keep our constituents informed and engaged concerning the policies that affect faith communities. We will also form a legal guild of PAW legal professionals to offer free quarterly legal advice to our pastors and ministries.
Who is Bishop Mark Tolbert?
Family
Bishop Mark Curtis Tolbert, a native of Kansas City, Missouri, is the fifth of six children born to Lee A. and Lorene V. Tolbert on September 17, 1955.
In 1976, he met the girl of his dreams, Emelda Faciane. He knew almost immediately that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. After three months, his persistence finally paid off when Emelda agreed to go out on a date. That first date was the beginning of the rest of their lives together.
In April of 1978, they were joined in holy matrimony by his father, District Elder Lee A. Tolbert and District Elder James Alford. To this union two sons were born, Mark Curtis, Jr. and Britton Elliot. Mark Jr., transitioned to be with the Lord in December 2000 at the age of 19, and Britton, age 37, is entrepreneurial just like his father.
Lady Emelda Tolbert is a gifted inspirational speaker with a passion to impart knowledge to others. Her genuine love and compassion for people, her spirit of perseverance, southern hospitality, quick wit, hard work ethic, organizational skills and spirit of excellence are just some of her most recognized and appreciated attributes.
She has led a host of ministries over the years, including those focused on women, victims of domestic violence, mentoring teenage girls, and bereavement. She has also served as chief administrator and board member of a charter school. An entrepreneur, she has been a director with NeoLife International (a nutritional and herbal products company) for nearly 40 years. She is a certified nutritionist consultant and certified clinical master herbalist. She also holds a degree in Fashion Merchandising and is a 25-year breast cancer survivor.
Bishop and Lady Emelda will celebrate 48 years of marriage this year!
Ministry
At the tender age of seven, Mark Curtis was baptized in the name of Jesus. Two years later in a Sunday evening tarrying service, young Mark was filled with the Holy Ghost.
He began playing drums for the church at the age of eight years old, and by his 13th birthday he was driving the church van picking up church members and dropping them back off at home after night service, usually after 10 pm. He first felt the call of the ministry at the age of 18, but like many ministers he fled his call - until God got his attention while his car sat on the edge of a cliff off Interstate 29, around midnight.
Faithful service to his local assembly gave Mark experience as the church drummer, bus driver, janitor, youth president, choir president, kitchen helper, assistant pastor, co-pastor, and pastor. During his father's tenure as pastor, Elder Mark served as business manager, church administrator, and assistant pastor.
In 1989, with a majority vote cast in his favor, he and Sis. Emelda became the Pastor and First Lady of Christ Temple Church (now Victorious Life Church). They were officially installed in July of 1989 by the late Bishop Samuel A. Layne of St. Louis, MO.
MINISTRY TIMELINE
1963
1964
1965
1968
1978
1979
1987
1989
1990
1992
1995
2003
2005
2009
2015
2019
2024
Baptized
Music Ministry
Received Holy Ghost
Church Worker
IPYPU Worship Team
Assistant Pastor
Council Youth President
Pastor
District Elder
Regional Lay Director
Suffragan Bishop
PAW Treasurer
Council Chairman
Diocesan Canada
Diocesan Heart of America
First Assistant Presiding Bishop
Interim Diocesan Central California
On the district level he served as Vice Chairman and Chairman of the youth department, then Council Chairman and District Elder. On the national level, he served as an Assistant Convention Coordinator, Lay Director of the Midwestern Region, Suffragan Bishop, and General Treasurer of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World. He became Diocesan Bishop of the Canada Council and served for five years.
Now Bishop Mark Tolbert serves as the Diocesan Bishop of the Heart of America Council of Churches (formerly NWDC) and Interim Diocesan Bishop of the Central California District Council. He is a member of the Board of Bishops of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World and also serves as its First Assistant Presiding Bishop.
Bishop has traveled extensively having visited 29 countries, 20 for international mission trips. One of the most impactful was a medical trip to 14 African cities, including Lubumbashi in the Congo and Johannesburg in South Africa. There he preached, delivered food and water to rural areas, and dug wells over the course of 15 days with Dr. Bishop Horace Smith and his wife Susan. His personal financial commitments abroad include supporting efforts like food security in Ukraine and Trinidad, transportation for pastors in India, and ministry operations in Egypt.
He is the author of multiple study guides and three books, "An Expose of the Holy Ghost: Transparency, Indwelling, and Divine Presence", "Naked Soul: Uncovering the Mystery of the Soul", and "The Power to Speak Blessings." He is a former gospel artist with Shakin’ the Mountain Productions and also the Executive Director of Lead Well, the Lilly Endowment-funded program that seeks to develop and support PAW pastors who are striving to be financially and emotionally well and efficiently leading their ministries and communities.
Psalm 27 is the passage of scripture that anchors his life and ministry.
Community
His passion drove him to expand the ministry of Jesus Christ to the surrounding neighborhood through a variety of programs and events offered by the church. His community involvement evolved to include citywide service when he agreed to serve as a Commissioner of the Kansas City Missouri Police Department. Appointed by the Governor of Missouri, he served for six years, two of which he was president.
One year after joining in the Kansas City Coalition of Concerned Clergy, he was elected first vice president and two years later he was elected president. As a result of his new ideas and synergy, he was the first president elected to serve two consecutive terms. He has served on several other boards including Friends of Sacred Structures, the Y.M.C.A., and United Way.
To facilitate networking between small businesses and the community, he produced the Kansas City Black Expo. This three-day event was held for five years, with over 15 sponsors committing over $300,000 annually. He is also president of the Sparrow Community Development Corporation and founder of the Lee A. Tolbert Community Academy Charter School. Currently, he is president of the school’s board and considers the academy one of his biggest accomplishments. The school started with 191 children in 1999 and now has more than 500 students enrolled.
To meet the before- and after-school care needs of the students and children from the surrounding neighborhood, the academy partnered with the Boys & Girls Club and Local Investment Commission. In 2003 he led the congregation in a major undertaking, designing and building a 40,000-square-foot, three-story educational wing attached to the church. Two years later this building substantially changed the fabric of the neighborhood and gave space for the charter school to expand its footprint. In 1995 he built a gymnasium and in 2010 expanded the facility to include the Family Life Center.
Business
In 1973, he graduated from Central High School. Having an entrepreneurial spirit, he found the workforce more rewarding but later attended Penn Valley Community College and Western Baptist Bible College. In 1974, he chose to move to Chicago, IL, to further his business experience under the leadership of Al Potter, one of the greatest entrepreneurs of all times (and one of the first Blacks in America to receive a half-million dollar Small Business Administration loan).
He returned home in 1976, and operated his own photography company, contracting with over 40 schools in the greater Kansas City area. He also purchased a fast-food franchise and his business flourished for the next five years, until the Jack-In-The-Box restaurant chain purchased the parent company and forced a sale. Richard Freeman of Johnson Products Company (hair care) hired him to be a regional sales representative and for the next five years he traveled a 14-state area, producing for the company millions of dollars in revenue. He was once a speaker for the company’s national sales meeting.
After Johnson Products, Blankinship Distributors entrusted him with creating their advertising department. Over the next few years, he designed full page ads which were featured in prominent publications such as Jet, Ebony, Black Enterprise Magazine, The Globe Newspaper, and The Call Newspaper.
Today he is an investor and with his wife, Emelda, operates a health and nutritional distributorship under the Neo-Life brand. Their business operates in 27 states and eight international countries. He has also used his expertise for special projects such as his work with the Jewish Community Federation to develop better business relations between Israel and the Kansas City business community and establishing PAW's Marketplace Ministry for entrepreneurs.
Hobbies
He believes vacations and hobbies are extremely important. "At some point if a leader doesn't take a break they'll burn themselves out - and those who work around them too." Some of his favorite pastimes include traveling, golfing, fishing and gardening. He is also a coin collector and owns a telescope and binoculars for birdwatching. He is the chief of Chiefs fans and a KC BBQ grill master.
