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Who is Bishop Mark C. 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 celebrated 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
2018
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 Northwestern District Council youth department, then District Elder, and Council Chairman. 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. In 2009, he was elevated to the bishopric and became Diocesan Bishop of the Canada District Council. In 2015, he was re-assigned as Diocesan Bishop of the Heart of America Council of Churches (formerly Northwestern District Council). In 2018, Bishop Tolbert was elected First Assistant Presiding Bishop of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, serving in that office for eight years.
Bishop Tolbert is a member of the Board of Bishops of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World and also serves on the Executive Bishops Council.
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. He also led the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World in securing two major Lilly Endowment grants — the $1.2 million LeadWell grant, funding programs that help PAW pastors become financially and emotionally well while effectively leading their ministries and communities, and the $5 million Storytelling grant, supporting the work of sharing the testimonies, stories, and message of the organization and its members.
Psalm 27 is the passage of scripture that anchors his life and ministry.
Now available in paperback, eBook, and audiobook.
An Exposé of the Holy Ghost: Transparency, Indwelling, and Divine Presence.
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.
