Bishop Corletta Vaughn, who can be seen on Oxygen Network’s ‘Preachers of Detroit,’ and her Go Tell It Ministry will be at the Childs Park Recreation Center for a two-day camp meeting this weekend.
BY RAVEN JOY SHONEL, Staff Writer
ST. PETERSBURG — Bishop Corletta Vaughn is back by popular demand with the Campmeeting School of the Holy Spirit. Last December, Vaughn and her Go Tell It Ministry, Inc. had such a large turnout in Childs Park that she felt the need to come back.
“We had a lot of people that came from the Childs Park community, a lot of children. Oh, we must have almost 200 kids. And we went canvassing door to door.”
Headquartered in Detroit, the Go Tell It Ministry, Inc. is an international multi- denominational evangelistic ministry with churches and partners worldwide. Included in the ministry are Baptists, Catholics, Methodists, Pentecostals, Anglicans, businesspeople, teachers, etc. Genesis Worship Center Church is part of the network here in the Tampa Bay area.
While here a few months ago, Vaugh noticed the community was in need. She said the Lord told her to come back and do some spiritual enrichment in the area.
Starting this Saturday, a tent will be pitched at Childs Park Recreation Center, where singing and preaching will start at 10 a.m.
“And we have some men that will teach men; we have some women that will teach women. We’re going to be talking about who is God, what does that mean, and how do you relate to God,” Vaughn said.
She stressed that they are not trying to push a specific religion or faith, “but we do believe that the answer for the world is still God.”
Vaughn said it will be an old-fashioned camp meeting with choirs and musicians from Detroit, teachers, and children’s workers. There will be seating under the tent, food trucks, prayer warriors, information to connect with needed resources, and Feeding Tampa Bay will pass out food on Sunday.
“So, we just want to meet the needs — spiritual poverty, food poverty — and just try to help out the people that are in that community, the most marginalized community in St. Petersburg,” said the bishop.
The camp meetings were born out of necessity. When the pandemic shut down everything in 2020, Vaughn started a Monday through Friday virtual church on Facebook. Starting at 7 a.m., numbers grew to more than a thousand daily, with people from all over the world participating.
Soon people were asking for some type of gathering even though they were uncertain about going to a church. She prayed about it, and the Lord to her to “pitch a tent.”
Last August, the ministry held the first camp meeting in Detroit constructed a template to take the show on the road. By the time December rolled around, they were in St. Pete with more than 500 in attendance. People actually got on a plane and flew here for much-needed fellowship.
Vaughn has been in the ministry for 48 years. She pastors a church in Detroit called the Holy Ghost Cathedral and was consecrated to the bishopric in 1995. Her Go Tell It Ministry has preached in 30 nations in its more than 40 years of existence. In that time, she has seen trends come and go and tells the spiritual leaders in her network to be flexible.
“At one point, a small church was very, very popular. And then, at one point, the megachurch was very popular. And now, online is popular,” said Vaughn. “And I say to pastors, ministers, those even in business and in the marketplace, ‘learning to pivot is important.’ We shouldn’t lose touch with people simply because the delivery system changes.”
You may recognize Vaughn as a female principal in the reality show “Preachers of Detroit” on the Oxygen Network. Yes, that Bishop Vaughn! Not letting Hollywood go to her head, she will be under a tent on Saturday and Sunday in Childs Park, helping bring souls to God.
To learn more about Go Tell It Ministry, Inc., visit GoTellIt.org.
