About Our Pastor . . .
Pastor Paul Price's history began even before he was born. His mother,
Marion, had two pregnancies ending in miscarriages. Marion prayed a Hanna
Prayer (1 Samuel 1:10-11) and vowed to the Lord that if God would bless her
with a son, she would dedicate him to ministry. Born on October 31, 1958, the
adventure began! His home church was First Assembly of God in Punxsutawney,
Pennsylvania. At a young age, he came to know Jesus Christ as his personal
Savior. At nine years of age, he was called out by an evangelist in a revival
service in his home church with a special admonition. It was prophesied that
God's call was upon his life and he would become a Pastor whom God would use to
touch many people's lives with the Gospel.
During his teenage years, he fell away from the Lord and went his own way,
planning a career as an officer in the United States Navy. When he could not
enter the Naval Academy because of his poor vision, he finally submitted himself
to God's calling and made plans to attend Bible college. After graduation from
Purchase Line High School, he enrolled and attended Central Bible College in
Springfield, Missouri. His mother worked to provide him with finances to pay for
his college tuition. While in Springfield, he met his wife, Claudia Ashworth,
while working at the Assemblies of God nursing home called Maranatha Manor. They
were united in marriage on December 22, 1978.
In his senior year of Bible college, he was tested with the temptation to
give up the vision of full-time ministry and head up a new feed mill being
erected in New Guinea. After this "test," he took the first available
ministry opportunity after graduation in Champagne, Illinois. The church grew
from 24 to 125 in eight weeks, but this fact threatened the founding pastor's
wife. She conspired to have Pastor Paul and Claudia removed from the church. With
nowhere to go, they were forced to return to Pennsylvania to live with his
parents.
Even at the young age of twenty-one years old, his desire was to pastor, but
no doors opened for several months. In October 1980, he was asked to candidate
to become pastor of the Assembly of God Tabernacle in New Castle, Pennsylvania.
In early November 1980, he was voted in as pastor. God blessed his ministry in
New Castle and the church grew from 20 to over 100 in seven months. He remained
there for four years.
In Spring 1984, the Lord began preparing Pastor Price to change his ministry
to church-planting. He began to make plans to move to St. Petersburg, Florida to
found a church. But God had other plans. You can read about it in the
History
section of our web site.
