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Mega-church pastor Apostle

Frederick K.C. Price, dies at 89

Groundbreaking clergyman built the FaithDome, Ever Increasing Faith TV

broadcast, and grew Crenshaw Christian Center to more than 20,000 members

Apostle Frederick K.C. Price, visionary behind the Faithdome, Ever Increasing Faith global television ministry, and Crenshaw Christian Center. Courtesy Crenshaw Christian Center

By JARRETTE FELLOWS, JR.

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LOS ANGELES—Apostle Frederick K.C. Price, visionary behind the Faithdome, Ever Increasing Faith global television ministry, and Crenshaw Christian Center, has died. He was 89. The official confirmation came in a post by his family shared on social media.

Price, who yielded the pulpit to his son, Rev. Fred Price, Jr. in 2009, succumbed to COVID-19, Friday, Feb. 12, according to his family and had been hospitalized for two weeks prior to his death.

“Our Husband, father and your apostle has gone to be with the Lord this evening,” the Price family posted on social media.

“We accept his decision to go as he got a glimpse of glory a couple of weeks ago. But we are sad. Please allow us some time to process all of this. He fought the good fight of faith and laid hold of eternal life,” the statement added.

Price founded the Crenshaw Christian Center in 1973 and later built it into one of America’s first Black mega-churches.

In 1989 the church opened one of the largest houses of worship in the country at the time, a blue and white geodesic dome dubbed the FaithDome. By then, the church had grown to 22,000 members, with millions more tuning in worldwide to the Sunday live television broadcast, Ever Increasing Faith (EIF).

Referring to a need for a mega-church facility, Price said at the time, “… if I can get 10,100 people into one service, that’s more than we’re doing now.”

Prior to the FaithDome, services were held at a facility in Inglewood at 9550 Crenshaw Boulevard, where the church had seen its most prodigious growth and was holding multiple worship services each Sunday to accommodate its growing family of parishioners. Through the course of a diligent building fund, the church was able to raise $9 million to construct the church capable of holding one single service.

The ministry grew into a global phenomenon, with church services reaching an estimated 15 million households every week through the televised EIF ministry.

The charismatic pastor also authored more than 50 books on faith, healing, prosperity, and race. One of his most controversial titles—Race, Religion, and Racism—exposed how the three components conspired to pervert the Gospel to subjugate African Americans and Black people throughout the world.

Price and his wife Betty tested positive for COVID-19 in January, according to a family statement. He died after spending several days hospitalized and is survived by his wife, a son, two daughters, and two sons-in-law.