Bishop Alphonso Denson, Sr. is the seventh of eight children. He was reared by his stepfather, the late Deacon Jesse McCollom and his mother, Catherine Benson McCollom in Andalusia, Alabama.
As a life-long member of the Church of God in Christ, he was taught by his parents to fear God. At age 16, he received the baptism of the Holy Ghost and flourished in wisdom and knowledge under the direction and leadership of his pastor, Dr. Wiley C. Neal and the saints at the Andalusia COGIC.
Bishop Denson attended Alabama public schools and graduated from Andalusia High School in 1976. He matriculated into the Regional Electronic Technology School in Birmingham, Alabama and received an Electronic Engineering Technology Degree in 1979. In order to enhance his Professional and Technical portfolio, he attended Kennedy Western University in Cheyenne, Wyoming to pursue studies in Computer Science. He also attended Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia studying Business Administration.
Bishop Denson and his lovely wife Missionary Eula Young Denson reside in Alexandria, Louisiana. They married in 1981 and have two wonderful children: a son, Alphonso, Jr. and wife Nakia, and a daughter, Camille and husband, Derrick Guillory. They are also the proud grandparents of six grandchildren. To devote more of his time to his ministry and the work of the Lord, he retired in 1999 from the NCR Corporation, a subsidiary of the AT&T Company after 20 years of working as a Computer Engineer.
In 1982, Bishop Denson began his gospel ministry under the leadership of the late Superintendent Burley Lafleur in Pineville, Louisiana. He has served as pastor of the Abram Temple COGIC in Bunkie, Louisiana since 1984. Moreover, he serves as Founder and CEO of Abram Temple Community Development Corporation. He is currently working to bring affordable housing units to the community he serves. In 1991, the late Bishop James Earl Gordon appointed him to serve as District Superintendent, and in 2001 he was appointed to serve as an Administrative Assistant to the Bishop.
In April 2010, he and the Abram Temple Church family completed the construction of a new edifice for praise and worship in Bunkie, Louisiana valued at more than one million dollars. He has a proven record of integrity, ingenuity, and invigorating character, and he is especially noted for his unwavering stance in holiness, faithfulness to the church, impeccable commitment to prayer and an anointed power of the Holy Ghost.
After the death of Bishop James Earl Gordon in April 2014, Presiding Bishop Charles E. Blake, Sr., leader and Chief Apostle of the Church of God in Christ Worldwide, appointed Bishop Denson as the next Jurisdictional Prelate of the Louisiana East First Jurisdiction.
Bishop Denson loves the Lord and the Lord’s people. He believes in Holy living and believes, “Your Best Life Is In Christ.”
