Miracle Temple Church

The Miracle Temple Non-Denominational Church Inc., was founded in 1968 by the Reverend Bertha L. Shephard and her helpmate of 58 years, Alton Shephard. Like every metropolitan city in the country at the time, there was rioting in the streets in the summer of 1968 after the shooting death of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. That evening, tired and frustrated, Reverend Shepahrd led a peaceful march down to the streets where much of the riots where taking place in her neighborhood. She boldy stood in the face of threat and danger and convinced many of the neigborhood youth to stop the bloodshed and looting and return to her home for prayer and reconciliation. The disbelief of many neighbors, it was not long before Reverend Shephard was leading over 100 youth back from the looted streets to her home in Northeast Washington for an all night prayer vigil. 

These prayer vigils became a regular happening and she found her home becoming a safe haven for many of these young people. She fed them clothed them and ministered to them. This was the beginning of the early church which met regularly in a converted back porch of the Shephard family home. Reverend Shepherd soon started an evangelistic outreach called the Willing Worker's Prayer Band. Composed of five women and four men, they visited the hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters witnessing their faith and converting souls to the body of Christ. After her arrest in mid 1970 for "violating a neighborhood noise ordinance" for praying too loudly, Reverend Shephard and her first official soul convert, Deaconess Mary V. Piner and the brotherhood, Alton Shephard, Willie R. Piner, Noah. C. Outlaw, Raymond Pugh, and Willie Lawson Sr. organized and officially incorporated the church in the District of Columbia on January 30, 1980. They relocated the church and ministry to a small converted hall at the corner of 5th & New York Ave., NW. After being there for 4 years, they moved to 1037 Bladensburg Rd. NE, Washington DC. Through much prayer and the commitment of few dedicated and loyal members, the church grew steadily. In 1988 they purchased the church where they currently worship, 5219 Call Place SE, Washington, DC. And the church has expanded its membership as well as its outreach for the past 42 yearsand is well known all over the Washington metropolitan area. 

Those were humble beginnings, but the church steadily grew as families were added to the congregation. Pastor Shephard always stressed that we were making discipes, not members. And that we were forming a "body" which needed all parts working in order to function as a whole. Often quoted she would say "don't join the church, join the body; members come and go, but true disciples stay the course, even in the roughest of times."