OUR MISSION
The mission of the Vision Church is to equip God’s people to achieve personal and corporate destiny. We do this by empowering people spiritually, emotionally, educationally, socially, economically, and politically. As a Christ-centered ministry, we are inclusive of all people, fully embracing in our lives and ministry people of every race, gender, culture, affectional orientation, family configuration, physical or mental condition, and all other distinctions which are the rich tapestry of God’s creation.
The Vision Cathedral of Atlanta
Our vision
The Vision Cathedral of Atlanta is committed to a vision that transforms people to transform their world! We believe that the transformation of the community and the world begins with the transformation of our families and children. The Vision Cathedral of Atlanta is a place where dreams are made possible and where people are motivated to turn those dreams into a reality.
OUR VISIONARY LEADERSHIP
Bishop Oliver Clyde Allen, III, is a religious trailblazer, author, human rights advocate, an international and community leader and entrepreneur. Bishop O.C. Allen is the Senior Pastor and Founder of The Vision Cathedral of Atlanta known as “The Vision Church”. The Vision Church has 3 campuses, The Vision Church of Atlanta, Vision Church of Raleigh, Vision Church of Los Angeles and Vision Church of Nashville. He is the founder and Presiding Bishop of the United Progressive Pentecostal Fellowship of Churches (UPPC), a progressive Christian and inclusive religious organization which oversees senior pastors, ministers, churches and faith-based organizations throughout the United States and abroad. He also is a Commissioner on the Atlanta Human Rights Commission.
In 2015, Bishop Allen was appointed by President Barak Obama to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA). In 2016, he was appointed the Southeastern Chair of the DNC-LGBT Advisory Board and a co-chair of the DNC LGBTQ Policy Group. He has served as the National Ambassador and consultant for the NAACP – Black Church/HIV Initiative. Bishop O.C. Allen also serves as Faith Consultant for the CoPN Covid and Vaccine Network.
He is also the Executive Director of Vision Community Foundation Inc., a non-profit organization created to address socioeconomic and health gaps in the greater Atlanta community. The Vision Community Foundation annually feeds over 20,000 families through its “Community In Action” (CIA) program, over 2000 women and children in its local shelters program, provides clothing and toys specifically for homeless children, provides GED training for students completing diplomas, provides Breast Cancer awareness education, and provides HIV/AIDS counseling and testing. The Vision Community Foundation hosts the annual Atlanta Black-Pride “Pure Heat Community Festival,” which provides health education, social services and entertainment for over 30,000 people. He is a member of the Fulton County Task Force on HIV/AIDS. He is the author of Master Your Emotions, a Christian self-helps and motivation book.
Bishop Allen has been honored by a host of community and national groups including the Georgia House of Representatives in 2012. In 2014, Bishop Allen inducted into the prestigious Martin Luther King Jr. International Board of Preachers of Morehouse College. Bishop Allen hosted the national Economic and Business Conference for LGBT Entrepreneurs in conjunction with the efforts of the U.S. Small Business Administration in Atlanta, GA. He served as a regional spokesperson for the National Black Justice Coalition LGBT Economic Empowerment Tour for communities of color. He has worked closely with the U.S. Small Business Administration to provide support to LGBT and other minority entrepreneurs in the community. In April 2015, the Georgia District Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration awarded Bishop Allen the 2015 LGBT Business Champion of the Year Award for his strong advocacy for minority business initiatives and development. Bishop Allen has been featured in numerous media outlets and periodicals to include CNN, BET, The Economist and Huffington Post.
He attended Morgan State University, Morehouse College, and Harvard University Harvard Extension School where he studied Philosophy and Religion. He is a Fellow at the Princeton Theological Seminary Black Theology and Leadership Institute.
In 2018, Bishop Allen birthed the national iElevate Conference. This conference was designed to offer many of the country’s great thought-provoking thinkers, leaders and voices a platform to safely participate and address some of the most sensitive and salient subjects. The conference is of the first and only Black LGBTQI-inclusive conferences with a mission to Black communities with the resources and tools needed to impact their immediate community and reach their goals. The inaugural conference included the first campaign, Prevention From The Pulpit – designed to train clergy how to address the epidemic of H.I.V./A.I.D.S from the pulpit.
In 2018, Allen was appointed to Atlanta’s Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ LGBT Advisory Board. This same year, he delivered historic prayer to millions of Muslims as one of the first openly Gay men to participate in the Million Man March Commemoration organized by the Nation of Islam.
Bishop Allen was born on January 24th, 1973 in Los Angeles, California. He is married to Mr. Rashad Burgess of Chicago, Illinois. Rashad Burgess is an Executive Director for Gilead Sciences, Inc. and was formerly the branch Chief of the Capacity Building Branch at the CDC’s division of HIV/AIDS Prevention. They are the proud fathers of 2 beautiful children, Joshua and Caylee. In 2013, Bishop Allen and his family made history by being the first Same-Gender-Loving couple to be selected as one of Ebony Magazine’s “top 10 Coolest Black Families” in America.
MR. RASHAD BURGESS, “First Gentlemen”
Rashad Burgess, known as “The First Gentlemen”, is the husband of Bishop O.C. Allen. He is a founding member of Vision Cathedral of Atlanta with its humble beginning in March 2006. He professionally serves as the National
Executive Director for HIV Community for Gilead Sciences. He is a key member of Gilead’s HIVSenior Leadership Team contributing to overall strategy for the HIV Business Unit and is a strategic and trusted partner helping community and sales professionals as well as those in the overall health care industry make their vision a reality.
He joined Gilead in 2013, first as an HIV Community Liaison, then as a Regional Director of Community Liaisons, then as one of the first Senior Regional Directors in the HIV Prevention Sales Team. Rashad has a track record of excellence here and is a member of Gilead’s Circle of Excellence.
He has dedicated much of his life to the mission of preventing HIV, particularly among people of color, including gay men and other communities impacted by HIV. Prior to joining Gilead Sciences, Mr. Burgess was the Chief of the Capacity Building Branch, Division of HIV/AIDS. In this position, he was responsible for the oversight of nearly 50 programmatic and scientific staff providing capacity building assistance to all domestic health departments and community-based organizations, representing a combined budget of nearly $50 million in funding and support. He also provided outstanding leadership in the revising and implementation of the dynamic funding awards process for Health Departments, as well as Community Based Organizations. Prior to becoming branch chief, he managed a team of Project Officers that provided oversight to $70 million in HIV Prevention programs to the West Region of the country, including Guam, Hawaii and the West coast.
He is a graduate of the University of Chicago where he received a BA in Public Policy and a Master’s Degree in Social Sciences.
Rashad serves, supports and loves Bishop and their children Caylee and Joshua Burgess-Allen.
The Vision Cathedral provides:
Dynamic Worship Experience –
We enter into God’s presence with open hearts and experience powerful times of worship that are meaningful, life-changing, and personal, all the while allowing the Lord to move as He would during our worship time.
Empowering Spiritual Training –
We give people the chance to go deeper into God’s Word and become more servant-minded by offering discipleship training and ministerial preparation. Multi-faceted Comprehensive Ministry — We exist to meet the needs of all people and thus strive to minister by providing practical resources to empower, enrich, and strengthen people’s lives socially, psychologically, financially, and spiritually.
Opportunities for Growth —
We offer all people a place to grow in the Lord through preaching, teaching, and discipleship; and to develop stronger bonds with brothers and sisters in the fellowship of believers.
Opportunities for Service —
We extend opportunities for people to become conduits of God’s love, mercy, and grace by using their time and talents in service to others.
The Vision Cathedral of Atlanta
The Vision Church develops and nurtures people to become:
Overcomers —
We move from one challenge to the next, knowing that, in Christ, all adversity can be overcome.
We are Achievers —
We move forward with their divine destinies, knowing that God has called us to successfully complete His purpose for our lives.
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We are Leaders —
We lead as they follow the Lord and model their lives after the resurrected Christ.
We are Ambassadors –
We actively penetrate society with the message of Christ through their words and actions.
We are Body Builders —
We build the Body of Christ by inspiring all people, by strengthening and encouraging them to exercise their faith.
We are Conquerors —
We recognize that we face a spiritual enemy who has no authority over our lives and thus can be victoriously resisted and is already defeated because of our place in Christ.
We are Followers —
We follow after the Lord and model their lives after the resurrected Christ.
We are Warriors —
We realize that God’s Word is their guide and gives them the tools necessary to become warriors for Jesus Christ (Eph. 6:10-18) who are more than conquerors in Him (Rom. 8:37) and who have been assured of God’s ultimate victory (Rev. 21:6-7).
We are Servants —
We touch the lives of a lost and dying world by ministering with a servant’s heart to the needs of people.
We are Progressive –
We are committed to equipping individuals for the work of transforming the world through the inclusive love of Jesus Christ. We do this by strengthening and empowering all people to live out a faithful commitment to the gospel of active love.