Ray Bowling

Lehman Raymond Bowling was born on August 29, 1943, in Missouri. He was the youngest of seven children. While he was not raised in the truth, when he was seventeen years old, he was invited by an older brother to a little store front church in Crystal City, Missouri, where he repented. He was baptized in Jesus name and received the Holy Ghost the following week at Lemay, Missouri. He graduated from Herculaneum High School in Missouri and went on to start a job in building houses.

He married Tonya Jones on March 3, 1962, and along with her, worked at the Pentecostal Publishing House in St. Louis, Missouri. He was Assistant Pastor at the United Pentecostal Church in Festus after accepting his call to the ministry at age twenty-nine. Brother Bowling received his ministerial license with the UPCI in 1973 and was later Ordained in 1975.

He left the Publishing House to work for Stark Printing in St. Louis, Missouri, where he worked for fifteen years, in which seven of those years, he drove seventy miles a day one way while pastoring in Farmington. He became the Pastor of the United Pentecostal Church in Farmington, Missouri, in 1973, where he pastored until 1980. During this time, he served as the Sectional Sunday School Director and Sectional Youth Director for the Missouri District. Sister
Bowling also served in the capacity of Sectional Ladies Leader.

Brother Bowling resigned the church in Farmington and moved to Springhill, Louisiana, to assist their former pastor, Brother Gerald Trammell, from Festus. They helped Brother Trammell until May 1981 when they become the Pastor of Ballard’s Chapel in Jayess, Mississippi. The church later changed its name to Calvary United Pentecostal Church where Pastor and Sister Bowling have remained for thirty-eight years.

During their time in Mississippi, Brother Bowling has served as Section 11 Sunday School Director, Mississippi District Sunday School Secretary, on various committees, Section 11 Presbyter for sixteen years and has been an Honorary Presbyter for fourteen years; he is also presently serving as the District Minister of Comfort. Brother Bowling received an Honorary Degree in Theology from Jackson College of Ministries in May of 2001. Not only has Brother Bowling served the Mississippi District well, but Sister Bowling has served as Section 11 Ladies Leader, Mississippi District Ladies Secretary, and Mississippi District Ladies President.

Brother and Sister Bowling have been married for 57+ years. They came to Mississippi with three teenaged children, and their family has grown to eight grandchildren and eighteen great grandchildren. Brother Bowling has been licensed with the United Pentecostal Church International for over forty-six years.