It is with profound sadness that we mourn the passing of Dr. Elliott James Mason. He went to his eternal rest during the morning of March 23, 2010. In 1944, Dr. Mason was called to serve as pastor of Third Baptist Church in Toledo, Ohio. Reverend Elliott James Mason was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1922. At the age of 16, he received the minister's license to preach from the First Free Mission Baptist Church. Rev. Mason entered Dillard University in the fall of 1938 and graduated four years later Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts Degree, as the valedictorian of his class.
In 1944, Oberlin Graduate School of Theology, Ohio, conferred upon him the Bachelor of Divinity Degree. It was in this same year that Reverend Mason was called to the pastorate of the Third Baptist Church in Toledo, Ohio, and married Geraldine N. Page. In 1955, Rev. Mason was granted a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Rev. Mason attended University of Southern California where he received his Ph.D. He and his wife became the parents of four children: Elliott, Jr., Wanda Jannell, Wayne Irvin and Reginald Don, and seven grandchildren.
In 1959, Rev. Mason received a call to come to the Trinity Baptist Church in Los Angeles and serve as the assistant to the pastor, Rev. Jonathan Lyle Caston. In April, 1962, Trinity Baptist Church officers and members unanimously elected Rev. Elliott James Mason to be their new pastor and spiritual guide. Dr. Mason faithfully served the congregation at Trinity until March 1985. Dr. Mason was given a vision of world-wide renewal where people throughout the nation and world would experience deep spiritual renewal. To proclaim this vision, Dr. Mason formed World Renewal Ministries, a ministry rooted in prayer. Our heartfelt condolences go out to Mrs. Mason and family.
