About · Our Pastor · Our Church

A small church with a long story.

Zion Hill Church of God in Christ has been led for many years by Rev. Franklin P. Shines, Sr. — a man who has spent the better part of a century learning how to help people breathe, both literally and spiritually. This is his story, and ours.

Rev. Franklin P. Shines, Sr.

From Frogville to a Florida pulpit.

He was born in Frogville, Oklahoma. He grew up in Idaho. He came of age in California, served his country in the U.S. Army, raised a family on the West Coast, and eventually found his way to a quiet road in Anthony, Florida — where he still preaches every Sunday at 88.

Two years after his salvation, in 1963, he received his Minister’s license under the pastorate of Elder E. J. O’Neal at Little Flock COGIC in Redwood City, California. 

In 1972, Rev. Shines became a member at Sweet Home COGIC where A. C. Macklin was Pastor.  He was ordained while a member under the pastorate of Elder Macklin by Bishop E. E. Hamilton on June 22, 1972.

That was more than fifty years ago. The calling has not changed — only the room.

Before he was a pastor, he was a Chief Respiratory Therapist. He taught lungs to do what they were made to do. He served his country, and wored as a union representative with UFCW. He raised children. He played guitar by ear, taught himself the songs he loved, and learned to read scripture the same way — honestly, patiently, by listening.

He believes young people should learn AI. He hosts technology workshops out of the church. He thinks the gospel and the future are not at war, and he has the long view to know.

A Life in the Word

Six decades, one calling.

The waypoints along the way — some are about a place, some are about a person. All of them are about a thread that did not break.

Zion Hill is part of the Church of God in Christ — a Pentecostal Christian denomination rooted in the African-American Holiness tradition, founded in 1907 by Bishop Charles Harrison Mason. It is the largest Pentecostal denomination in the United States, and one of the most historically significant Black religious institutions in the country.

What that means in plain terms: we believe in the authority of scripture, the work of the Holy Spirit in everyday life, the practice of prayer that expects an answer, and the dignity of every person who walks through the door. We believe the gospel is for everyone — the young person, the senior citizen, the seeker, and the saint.

We are a small church in a long tradition. That tradition has carried a lot of people through a lot of hard times. We try to carry it well.

What We Hold To

Beliefs, in plain language.

Not a theological treatise. Just the things that orient us — how we read scripture, how we treat each other, how we expect God to show up.

A Line of Pastors

Every pastor stands in someone else’s footprints.

Rev. Shines was shaped by two men whose names should not be forgotten — the pastor who led him to Christ, and the elder who ordained him to preach.