In 1993, Bishop Agee planted a seed given to him by God and that seed was Praise Temple Church Baptist – A Ministry of Restoration. After hearing from God, Bishop Agee called together a group of four other individuals: Rev. Martha Robinson, Bernadine Sandifer, Dean Tate and Courtney Jones.

These four individuals (all from different denominational backgrounds), together with Bishop Agee, prayed and sought God regarding the establishment of Praise Temple Church Baptist. Several meetings were held at the homes of Rev. Martha Robinson and Bishop Agee and at the Dorolyn Academy of Music to finalize the structure of Praise Temple before its first service.

The Lord gave the name Praise Temple to Bishop Agee in 1987. The Word states that your body is the temple of God (I Corinthians 6:19). God wants us to realize our bodies are designed to be a dwelling place for His Spirit. If His Spirit dwells in us, praises should come from us. Our bodies should be in a constant act of praise. We believe the name is very important; and that by mentioning of the name of this Church, a blessing will come. Praise Temple’s first service was held on Resurrection Sunday in 1993 at the Fifth City Center in Chicago, Illinois.

The founding members had to clean the floor from secular events the night before and prepare the space for Sunday worship. Services were held at Fifth City for two weeks before Praise Temple was able to rent its own space in May, at a storefront located at 5316 West North Avenue in Chicago. Once again, the core members and friends banded together to make this small space into a sanctuary acceptable unto the Lord. The church remained at this location until December of 1993. Unknown to the Bishop Agee, the building had been sold and the new owner had other plans for the space occupied by Praise Temple. This forced the Church to move and look for a new location.

After a few weeks of having service in the sanctuary of a local funeral home, in January of 1994, Praise Temple moved into another space located at 5416 West North Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. Also in that year, Praise Temple began its affiliation with the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship. It was at its North Avenue location that the desire to purchase its own sanctuary began.

In 1996 after prayer, pledges, fundraisers and commitment from its membership, Praise Temple purchased its next location at 4244 West Madison Street, in Chicago, Illinois.

Praise Temple has been given from God a special ministry – A Ministry of Restoration – to help people that hurt due to sin, sickness, oppression, betrayal, etc. This Ministry of Restoration does not focus on condemnation; it offers solutions and a healing touch in the lives of those that are broken. We are a ministry of Inclusion not Exclusion and give free reign to all of the gifts of the Spirit. We strongly believe in fostering a commitment to daily prayer and bible study, the taking of the Lord’s Supper, baptism and tithing.

Praise Temple is a teaching ministry with a purpose to maintain spiritual worship through preaching and teaching of God’s Word for the strengthening and edifying of one another in faith, the development of the Christian life, and the spreading of the Kingdom of God through evangelism and home and foreign missionary endeavors. We conduct Bible Study and Sunday School on weekly basis as well as various seminars, workshops and training sessions throughout the year on a variety of topics.

God has truly blessed us from those founding five members. God has led Bishop Agee to revise our church name to better identify our ministry. We are now “Praise Temple of Restoration – ‘God’s Church for ALL People’” At this time, many of our outreach ministries are going forth. Our Local & Foreign Missions ministry was able to contribute to the relief efforts in Rwanda. It also helps those individuals who are in need of special assistance in the local community. The Daughters of Grace and Brothers of Restoration ministries provide a special forum for gender interaction related to their specific needs and issues.

The R.E.A.D.Y. ministry provides spiritual support to those that have suffered or are suffering from substance abuse. The Youth ministry has ongoing activities to minister to their spiritual needs. And in 2004, The Nehemiah Plan was implemented to purchase a new church facility. Praise Temple purchased its new facility and on January 28th 2007, a motorcade from old location at 4244 W. Madison to the new location at 5443 W. Huron took place followed by our first service at that location.God has been most faithful to Praise Temple. While we have encountered many obstacles and hindrances in ministry, we have truly learned that there is no trouble so near that God isn’t nearer.

God has blessed the Praise Temple family for which we give Him the honor and all the glory and we continually seek and follow His direction. When we look at our history and see where God has brought us from, we can truly say … “We Celebrate What God Is Doing Just for You!”

In the fall of 2016, the sister church of Praise Temple, New Vision Full Gospel Baptist Church of East Orange, New Jersey suffered a tremendous loss in the passing of their Founder and Senior Pastor, Bishop Andre L. Jackson. Praise Temple and New Vision had fellowshipped together over the course of 20 years. Bishop Agee was asked to be their Interim Pastor during this trying time. In 2017, it was offered and accepted that Bishop Agee would be the Senior Pastor of New Vision Full Gospel Baptist Church. Bishop Agee was installed as the Senior Pastor of New Vision Baptist Church at the Cathedral in March of 2018.

With Bishop Agee becoming the Senior Pastor of New Vision Baptist Church at the Cathedral in New Jersey, in October of 2017, Rev. Larry Lawrence, Jr. was elevated to the position of Senior Pastor of Praise Temple of Restoration and installed in October 2017. He is currently serving in his 6th Pastoral Year of Praise Temple of Restoration.