VICTORY LEADERS BAND

HISTORY OF ITS BEGINNING

The Victory Leaders Band, (VLB) was adopted as an auxiliary for The Church of God, at the 23rd General Assembly of The Church of God 1928. 

The 23rd General Assembly was held in the large tabernacle on Central Avenue, Cleveland, Tennessee, September 12 -18, 1928.

This was at the end of a very difficult period of time for The Church of God.  The Church had reorganized itself once again from apostasy and completed 4 years of legal matters and restructuring.  Brother A. J. Tomlinson said, “We feel that the reconstruction work has been done so well that we can soon turn it into constructive instead of reconstructive.”   In the annual address of the General Overseer on Friday, September 14, 1928, Bro. A. J. Tomlinson spoke of the importance of the auxiliary work.  The helps and governments in the Church of God and cited the list of auxiliaries mentioned in the minutes of the 21st General Assembly.  His appeal for helps and governments was stronger than ever in this address as he founded his appeal on 1 Corinthians 12:28, “And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.”

On Tuesday September 18, 1928, The Questions and Subjects committee introduced the proposal to add the Victory Leaders Band as an active auxiliary for the Church of God to focus on the work and interests of “Our young people”.  With this proposal the structure was set and the new work was established.

Since the organizing of the Victory Leader Band in 1928, the youth department has been a great help to the growth of The Church of God.  The ages of the VLB’s are 12 to 35.  The General VLB secretary is appointed by the General Overseer, the State/Regional/National VLB Secretaries are appointed by their State/Regional/National overseers, and the local church VLB secretaries are appointed by the Local Pastor.

The VLB’s have been entrusted with mission fields of responsibility.

1.  Free literature Fund, 27th General Assembly 1932.  A. J. Tomlinson appealed, “I feel that we should literally sow down the country with tracts written about the Church and its doctrine…We need them printed in several languages.  This would be a powerful move in spreading the truth.  I am sure we should have a free literature fund so we could scatter our literature, both tracts and the paper unsparingly… How wonderful it would be for the VLB’s to create the free literature fund so they can be the means of preaching the gospel in many languages, nations, and climes by the printed page?”  In 1997 the name was changed to the “Outreach Literature Fund”.

2.  Youth Camps were established for the VLB’s at the 47th General Assembly, 1952.

3.  Youth Life Teams were established at the 64th General Assembly, 1969. 

4.  The Gleaner Band was approved by the 43rd General Assembly in 1948 to be a ministry for our Children.

As you can see, being a VLB is not just what can the Church do for us youth, but the youth also share in responsibilities in the greater work of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ and assisting the growth of The Church of God.

 If we raise them up, disciple the youth in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, equip them with the knowledge and resources needed to do the work, they will be a mighty army for the service of God.  With their energy and enthusiasm, The Church will march on Gloriously to Victory!