Daddy Grace died in 1960. Under the stewardship of his two successors, Bishops McCullough and Madison, the United House of Prayer has weathered ascension battles, numerous legal challenges, and money squabbles, not to mention a spate of critical—and, at times, bigoted—press. Today, there are likely more than a quarter of a million members in 125-plus churches spread as far west as California and as far north as Massachusetts. But the denomination remains most popular in the seaboard states of Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia—a region that, not coincidentally, was once served by the Southern Railway main line.
As the church has grown and prospered, Daddy Grace’s personality has receded from the forefront, services have become less insular (if no less frenetic), and basement cafeterias that were once for members only have opened their doors to the public. The food served now differs from city to city and reflects the local cuisine: In rural Virginia, you’re likely to see pigs’ feet on the menu; in urban Pennsylvania, scrapple; along the coast of Georgia, red rice. Even within a city like Charlotte, offerings vary among the three churches that regularly serve lunch. The North Davidson Street cafeteria serves chitlins at Christmas, while the mother church on Beatties Ford Road serves little pork and forswears the use of salt. At the Mint Street cafeteria, only filleted whiting is fried. Everywhere else, general consensus has it that the sweeter meat is found closest to the bone.
At the United House of Prayer, the cafeterias serve up both sustentative and spiritual savories. While other denominations may operate soup kitchens as a form of good works, the United House of Prayer made a decision early on that, while the church would subsidize food service and keep prices artificially low, no one would eat for free. The five-bucks-a-pop, tough-love strategy has worked, at least in Charlotte. As one of the Sunday shift cooks put it: “Jesus fed the multitudes. And we plan on feeding all God’s children.”
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