About Apostle Long

Bishop C. L. Long, Apostle
Presiding Prelate
Cathedral Ministries, Inc.

“A Man With a Vision, A Mandate and a Dream”

Bishop C. L. Long is the Senior Pastor and founder of Scripture Cathedral, located at 9th & O Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C., a beautiful edifice that seats approximately 3,000 with an adjacent three-story office building. He is the President of Cathedral Ministries, Inc., an International ministry of fellowship churches.

Bishop Long is married to Minister Joanne Long. They have two sons, Elder Clarence D. Long, the Associate Pastor of Scripture Cathedral, Minister Edward Long, and one daughter, Chantell Moses.

There are few men whose experience in Christian ministry has provided such broad and long-ranging impact as Bishop C. L. Long, a minister since the age of nineteen. Bishop Long started pastoring in 1959, with a membership of three, in a storefront church on the corner of 10th & Q Streets, N.W., Washington, D.C. Since then, he has built several churches across the United States.

In 1961, he launched his radio television ministry and worked diligently to have the radio station WUST, 1120 AM, converted to a full-time gospel music station. Bishop Long was one of the first black ministers to broadcast via television and thus paved the way for the black church to blaze the new trail of tele-evangelism. His “Hour of Prayer” telecast rated nationally as the number one religious program. His ministry is so effective that radio broadcasts and telecasts were launched over 150 stations throughout the nation. Bishop Long’s ministry has grown to a membership exceeding 30,000 nationally and internationally.

Most recently Bishop Long’s ministry has reached Africa where there are 478 churches under the Cathedral Ministries umbrella.

Bishop Long’s humanitarian efforts include the 1982 mass feeding of 5,200 men, women and children. This history making, phenomenal event galvanized other churches to develop “feed the hungry” programs for the masses of homeless people living on the streets of our Nation’s Capital. Thus, Bishop Long incorporated within his ministry the “Amour House,” a crisis intervention program with substance abuse counseling, housing assistance, clothing for the needy, social service referrals, reading and literacy, tutoring, computer training, job readiness, and child development.

Bishop Long is celebrated among his local, national and international peers. He is summoned by statesmen of our time, as an adviser on civic matters. He is a decorated community leader who embraces the time in which he lives. He hears the cries of the people and responds with alacrity – most recently exemplified by his immediate response to the victims of the North Carolina Flood Disaster and Hurricane Katrina.

Demonstrating his God-given ability to embrace the changing times, Bishop Long‘s book, “What About the Woman,” is a written prelude of his obedience to the indelible voice of God to accept the woman’s call into ministry. After more than 40 years of traditional pastoring, he dared to come forth to speak the truth of God’s revelation concerning women. This anointed book has sold over one-half million copies worldwide.

His newest publication, “How to Get Rid of Stress” ministers to the needs of people in this fast-paced electronic society.

Bishop Long is a staunch believer in educating the people of God through biblical principles. Because of this deep-rooted passion, Bishop Long, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, opened the Cathedral Academy in 1998. This accredited institution has educated and graduated thousands of men and women of God.

Bishop Long travels extensively, preaching, teaching, and inspiring congregations and ministers with a message of hope. His motto, “We have a story to tell the nation,” is more than a cliché. It is a triumphant proclamation of his resolve to share with the world his life-changing experiences with God. Those experiences have made him a man of wisdom, compassion and counsel for such a time as this.