Mount Tabor Church was rocked by a surprise and shocking public move when its then-senior pastor resigned in early January, a year to the day he took over. But the Rev. Delton Ellis, who previously served as first assistant to the church’s retired founding pastor, Bishop Neil C. Ellis, took immediate action.

He did this with a vision to refocus, restore, rebuild and reposition Mount Tabor Church. And he came out of retirement to do just that.

Ellis, who is also the brother of the church’s founder, was appointed senior pastor of Mount Tabor Church on October 30.

“We will continue to build on the foundation laid by Bishop (Neil C.) Ellis,” Ellis said.

And he is most proud of the resilience he has witnessed in his church membership.

“I saw people rejected in grief and pain,” he said of the painful period in Mount Tabor’s history at the beginning of 2024. “It makes me happy to see the resistance of the people.”

Pastor Rickeno R. Moncur’s exit from the church was made in a recorded message to members and uploaded to social media.

Seven days after resigning, Moncur preached in front of what appeared to be a packed service at the Fusion Superplex.

“I think we lost a little over 50 percent of our congregation,” Ellis said of the mass exodus. “On the first Sunday, someone took a picture of all the empty seats at the (Mount Tabor Church) service, and I said someone did it with malicious intent, because when you see the picture again it will be a different story.”

Mount Tabor Church is growing numerically, witnessing spiritual growth and new excitement, Ellis said.

Ellis began serving as interim pastor of Mount Tabor Church on January 14.

He did this without having the vision the church had set for that year.

“Our church is accustomed to producing a vision and theme each year, and this theme is published on January 1st each year. Because of the separation, the former pastor did nothing. As a result, we came up with the theme of refocusing, repairing, rebuilding and repositioning based on where we were when I arrived.”

Ellis was named interim pastor on January 21.

Mount Tabor announced its vision and theme “Refocus, Renew, Rebuild and Reposition” on the first Sunday in February.

He served as interim pastor until June; He was ordained pastor in July and appointed senior pastor on October 30.

Ellis stepped into a system and church operation he was already familiar with, serving as first assistant for more than two decades. The only difference he encountered was that, as an assistant, the responsibility belonged to someone else, not to him.

He said that although he is now the “high man” of the church and is a brother to the founding pastor, his approach to ministry is different.

His only request is this: “Please let Delton be Delton and do not judge me on Bishop Neil Ellis’s 36-plus years of leadership.”

He said that he was always calm under pressure, could stand up in times of crisis, and that his crisis management came to life when a separation occurred.

He said he believes most people see him in a different light because of his rise.

“Mount Tabor was in crisis, but I wasn’t. “I think they saw that in me and asked me to serve as senior pastor.”

The role of senior pastor was one Ellis had turned down twice before, including when the founding senior pastor initially announced his 10-year retirement plan.

Bishop Neil Ellis retired as senior pastor of Mount Tabor Church in December 2022.

“The partition was difficult for us and this was a kind of adjustment period; We lost many relationships we had built over the years. The difference is now we can rebuild. Crisis gives you the opportunity to start over, and I see this as the start over for Mount Tabor. We had to relaunch almost all ministries, including starting new ones. “This allowed people who were not familiar with the ministry and even some new people to come forward.”

Mount Tabor Church membership will continue to build on the foundation laid by Bishop Neil C. Ellis, Ellis said.

“We have always been a pioneer and a ministry of hospitality.”

He also preached kindness, generosity, empathy and compassion to Mount Tabor members. He told them that if they didn’t have any of these qualities, they were probably in the wrong church.

“This is a ministry that will be kind to people, generous to many. We always believe in sowing and blessing others.”

He said that during his short time in office, they provided food stamps to mothers in need, “blessed” fathers on Father’s Day and provided drinking water to prison inmates. They also helped congregants who were unemployed and asked 12 members to take action to help others in need. He said they are preparing to help people in the Pinewood community with the goals of feeding 500 people, distributing shoes to 500 people and clothing to 1,000 people.

“We will be charitable to this society,” he said. “We have been doing this for years, and we will continue to do so in the coming years,” he said.

Bishop Ellis, who has a senior background in the church, and his wife, Patrice Ellis, along with 11 people who had nothing but faith in God, responded to God’s call and embarked on the journey that launched the new ministry, Ellis said.

He is the CEO of Keepers of Temple Ministries International, a ministry dedicated to training leaders and Relief Ministry volunteers to serve with a spirit of excellence.

During her tenure as first assistant, she helped provide supervision to 35 full-time staff and a team of 120 volunteers until her retirement in January 2018.

He is also the author of “Developing a Heart for Ministry,” “How to Bring Your Dream to Life,” and “Preparing to Bear Arms: An Armor Bearer’s Guide to Making Your Pastor Look Good.”