Gilbert Earl Patterson was an American Pentecostal-Holiness leader and minister who served as the international Presiding Bishop and Chief Apostle of the Church of God in Christ, Inc.  Patterson was born to Bishop William Archie 'W. A.' (1898–1991) and Mary Louise Williams Patterson (1901–1981) in the parsonage next door to the Church of God in Christ in Humboldt, Tennessee and was the youngest of six children. ... Bishop J. S. Bailey ordained him in 1958 as an elder in the Church of God in Christ. Mar 22, 2007 - A son of a bishop of the Church of God in Christ, Bishop Patterson was elected leader of the denomination in 2000. ... Gilbert Earl Patterson was born in Humboldt, Tenn., on Sept. 22, 1939, a son of Mary Louise and William A. Patterson. His father led churches in Memphis and later in Detroit.