James Shaffer (February 14, 1910 – March 9, 2014) was an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

religious Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...

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, and

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who led the Church of Universal Triumph, Dominion of God, Inc. after the death of James F. Jones in 1971.

Beginnings

James Shaffer was born February 14, 1910, in

Money, Mississippi Money is an unincorporated community near Greenwood in Leflore County, Mississippi, United States, in the Mississippi Delta. It has fewer than 100 residents, down from 400 in the early 1950s when a cotton mill operated there. Money is located o ...

, as the youngest of 16 children born to Jeff and Elmira Shaffer.

Meeting and following Jones

James Shaffer and his first wife, Wyoming Shaffer, moved to

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

in 1943. Once they arrived they decided to attend a meeting of Triumph the Church and Kingdom of God in Christ to hear James F. Jones, known as Prophet Jones, speak.

Next Dominion Ruler succeeding Prophet Jones

Shaffer became a leading minister in the Church of Universal Triumph, Dominion of God, Inc., eventually serving as leader of the Detroit Headquarters' church, Universal Thankful Center #1, and assistant to Jones. In time Jones, ailing in health, asked Shaffer to "carry his torch". On Jones's death in 1971, Shaffer succeeded him as 'Dominion ruler'. In 1995, at the age of 85, Shaffer married long time Universal Triumph member Maggie Boatmon. The new Mrs. Shaffer then became the new 1st Dominion Lady, in succession to the Catherine L. Jones, the late James Jones's mother, who had been 1st Lady from the founding of the Dominion until her death in 1951. In 2010, Shaffer celebrated his 100th birthday. The church reported on, "March 9, 2014 we lost our beloved leader Rev. Lord James Shaffer as he left the physical body to a higher spiritual plane. He is greatly missed by his family and the spiritual community that he was so long a part of. He made this transition after turning 104 years young on Feb. 13, 2014. "Well done my good and faithful servant" Matt. 25:21."

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20120402203627/http://utdog.org/utdoghistory.html * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1dXrVjkY2c * https://www.flickr.com/photos/patriciadrury/4307567283/ * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so4QF6aFrXM , {{DEFAULTSORT:Schaffer, Rev. Lord James African-American Christian clergy American Christian clergy Clergy from Detroit 1910 births 2014 deaths American centenarians People from Leflore County, Mississippi African-American centenarians Men centenarians 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people