Rev. E. Bernice Coleman Harris

Founder of the National Youth Education Department of

Triumph The Church And Kingdom Of God In Christ

 

Esther Bernice Coleman Harris was born July 5, 1916, in Manakin, Virginia to Irene and Linwood Coleman. She was the younger of two children.

 

Elder Harris graduated from Homestead High School then attended Robert Morris Business College for Secretarial Sciences. She also completed cosmetology school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to be a beautician. 

 

Elder Harris united with Triumph The Church And Kingdom Of God In Christ at an early age. During her youth, she was groomed by her parents to be a worker in the church. God anointed her with the triumphant gift of speaking. She was poised and well spoken. Wisdom exuded from her on the topic of life and living.

 

She was affectionately known by many as Mother Harris. She was appointed as National Youth Director by her husband, the late Archbishop D. H. Harris. Her greatest accomplishment and achievement during her appointment was the creation of the National Youth Education Department of Triumph The Church And Kingdom Of God In Christ and the highly acclaimed Youth Conferences which are still held today throughout the Triumphant Kingdom. She also was blessed with the revelation of the National Chautauqua Convention, which began in 1964, and was held in Washington, D.C. The National Chautauqua has grown to great proportions and is the premier convention held in the church organization. She served faithfully as National Youth Supervisor 1955 to 2003.

 

She blazed a Triumphant trail by training and mentoring a cohesive group of District, State, County, and Local Youth Supervisors, who have enriched the lives of the youth membership of Triumph The Church And Kingdom Of God In Christ. Without compromise, she served with the philosophy “Each One, Reach One”. Many, youth and adult alike, were given the chance to grow in God within the various Youth Departments, on every level, and abroad.

 

An advocate of education and scholarship, Mother Harris, spearheaded various programs, publications, and classes, which broadened the horizons and finances of the church organization and the National Department; such as “the Triumph Youth Inspiration Publication”, “The Triumph New World Institute”, “The Miss and Mr. Chautauqua Pageant”, “The National Youth Department Scholarship Banquet (later appropriately named “The E. Bernice Harris Scholarship Banquet”), “the Tracey Booker Talk Show”, “Youth In Action”, and more. She was also responsible for raising thousands of dollars of scholarship funding for all graduating high school students who were interested in pursuing higher education, bi-annually and by way of alumni scholarship funding.

 

She was a Teacher of Righteousness and the Everlasting Gospel; a true Triumphian, who never compromised the truth of Triumph The Church And Kingdom Of God In Christ and taught Holiness and Righteousness as a standard to be lifted and exemplified at all times. An independent and broad thinker and exhibiter of the principles of Life and Living and encouraged all that she met and had relationship with to do the same. She encouraged all youth to respect themselves, to broaden themselves in the scope of knowledge in Youth as a weapon of our warfare for integration, and to ultimately BE TRIUMPHANT.

 

Mother Harris left a huge Triumphant legacy, and anyone that is currently a member of the local, county, state, district or national Youth Departments is included in that legacy. A broad path has been created with the ability for current and coming generations to launch and to soar from, as was her dream and the purpose for which Mother E. Bernice Coleman Harris worked and served.