Rev. John Houze is a native of Grover, North Carolina where he attended Cleveland County public schools, followed by VIA Technological and Research College in Roanoke VA, Queens College of Real Estate and Emmanuel University in Gastonia, NC.

Dr. Houze has served as a professor at Agape Bible School in Gastonia, N.C. where he taught Church and Christian Leadership. He is currently a Fellow at the Institute of Theologians.

He is the founder and Senior Pastor of Peoples Baptist Church in Kings Mountain, NC, where he has pastured for 25 years. He is married to the beautiful First Lady Fonda Ross-Houze. They have three children, eight grandchildren, and five great grandchildren.

Rev. Houze has had the honor of serving on various Christian, City, and County boards including Cleveland County’s Smart Start and the  Council of Aging and the Kings Mountain Planning, Zoning and  Board of Adjustments. Not one to shy away from community involvement, He was the First African American president of the Kings Mountain Ministerial Association; the First African American President of  the Greater Cleveland County Baptist Association; the First African American Postal Clerk in Grover, NC; the First African American Letter Carrier for Kings Mountain and the First Gaston County resident to run for the Kings Mountain School Board. Additionally he serves on the Kings Mountain Police Department’s Promotional Review Board.

Rev Houze is one of the founding members of the recording group, The Gospel IQ’s of Grover, NC, which 50 years later is still widely sought after, but most of all he’s a servant of the Most High God called to be an Agent of Change for the people of God.

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