Some people achieve success and seem to “forget” where they’ve come from. That’s not the case for 61-year-old Hezekiah Walker. With a 45+ year track record in gospel, he’s risen through the ranks from a member of a community choir to one of the top choirmasters in all of gospel music. In 2010, he was enthroned as the Presiding Bishop of the P_e_n_t_e_c_o_s_t_a_l_ _C_h_u_r_c_h_e_s_ _o_f_ _J_e_s_u_s_ _Christ (rebranded C_o_v_e_n_a_n_t_ _K_e_e_p_e_r_s_ _I_n_t_e_r_n_a_t_i_o_n_a_l_ _A_l_l_i_a_n_c_e_). As a pastor, he has established two L_o_v_e_ _F_e_l_l_o_w_s_h_i_p_ _T_a_b_e_r_n_a_c_l_e_ _locations (Brooklyn, NY, and Bensalem, PA). As an artist, he’s won multiple Stellars, Grammys, Doves and NAACP Image Awards, and his songs have become standards in churches across the globe. But his latest project is what he claims as his greatest legacy.
“I grew up in a home where gospel music was all my mom would listen to,” Walker reflects. “I really didn’t know that the music was kind of getting into my spirit. We lived in an abusive home. My dad was an alcoholic. He loved us, but he loved the bottle as well, so my mom had to deal with all that along with four children. Gospel music kept her going. I remember my mom washing clothes, crying and singing at the same time. Mahalia Jackson was like her favorite. I remember one day on my way home from school, I started humming some of those songs, and I was like, ‘What?’ I even remembered the words!” Walker says he never sang the songs in front of anyone. “Then, one day my mom went grocery shopping, and I was in the house by myself,” he remembers. “I started playing her music and singing. When I heard her with the key coming in the door, I snatched the music off, because she had no idea I could sing, but I didn’t know that she had been at the door listening. When she walked in, she said, ‘Junior! Were you playing my music?’ I was like, ‘Uh, yeah.’ She said, ‘Was that you singing?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah.’ She said, ‘I had no idea you could sing!’ So that’s what got me started.”
After discovering her son’s talent, Walker’s mom took him to church and got him involved with the children’s choir. He was about eight years old. “It went on from there,” he says. It was the late 1970s and Brooklyn, NY, was a hotbed of gospel music with its own style. The great Brooklyn church choirs included B_i_b_l_e_ _W_a_y_ _T_e_m_p_l_e_,_ _I_n_s_t_i_t_u_t_i_o_n_a_l_ _C_h_u_r_c_h_ _o_f_ _G_o_d_ _i_n_ _C_h_r_i_s_t_,_ _K_i_n_g_’s_ _T_e_m_p_l_e_,_ _directed by the late B_e_n_n_y_ _C_u_m_m_i_n_g_s_,_ _and W_a_s_h_i_n_g_t_o_n_ _T_e_m_p_l_e_ _C_h_u_r_c_h_ _o_f_ _G_o_d_ _i_n_ _C_h_r_i_s_t_,_ _where the late T_i_m_o_t_h_y_ _W_r_i_g_h_t_ _served as music director before becoming a top gospel artist/songwriter. There were also community choirs, which were less restrictive and led by “ministers” who created their own guidelines. Walker joined one, but soon went his own way, and along with his then girlfriend (later ex-wife), Monique, started Love Fellowship Choir in 1985. The couple married in 1992 and stayed married for 12 years.
Love Fellowship Tabernacle was launched in 1994. Walker says that the juggling act of pastor and artist is something he’s grown to embrace with grace. “One thing I learned from Bishop [T.D.] Jakes, is that all of us were born and created with multiple gifts. You have to learn to work every gift at the same time. I remember sitting in that class thinking, ‘How do you do that?’ And he said, ‘time management.’” Walker embraced the counsel. “I’ve learned how to utilize time management and work all of the gifts inside of me. Bishop Jakes also said that one of the mistakes we make in our culture is that we take one gift at a time, and then, when we get to the gift we love most, we are too old to work it.” Walker says the advice from Bishop Jakes became pivotal in his ministry, both as an artist and pastor.
Another thing that Walker has managed well is his money. “I learned to save money from my mom,” he says. “To be honest, when we started the church, everybody was young. I think I was the oldest one, and I was in my early 30s. So, all the money we made on the road, I would take and invest into our church.
I said, ‘listen, when we all get older, we need to have something.’ I said this years ago, not knowing back then what I was saying.
Prior to the church launch, Walker was forced to rent spaces for the choir to rehearse or ask pastors to allow the choir to use their churches, but as the choir grew and became more professional and popular, rental spaces were harder to find.
“There was one particular building where I became good friends with the landlord,” Walker recalls. “One day, the owner’s daughter came to me and said, my mom wants to sell
the building. I was like, ‘Good!’ Because I had saved up enough money to put a down payment on it. I went to the bank and the bank approved our loan, so we bought the building. Now mind you, I bought the building, but we were still in our new facility that I was renting, but I just held onto it and I, I said, I don’t know what we’re going to do with it, but we’re just going to hold on to it.”
Nearly 10 years later, with the success of his artistry and the growth of the church, Walker was in a position to build a new edifice for the ministry. He hired a top-notch architect who created a fabulous rendering. Everything was falling into place, but then, the Pandemic hit, and the world screeched to a standstill.
For most people, especially Godly people, the Pandemic was more of a classroom than a catastrophe. Walker says, he heard God tell him to “build something for the community.” It was a startling message. “I was like, ‘What?’” Walker says he kept praying and listening and God instructed him to build housing.
“About two weeks later,” he says, “I came to the church and told them what God had told me. And they agreed. Then, I got a call from a developer in New York City that wanted to meet with me about our property. He told me what he wanted to do and told me that the mayor of New York had created an initiative to build more affordable housing.”
With the scarcity of land in New York, it turned out that Walker’s property was one of the largest in the East New York area.
After negotiations, in May 2023, groundbreaking ceremonies took place for HezHouse Apartments, an $80 million housing project. According to the press release, “HezHouse Apartments will consist of 236 units, with 63 studios, 72 one-bedroom units, 73 two-bedroom units, and 28 three-bedroom units, offering a variety of living spaces to accommodate families of all sizes.
What sets this development apart is the inclusion of 142 supportive units specifically designed for individuals and families dealing with serious mental disorders or substance use disorders. Of the 142 supportive units, 93 are designated as affordable units, ensuring that those in need have access to safe and stable housing.”
Walker pointed out that the complex, which is scheduled for completion in September 2025, will also include commercial retail space, a gym and parking lot, and will likely include an area where the work of gospel music and Love Fellowship will be enshrined.