Carlton Pearson rose from a Pentecostal upbringing to become a nationally recognized preacher, gospel recording artist, and leader of a large Tulsa congregation. His career changed sharply when he began teaching what he called the Gospel of Inclusion—the belief that Christ’s saving work applied to all humanity rather than only those who made a particular Christian confession.
That change cost Pearson much of the religious platform he had built. Church attendance and financial support declined, longtime associates distanced themselves, and a group of Pentecostal bishops declared his teaching heretical. Yet he continued developing the message through books, speaking engagements, and later ministry roles. His story eventually inspired the Netflix drama Come Sunday.
A Pentecostal Foundation in San Diego
Carlton D’Metrius Pearson was born in San Diego, California, on March 19, 1953. He described his family as deeply connected to Pentecostal Christianity across several generations. Preaching, church leadership, and gospel singing were familiar parts of his upbringing rather than activities he discovered later in life.
Pearson recalled that people noticed the strength of his speaking voice when he was still young. He also sang with family members and performed in church, experiences that helped prepare him for a career combining preaching and gospel music.
At San Diego High School, Pearson said he served as student body president and participated in theatre, debate, and public speaking. His religious identity remained prominent during those years. In 1971, he moved to Tulsa to attend Oral Roberts University, beginning the relationship that would define the first major stage of his ministry.
Learning Ministry Alongside Oral Roberts
Pearson met the university’s founder and evangelist, Oral Roberts, upon arriving at ORU. He joined the World Action Singers, a student group that appeared in nationally broadcast religious programs and traveled to perform for wider audiences. ORU archival material confirms his participation in the group during the early 1970s.
A close mentoring relationship developed between Pearson and Roberts. Pearson studied how Roberts communicated, raised support, and managed large religious events. He later described Roberts as both a mentor and a demanding critic who closely monitored his development.
During the mid-1970s, Pearson became an associate evangelist connected with the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association. He conducted preaching engagements, gained television experience, and continued representing the university in religious settings.
Although ORU records list Pearson as an alumnus, his educational record requires clarification. Pearson said he participated in graduation ceremonies but had not completed his final examinations. His attendance and extensive university involvement are confirmed, but completion of a degree is not.
Building Higher Dimensions and the Azusa Movement
Pearson launched Higher Dimensions, Inc. in 1977 and established Higher Dimensions Evangelistic Center in 1981. The congregation began on a modest scale but grew into a prominent interracial church in Tulsa. It later became known as Higher Dimensions Family Church and eventually as New Dimensions Church.
Reports concerning its size use different measurements. Pearson described weekly participation of more than 6,000 across multiple services, while AP reported approximately 6,000 members around the turn of the century. Whichever measure was used, the congregation drew thousands and gave Pearson a substantial national platform.
His reach expanded through Christian television, including the program Everything’s Gonna Be All Right. In 1988, he began the Azusa conference series, which brought preaching and gospel music together in large events. Attendance estimates vary considerably, but the conferences clearly attracted tens of thousands of visitors during their most successful period.
Pearson also released gospel recordings associated with Azusa. The Stellar Gospel Music Awards’ official archive lists him as Traditional Male Artist of the Year in 1998 for Live at Azusa 2… Precious Memories. Sources disagree about his total number of Stellar Awards, so that verified 1998 recognition provides the clearest confirmed record.
The Experiences Behind His Theological Change
Public success did not prevent Pearson from becoming dissatisfied with the direction of his ministry. He later said the church was primarily reaching existing believers rather than connecting with people outside established religious communities. Large crowds no longer gave him the sense of purpose they once had.
Parenthood also influenced his thinking. Pearson recalled looking at his young son and questioning what a child could possibly do that would justify endless punishment. That private question challenged the traditional doctrine of hell he had preached for years.
Another significant moment came while he watched television coverage of the suffering in Rwanda. With his daughter in his arms, he saw images of malnourished children and struggled with the belief that people already experiencing extreme suffering could also face eternal torment because they were not Christians.
Pearson gave different approximate dates for these experiences, ranging from the late 1990s to around 2000. His own accounts indicate that the change developed gradually through parenthood, biblical study, moral questions, and growing dissatisfaction with conventional ministry.
What Pearson Meant by the Gospel of Inclusion
The Gospel of Inclusion taught that Christ’s saving work covered all of humanity. Under Pearson’s interpretation, salvation did not depend on a person making a particular religious confession before death.
His position was often summarized as a rejection of hell, but his later explanation was more nuanced. Pearson rejected eternal punishment for its own sake. He remained open to the possibility of a remedial or corrective experience after death, but he did not accept endless torment as the final destiny of non-Christians.
His understanding of scripture changed as well. By 2019, Pearson said he continued to take the Bible seriously, though he no longer treated it as completely literal or inerrant. He believed religious texts contained human interpretations of God and should not limit the possibility of experiencing God beyond one tradition.
This outlook eventually moved beyond a debate about hell. Pearson increasingly spoke about religious inclusion across Christian, Jewish, Muslim and other identities, arguing that God could not be owned by one institution or faith community.
Rejection, Financial Loss and the Heresy Ruling
Pearson’s new teaching brought strong opposition from Pentecostal and evangelical leaders. In a report dated March 29, 2004, the Joint College of African-American Pentecostal Bishops declared his doctrine heretical. The decision followed a doctrinal forum at which Pearson had defended his position.
The consequences reached far beyond theological disagreement. Congregants departed, speaking invitations disappeared, and financial support fell sharply. Pearson said four pastors left together and that a large number of members followed them. He found the loss of relationships particularly painful because many of those leaving were people he had counseled, baptized, and served for years.
Pearson admitted that he questioned whether his reasoning could be mistaken. He also said financial hardship occasionally made him consider how easily he might rebuild a profitable ministry by withdrawing the message. Even so, he did not return to his former teaching.
Higher Dimensions eventually lost its property through foreclosure. Pearson described the loss as a severe shock to his faith because he had believed the congregation would keep the building. The decline was not a single event but a prolonged loss of institutional support, income, friendships, and religious status.
Rebuilding Ministry Beyond Higher Dimensions
Pearson preached his final sermon at New Dimensions Church on September 7, 2008. He explained that he wanted the remaining congregation to have a safe place after its members had become outsiders within their former evangelical and charismatic circles.
The congregation was folded into All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa. Pearson subsequently became an affiliate minister there and preached regularly. The setting differed from the lengthy Pentecostal services of his earlier career. He said his talks became shorter and better suited to All Souls’ worship style.
Pearson also worked in Chicago, serving for approximately two years as interim minister of Christ Universal Temple, a New Thought congregation. These later roles allowed him to continue teaching after the collapse of the institution that had originally supported his national influence.
His ministry no longer operated at the same scale as Higher Dimensions, but it reached audiences interested in universal salvation, interfaith thought and religious inclusion.
Books, Advocacy and Come Sunday
Pearson developed his beliefs in The Gospel of Inclusion. Publication dates differ by edition, with the verified Atria edition appearing in 2009. In 2010, Atria published God Is Not a Christian, Nor a Jew, Muslim, Hindu…, which expanded his argument that God belonged to no single religion.
His inclusive position also shaped his public engagement with LGBTQ Christians. Pearson described preaching to an LGBTQ-affirming congregation led by Bishop Yvette Flunder as one of the holiest experiences of his life. He connected their welcome with his growing understanding of the rejection many LGBTQ believers had faced.
In April 2007, he participated in a national clergy campaign supporting federal hate-crime protections. He was one voice in a broader effort rather than the sole leader responsible for later legislation.
Pearson’s story reached a wider audience through the 2005 This American Life episode “Heretics.” That account became the basis for Come Sunday, directed by Joshua Marston and released by Netflix in 2018. Chiwetel Ejiofor portrayed Pearson, while Martin Sheen played Oral Roberts.
Pearson contributed his experiences during the film’s development. He later said he was pleased with the result but believed some of the more challenging parts of his story had been softened. The production remains a dramatization rather than a documentary record of every conversation and event.
Final Years and a Divided Religious Legacy
Pearson continued speaking and conducting online broadcasts during his later years. His public work remained focused on inclusion, spiritual development, and his broader interpretation of Christianity.
In 2023, he discussed his declining health through social media. Pearson referred to an earlier prostate-cancer diagnosis and a later bladder-cancer diagnosis, while his agent described his eventual cause of death more generally as cancer. In September, Pearson said he was facing death but did not fear death or dying.
Carlton Pearson died in hospice care in Tulsa on November 19, 2023, aged 70. Before his death, he recorded his preference for a memorial marked by musical excellence and diversity.
Several communities organized separate services in Tulsa and Atlanta. The arrangements revealed the different constituencies connected to him: traditional Pentecostal Christians who remembered his earlier ministry, and interfaith or LGBTQ-affirming communities that emphasized the Gospel of Inclusion.
All Souls later remembered him as an affiliate minister. The Recording Academy also included him in its memorial list of music professionals, recognition of his gospel work rather than a Grammy nomination or award.
The Lasting Meaning of Pearson’s Ministry Change
Carlton Pearson built a major Pentecostal platform through preaching, broadcasting, music and the Azusa conferences. The Gospel of Inclusion altered that career because it challenged a doctrine central to the religious community that had supported him.
He lost his congregation’s former scale, its building, and many professional relationships, yet continued to develop his beliefs through books, advocacy, later ministry, and public conversations. His complete story includes both periods: the influential Pentecostal leader shaped by Oral Roberts and the inclusive spiritual teacher who accepted the consequences of changing his message.