Pastor gives pulpit to wife to focus on new campus

NEW ORLEANS — Bishop Paul S. Morton, leader of perhaps the largest church in New Orleans, has turned over his pulpit to his wife so he can spend more time building a post-Katrina satellite branch in the Atlanta area.

Debra Morton, 53, will take lead responsibility for the care of Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church in New Orleans with the title of senior pastor. Paul Morton, 57, will assume her old title of co-pastor.

Paul Morton will devote most of his energy to building an offshoot of Greater St. Stephen he planted in Decatur, Ga., a few weeks after the storm. The Georgia congregation now numbers about 6,000. It plans to relocate to 67 acres of land near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Paul Morton said.

Meanwhile, Greater St. Stephen in New Orleans now numbers about 5,000 people worshipping at two locations; a third location in eastern New Orleans was destroyed by Katrina.

The transition does not involve a large cultural adjustment for church members in New Orleans. Debra Morton became co-pastor 15 years ago; for years she shared a full preaching schedule with Paul Morton at home and on the road and also ran some major church ministries.