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Bishop Donald "DD" Hayes
At the age of thirteen, Bishop Hayes accepted the Lord as his personal savior and became a dedicated servant of God.
In 1971 he graduated from Mullins High School. Upon completion of his secondary education, he went to New York to live with one of his siblings and while there, he enlisted into the United States Air Force and was subsequently stationed in California.
At the age of 23 the Lord called him into the ministry. He was licensed in September 1976 and preached his first official sermon in December of that same year.
On March 20, 1977, Donald Hayes married Cheryl Regina Smith and this union was blessed with one daughter, Alicia Nicole, and two sons, Brian Keith and Donald, Jr. Bishop Hayes and his wife are now enjoying four handsome grandsons, Kaleb, Joshua, Daniel, and Brian and one precious granddaughter, Brianna.
Bishop Hayes was ordained and commissioned as a Elder in March 1978.
In 1978, Elder Hayes was stationed in RAF Upper Heyford, England, and while there was appointed Pastor to the Gospel Worship Service. It was here that his pastoral career began and God used him in his four-year tenure to strengthen the Body of Christ on the military bases and to help unite other gospel services in the United Kingdom.
In 1981 he and his family were stationed in Great Falls, Montana, where he was appointed Pastor of the Union Bethel Community Church. It was during his four-year tenure at Union Bethel Community that God taught him the cost of being a Godly leader; it was, in fact, his pruning ground.
In 1985 Bishop Hayes and his family were stationed at Carswell AFB in Texas, and in 1987 he was unanimously appointed Pastor of the Gospel Services, reaching out to military families.
In 1989, through divine appointment, Gospel Inspirational Fellowship Tabernacle was chartered with Bishop Hayes as Head Pastor. He continues to lead G.I.F.T. Church, located in Fort Worth, Texas, with his wife and Co-Pastor, Cheryl.
Bishop Hayes is filling a vital role in the history of the Church and the entire world. In 1997 he was appointed Head Chaplain for the Chaplaincy, the first African-American to hold this position.
Bishop Hayes is a graduate of Covenant Bible College & Theological Seminary, earning his Doctorate of Philosophy in Theological Studies. He received Episcopal Reaffirmation at the hand of Apostle++D. E. Chase, Ph.D. on June 14, 2009 and was bestowed full lines of Apostolic Succession.