This is often carried out by ministers or deacons, appointed by Edwards. He arrived in the South in the early 1970s and began pastoring Greater Christ Temple Apostolic Church in Meridian, Mississippi. In 1976, Edwards claims to have looked out upon the poverty of his congregation and decided to do something about it. The Church opened a grocery store in the basement of the building and began to sell groceries for the food stamps members of the congregation and community were receiving due to their economic status. All these endeavors are operated by members, both adults and children.
Members work without pay, receiving room and board for their labor.
They are told they work for themselves as joint owners of all holdings. The commune includes a clinic, nursery, a private school for children, dormitories for singles, separate single-unit housing for married couples and dormitories for children. Parents live apart from their children allowing them to be raised by other women in the organization who stay with the children in the dormitories. A personal judgment was also rendered against Edwards, but he continues to maintain he has no money or possessions and is, therefore, judgment proof. Even though Edwards maintains the suit and subsequent judgment were incorrect he will not appeal as no money will ever be collected.