Bishop LaVaughn Hughes, Sr., a native Floridian, was born on July 15, 1963 in the city of Crestview. On April 19, 1980, at the age of sixteen, the Lord saved him and filled him with His Holy Spirit. As a result of his obedience and love for the Gospel, God blessed him to lead many other young people to give their lives to Jesus.

Bishop Hughes moved to the Washington metropolitan area in June of 1983. The following year he united with the Faith Temple #2 Original Free Will Baptist Church (OFWBC) in Capitol Heights, Md. under the leadership of Bishop L.N. Forbes. Hughes served as the YPCL President as well as a Bible Church school and Bible Study teacher for many years. In April 1988 he was ordained a deacon and served faithfully for 5 years. He married Felecia Hughes (now “First Lady”) on June 18, 1988 and together they had 3 wonderful children--LaVaughn Jr., Alecia, and Crystal. And with Heavenly help, he preached his initial sermon entitled, “Due Season” in April 1993. God had been true to His promise and this would be the beginning of many wonderful things the Lord had in store for him.

The Middle Eastern District of Original Free Will Baptist conference is comprised of more than 40 churches, and Bishop Hughes holds several positions within this organization. He is the President of the Northern District Union, which oversees 7 churches located between East Orange, NJ and Richmond, VA and he serves on the OFWB Ordination Council. Additionally, he served on the Book of Discipline Committee for the General Conference of Original Free Will Baptist Churches (which consists of 4 Conference bodies). The Book of Discipline governs the aforementioned conference bodies and as a committee member, he was intricately involved with acquiring material; editing content; and composing text for the current Book of Discipline.

The Lord remains steadfast in elevating His servant and on January 16, 2000, Bishop Hughes was appointed Pastor of the Tabernacle of Praise in Waldorf, Md. The Tabernacle grew both spiritually and physically and witnessed a great surge in worshippers. Hughes also had conferred on him an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters degree by the Breakthrough Bible Institute College (Partners of ORU) on June 28, 2003. Bishop Hughes deems this bestowment a great honor for him as he endeavors to glorify God. Three years later, he received another honor. On Tuesday, October 31, 2006 Pastor Hughes was consecrated to the office of Bishop by the Presiding Prelate of the Original Free Will Baptist Conference, Bishop L. N. Forbes and the staff of Bishops.