Bishop Moody was born December 16, 1934 to Mr. Booker T. and Geneva Moody, in the city of Tifton, Georgia.

He was saved in September 1944 and accepted the call to preach in July 1946 in the city of Waukegan, Illinois. In October 1950, the late Bishop W. M. Roberts ordained him. At the age of 16, he established a small church in Waukegan on Market Street with thirty-eight adult members and some children. At this young age, he also started a church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Later he was impressed of the Lord to submit each group to an older pastor in each of these cities. He took the group that was in Waukegan to St. James Temple Church of God in Christ in North Chicago, Illinois where Elder James W. Markham was the pastor. The group in Milwaukee was advised to go to Elder Dennis Flakes, who became Bishop Flakes.

Elder Moody served as Youth Pastor at St. James Temple and as District Sunday School Superintendent from 1952 until 1957.

Late in 1956, Mother Sadie Adams and her son Elder Eugene Adams went to Bishop L. H. Ford and asked him to send Elder Moody to Evanston, Illinois to open a church.

Elder Moody came to Evanston on January 7, 1957 and organized the church with a small group of six people. The Lord gave the name of this group “Faith Temple.”

Since that time, the Lord has blessed the congregation to grow from six persons to over two hundred families, and over five hundred members. In 1968, we completed the first phase of our church construction with a seating capacity of 450.

After attending Moody Bible Institute in 1970, Elder Moody traveled outside of the United States for the first time.  Since that time, he has ministered in over thirty-eight countries.

Elder Moody served as Vice President of the Black Ministers Alliance of Evanston for two years.  He also served as a member of the Curriculum Council for the Evanston Township High School for one year.

In 1975, Elder Moody was appointed International President of the Home and Foreign Missions Department of the Church of God in Christ, which reaches into over fifty-seven countries.

In 1976, he as elected to serve as a member of the Advisory Committee of the Pentecostal World Conference.  He served in this position for over 27 years.

As a part of our Home and Foreign Missions Ministry, our local congregation served as the Home Church for a Drug Rehabilitation Center, (Prevention, Inc.) for eleven years. We ministered in our community through radio for thirteen years and on TV for the past five years.

In September 1980, a new dimension was added to the ministry of our church. Elder Moody was inspired to open a Christian School, “Faith Christian Academy”, with grades Kindergarten through Third Grade. The second year would cover Kindergarten through the Sixth Grade. The next phase was K4 through Eighth Grade. We completed the second phase of construction in June 1986.

We demolished the existing structure in September 1996 to build a new church and school building, which included a new standard size gymnasium. This new structure was completed in January 1998.

In 1982, Elder Moody was consecrated as Missionary Bishop in the Church of God in Christ.

Bishop Moody headed all the Mission work of the Church of God in Christ in all Global countries as well as in the United States. He was the International President of the COGIC World Missions Department for 40 years. Bishop Moody also served as the Jurisdictional Bishop of Germany for many years. In his lifetime he authored 3 books, “Your Marriage can be Successful”, “Humility before Honor”, and What Happens When You Say, “Yes Lord”.

As a part of our Home and Foreign Missions Ministry, our local congregation served as the Home Church for a Drug Rehabilitation Center, (Prevention, Inc.) for eleven years. We ministered in our community through radio for thirteen years and on TV for the past five years.

In September 1980, a new dimension was added to the ministry of our church. Elder Moody was inspired to open a Christian School, “Faith Christian Academy”, with grades Kindergarten through Third Grade. The second year would cover Kindergarten through the Sixth Grade. The next phase was K4 through Eighth Grade. We completed the second phase of construction in June 1986.

We demolished the existing structure in September 1996 to build a new church and school building, which included a new standard size gymnasium. This new structure was completed in January 1998.

In 1982, Elder Moody was consecrated as Missionary Bishop in the Church of God in Christ.

Bishop Moody headed all the Mission work of the Church of God in Christ in all Global countries as well as in the United States. He was the International President of the COGIC World Missions Department for 40 years. Bishop Moody also served as the Jurisdictional Bishop of Germany for many years. In his lifetime he authored 3 books, “Your Marriage can be Successful”, “Humility before Honor”, and What Happens When You Say, “Yes Lord”.

In January 1996, there was Special Service held at Faith Temple Church in recognition of the street (Dewey Avenue) being renamed in honor of Bishop Moody. The name of the street was changed from Dewey Avenue to BISHOP CARLIS L. MOODY AVENUE.

On the May 7, 2005, an Honorary Doctor of Divinity was bestowed upon Bishop Moody by the Interdenominational Theological Center, Charles H. Mason Theological Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia.

On Monday, January 29, 2007 there was a service held for the renaming of the J.W. Markham District to the BISHOP CARLIS L. MOODY DISTRICT. This District comes under First Jurisdiction of Illinois Church of God in Christ.

After a major earthquake in Haiti in January of 2010, the orphanage owned by the Church of God in Christ had to be rebuilt and relocated and with divine favor the land that was cleared was re-purposed and a brand-new school was built by the Digicel Foundation and named the Bishop Carlis L. Moody Sr. Grammar School and is thriving and servicing more than 200 students.

Bishop Moody married his wife, Mary Alice in September 1955. They have one daughter, International Supervisor Sideary King, three sons, Pastor & Psalmist Carlis Moody, Jr., Elder Anthony Moody, Sr., and Minister Jeffrey Moody. At the time of this writing, they have a total of twelve grandchildren and three great grandchildren.