Claudine McFadden Phillips, 71, Pentecostal pastor

CLAUDINE McFADDEN didn't have much choice when it came to deciding how she would serve her religion.

That was decided for her before she was born. Mother Elizabeth Juanita Dabney, a prominent healer and prophet, told her parents that their baby would grow up to be a "word carrier, a powerfully anointed woman of God," as her family put it.

And that's the way it turned out. Claudine became an elder in the Pentecostal faith and was pastor of the Abiding Presence of God Prayer and Faith Ministries, which she founded in Philadelphia in 1987.

Over the years, she hosted a call-in prayer radio broadcast, was assistant pastor of a church in Camden and worked as a visiting nurse. She was also a hairstylist and ran her own wig shop.

Claudine McFadden Phillips died of natural causes on Sept. 21. She turned 71 on Sept. 13. She lived in North Philadelphia.

Claudine began her spiritual journey at the Garden of Prayer Church of God in Christ in North Philadelphia. It was led by Bishop Benjamin Dabney and his wife, Mother Dabney, who gained a reputation as a faith-healer, packing the church at 29th Street and Susquehanna Avenue with people seeking healing at predawn and late-night prayer vigils in the 1940s and '50s.

Mother Dabney told Claudine's mother, Eunice McFadden, what she saw in her daughter's future, and she obviously had a strong influence over the young girl's spiritual life.

Claudine was born in Philadelphia to Eunice and Alek McFadden. She graduated from John Bartram High School, where the future singer Patti LaBelle was a classmate and good friend.

Claudine later studied at nursing and beautician schools, and worked as a hairstylist at her mother's beauty shop and wig salons. She later worked as a private-duty nurse.

Her first wig shop was at Germantown Avenue and Tioga Street, which she operated for several years.

Claudine met and married Alfred Hazel, and they had a daughter, Janice Renee Hazel. Claudine later married Shandos B. Phillips. He died in April 1998.

She was a member of Garden of Prayer Church of God in Christ for more than 25 years. She later joined the Ark Revival Center, which she served as devotional leader, secretary and custodian, among other duties.

As a later member of the Rehoboth Temple Church of God in Christ, 12th Street and Wyoming Avenue, she preached her first sermon in July 1985.

In 1986, Claudine joined United Bethel Full Gospel Church in Camden, where she was ordained and served as assistant pastor.

It was on Mother's Day in May 1987 that Claudine and husband Shandos founded Abiding Presence of God Prayer and Faith Ministries in their home on North Delhi Street.

In 1990, they moved it to 13th Street near Lindley Avenue, where it remained for 14 years. On Palm Sunday in April 2003, the church moved to its present home on Old York Road near Rockland Street. In January, the church came under the Church of Christ Written in Heaven denomination, of which her brother, Geoffrey Gibbs Sr., was bishop.

At Gibbs' urging, Senior Bishop Thomas Brown appointed Claudine the first female presiding elder in the six-year history of the church.

"Elder Phillips changed the history of the Church of Christ Written in Heaven for women, and stood alone for many years as the only female presiding elder among all males," her family said. "She did it with such grace and dignity that all of her male counterparts respected her and honored the anointing on her life."

In June 2007, Claudine graduated from the Bethel Temple School of Ministry with a degree in biblical studies.

Through her leadership, her church became involved in the Logan community with various events, including Octoberfest; Acquire the Fire, with religious messages aimed at young people; back-to-school giveaways and after-school programs.

Claudine began her radio ministry on WDAS (105.3-FM) in Philadelphia, and later moved to WTMR (800-AM) in Camden. She remained on the air with a 90-minute call-in prayer broadcast for 16 years.

"Many thousands of lives were saved, delivered and set free through this broadcast," her family said.

Besides her daughter and brother, she is survived by three sisters, Catherine Andrews, Julia Bright and Alberta McFadden; two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Services: 11 a.m. tomorrow at Rehoboth Temple Church of God in Christ, 12th Street and Wyoming Avenue. Friends may call at 9 a.m.