Toya Toppin
If you know Sister Toya Toppin, you know she is an encourager, a prayer warrior, and an anointed voice for God. She serves in the choir at Holy Temple COGIC and at the jurisdictional level. She often posts lyrics of songs that are ministering to her that day on social media, and when she leads a song with the choir, it is obvious that she feels the words all the way down in her sanctified spirit.
What you may not know is that she has faced multiple serious and life-threatening medical conditions, never faltering in her trust that she has a faithful, healing God. She testifies, “I don’t look like what I been through,” and continues in a posture of gratefulness and joy to praise God, sing, and share that 1000-watt smile! The joy of the Lord is her strength.
Even though she had younger siblings, she had a traumatic background that led to her being raised as an only child by her single father. Sister Toya is a graduate of the Southwest School of Chaplaincy (2017) and is a certified chaplain. Her heart is to work with wounded women. She says, “I’ve been through a lot, so that makes me want to work with women to help them realize they can be delivered and freed in Jesus Christ just as I have been.”
Sister Toya was saved as a teenager, after a foundation laid by her Mom (Church of Christ) and father (Baptist). She was a member of the Baptist church until God directed her to leave and a friend invited her to Holy Temple, where she has been ever since. Through the years she has served in Sunshine band, Purity class leader, District Youth Chairlady, and currently serves on Holy Temple’s deaconess board, evangelism team, and pastor’s aid. She is a valuable asset to her first lady, assisting her in multiple ways.
In her working life, she has been a certified medical assistant and a floor manager of customer service until recently retiring.
Sister Toya has been married to James Toppin, a long-haul trucker, for 27 years (as of this February) and is the mother of two adult daughters, Naomi and Hannah. Her hobbies include tennis, kick boxing, fashion, baking, and singing—of course! That’s who she is.