He criticized the high church liturgy, vestments, and modernity that many congregations had adopted since his early years with COGIC. He worked to remind members of the sacrifices of the pioneers of COGIC. He reopened Saints Academy and College in Lexington, Mississippi, which had financial difficulties and closed in the early 1970s after the death of its influential leader, Arenia Conella Mallory. He also constructed the new multimillion-dollar Deborah Mason Patterson Hall at the campus. Bishop Ford also renovated several COGIC structures in Memphis, including Mason Temple. Bishop Ford is credited with inviting President Bill Clinton, a personal friend, to speak to the Eighty-Sixth International Holy Convocation on November 13, 1993. Clinton is the only US president to have addressed a COGIC convocation at Mason Temple. During the 1990s and Bishop Ford's administration, the Pentecostal denominations in the United States began to work to heal the racial divide among the churches. In 1994 the association of Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America (PCCNA) was established, superseding what had become the all-white Pentecostal Fellowship of North America (PFNA). In what was called the Memphis Miracle, the new group was formed as an inclusive organization, to represent all the major Pentecostal groups in North America regardless of race. Since its creation, it has had a co-chair leadership. One position has been filled by a COGIC bishop, usually a member of the General Board. The other is filled by a minister of a white denomination from the previous PFNA. Bishop Chandler David Owens, Sr. was elected Presiding Bishop after the death of Bishop Ford in 1995. Owens had gained national attention in the church as the president of the Youth Department. He was a noted evangelist who had pastored several churches, including: Bostick Temple in St. Louis, Missouri; Well's Cathedral COGIC in Newark, New Jersey; and Greater Community COGIC in Marietta, Georgia. He also served as the Presiding Prelate of the New Jersey Garden State Jurisdiction and the Central Georgia Jurisdiction. Bishop Owens led the COGIC in its centennial celebration in 1997 with the theme, "Holiness, a Proven Foundation for a Promising Future!" He is credited with systematically restructuring church departments and ministries, expanding the church in Asia, primarily India and the Philippines, and placing the COGIC on a solid financial status.