In 1897, James Grove saw Evangelist William Saunders Crowdy preaching on the streets of Topeka, Kansas. Mr. James Grove was attracted to Evangelist Crowdy's captivating voice and was drawn in by the several street meetings and sermons he heard. Evangelist Crowdy would preach, sing and call souls to Christ through repentance. Evangelist Crowdy mentioned he was going to be baptizing one Sunday, it was that Sunday Grove witnessed multiple baptisms of the new Church converts. Mr. Grove wanted to watch the baptisms, so he went down to the river on that particular morning and sat down on the hillside watching as Evangelist Crowdy called all of the new converts down to the water's edge. Then Crowdy stopped, looked up, and saw Grove sitting on the hill above him. Evangelist Crowdy called him down to the water and Mr. Grove obeyed. Evangelist Crowdy said, "Go, put one of those robes on." He waited for Grove to return in a robe. Evangelist Crowdy began the service, took Grove out into the water first, and baptized him. Thus, he became the first member of the Topeka, Kansas, Church.

 

One Sunday morning, Evangelist Crowdy came by Brother Grove's store. He opened on Sundays because he closed on Saturdays (the Sabbath), even though his wife objected to his doing so. On this Sunday morning, Evangelist Crowdy stopped in, and after talking for some time with Brother Grove, said he was going to the station to entrain for Lawrence, a city about fifty miles away. After he left, Brother Grove began to worry as to whether the Evangelist had enough money with him. He also suddenly remembered that no trains stopped in Topeka on Sunday mornings. He called his wife to take care of the store, took off his apron in haste, and hurried up to the railroad station. He found Evangelist Crowdy walking up and down on the platform, apparently humming to himself. He walked up to the Evangelist and gave him a few dollars saying, "There is no train stopping here today for Lawrence." Evangelist Crowdy replied, "Yes, there will be one stopping." Just then, he heard the train approaching. As it came into sight it began to slow down, and by the time it had come into the station it came to a complete stop. The conductor got off the train and walked to the engine to talk with the engineer. As he did so, Evangelist Crowdy stepped on board the train and disappeared from view. Grove stood amazed at all of this when he heard the conductor say he did not know what made the engineer make an unscheduled stop at Topeka. In this moment, Grove thought to himself, "This man is a Prophet of God."

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During the time he was Elder Grove, Evangelist William Crowdy, having been east and while preaching in Chicago on State Street, received the advice of an Irishman who, although he had been drinking, had stopped and listened attentively. When the man had the opportunity, he grasped the Evangelist's hand and confessed that he knew that every word he had heard was the true gospel of Christ. He asked the Evangelist, "Have you any members?" Evangelist Crowdy answered, "Yes." Then said the Irishman, "Go and have your members organized, and organize yourself, by having them to ordain you a Bishop, then you will not have all of the trouble that you have been exposed to in your great work." The Evangelist heeded this advice, returned to Kansas and began to lay plans to call all of his churches and the Elders which he had ordained for the first General Assembly on June 26, 1898.

 

During the General Assembly, he instructed Elder Sydney and Elder Grove on how to ordain. First, he called Elder Grove to sit in a chair. Evangelist Crowdy laid hands upon him in a ceremony and ordained him with the title of an Assistant Bishop. This made Elder Grove the first and only man to ever carry the title of Assistant Bishop. After this ceremony, the Evangelist called twelve men, including Elder Sydney and newly consecrated Assistant Bishop Grove, to the middle of the floor. The Evangelist sat in a chair in the midst of the twelve, then gave them instructions and permission to ordain him a Bishop of the Church. After pouring the holy oil upon Evangelist William S. Crowdy's head, which was included in the ordination, they sang the song "All power has been given unto thee." On the following day, the Evangelist, now known as Bishop William S. Crowdy, had another chair set  in the middle of the floor. Assistant Bishop Grove sat in it and Bishop Crowdy himself went down from the pulpit, laid hands upon him and consecrated him to the full rank of a Bishop of the Church after serving as Assistant Bishop for one day.​ 

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Bishop Crowdy went east again to continue building his work. Bishop Grove remained as Bishop of the west. Bishop Grove was made a Presbytery Board member and also served as the Pastor of the tabernacle in Emporia, Kansas until October 1898 when the Board of Presbytery voted that a Bishop should not be a Pastor. Bishop Grove was then appointed back into the field to continue growing the Church in various places. It was recommended by the Board that J. H. Evans of Topeka be appointed Pastor in his stead.

 

Bishop Grove journeyed to the east to attend a eastern District Assembly June 29, 1903 held in Boston, Massachusetts. This was the first time Bishop Grove came to the east and was presented to the congregation as the Bishop of the west. Bishop Grove was named President of the Presbytery Board according to the words of Elder Calvin Skinner.

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Bishop Crowdy made an attempt to unite the west and east for the first time in 1906. He sent a telegram to Bishop Grove requesting that he not hold the Feast of the Lord's Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread in the west as usual, but bring the Saints to Plainfield, New Jersey. However, this did not occur as Bishop Grove wrote the Bishop in reply stating his need to plant his crops as reason for his inability to comply.

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More history about Bishop James M. Grove will be added soon. Bishop Grove lived to be 90 plus years of age. In that time, he went on to become leader of one of the factions. He also started many tabernacles, wrote a book and left a specific successor. He died in 1948 as Senior Bishop in Los Angeles, California.