St. Louis, MO – At the 101stHoly Convocation, during the quadrennial elections, the Church of God in Christ re-elected Presiding Bishop Charles Blake to serve a second four year term as head of the nation’s largest Pentecostal denomination.
COGIC delegates meeting in St. Louis for the church’s 105th Holy Convocation re-elected Bishop Blake on Thursday, November 15th. The Memphis TN based church currently claims 6.5million members and is the fifth largest Christian denomination in the U.S., according to the 2012 Yearbook of Canadian and American Churches.
In a recently released statement, Bishop Blake said, “I am humbled and delighted to be chosen to continue to lead one of the greatest churches in the world.
COGIC delegates also elected several other officers, including Bishop Joel H. Lyles, Jr. as general secretary.
Bishop Blake, 72, is currently the pastor of the 24,000 member West Angeles Church of God In Christ in Los Angeles. He was first appointed to the post in 2007 after the death of Presiding Bishop Gilbert E. Patterson and was elected to his first full four-year term in 2008.
Bishop Blake is also the spiritual confidant of President Barack Obama and served on the White House Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
In Memphis, residents gained a big vote in COGIC’s leadership when Bishop Brandon B. Porter was elected to the 12-member General Board.
Porter, pastor of Greater Community Temple COGIC in Hickory Hill, will be the first Memphian on the board since Presiding Bishop G.E. Patterson died in March 2007.
The 53-year-old son of the late W.L. Porter was one of 23 candidates for four open positions on the board, the largest leadership turnover in COGIC’s history.
“I was thinking about my dad when they announced the results,” Porter said. “This election is about his legacy. It’s an honor for me but also for him and all the decades of service he gave to the church.”
Porter finished 10th in the balloting with 2,011 votes, about 700 more than two other new board members, including one from St. Louis, Bishop L.M. Wooten.
Courtesy of www.thebellereport.net www.twitter.com/thebellereport
