Charles E. Blake

Bishop Charles E. Blake can primarily be described as a servant. His whole life is dedicated to loving his fellowman more than himself. He is first a husband to Mae Lawrence Blake. Together they have three children and eight grandchildren. He is the pastor of West Angeles Church of God in Christ with a membership of over 24,000. West Angeles is deeply involved in providing not only for the spiritual life of its people, but also it provides more than 80 programs for the psychological, social, and economic enhancement of the community.Bishop Blake is a humble humanitarian and communitarian. He is the chief executive officer of Save Africa’s Children, a program of the Pan African Children’s Fund. The group has assisted over 300 grassroots and faith-based projects in sub-Saharan Africa, reaching over 90,000 AIDS-affected children. Save Africa’s Children supports more than 100 thousand children in 340 orphan care programs throughout more than 23 nations on the continent of Africa.

Bishop Blake was the founding Chairman of the Board of Directors for C.H. Mason Theological Seminary and has served as an Executive Committee member on the Board of Directors of the Interdenominational Theological Seminary. He also formerly served as an Advisory Committee Member of the Pentecostal World Conference.Charles E. Blake was appointed the seventh in succession as Presiding Bishop by the General Assembly of the 6.5 million member Church of God in Christ November 12, 2007. At the 101st Holy Convocation, during the quadrennial elections in 2008, Bishop Blake was re-elected as Presiding Bishop for another four-year term. As Presiding Bishop, Blake has become the new face of, and an international spokesperson for Pentecostalism as it is known today. Bishop Blake served as Jurisdictional Prelate of the First Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of Southern California comprised of more than 250 churches for 25 years.

April 6, 2009 in Washington, D.C., President Barack Obama tapped Presiding Bishop Charles E. Blake to serve on his 25-person White House Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. He was also tapped as one of four to speak at the Democratic National Convention’s first Ecumenical Service, where he pronounced his status as pro-life democrat and challenged both democrats and republicans to protect the rights of the unborn and born alike.

Bishop Blake has received numerous awards, commendations, and accolades. A few include: April 2007, the Distinguished Leadership Award presented by the African Presidential Archives and Research Center at Boston University, the 2006 Trumpet Award, the Salvation Army’s William Booth Award, the Greenlining Institute’s Big Heart Award, and the designated recipient of the L.A. Urban League’s Whitney M. Young Award for the year 2000. In 2003, Bishop Blake was awarded the Harvard Foundation Humanitarian Medal for his work with Save Africa’s Children and its mission to support orphanages throughout that continent. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors designated “Bishop Charles E. Blake Day”, February 5, 2004.