| West Angeles Church of God in Christ | |
|---|---|
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| Location | Los Angeles, California |
| Country | United States |
| Denomination | Church of God in Christ |
| Weekly attendance | 24,000 |
| Website | westa |
| History | |
| Founded | 1943 |
| Founder(s) | Elder Clarence E. Church |
| Clergy | |
| Senior pastor(s) | Charles Edward Blake II |
West Angeles Church of God in Christ is a Pentecostal megachurch located in the West Adams Historic District of Los Angeles, California, and a member of the Church of God in Christ.
It was founded by Elder Clarence E. Church in 1943. [1] The first sanctuary was located on Adams Boulevard, near Interstate 10, known locally as the Santa Monica Freeway. In 1969, after Elder Church's death, Charles E. Blake took over as the pastor of West Angeles.
In 1981, it opened a new building at 3045 Crenshaw Boulevard, including a 1,000-seat auditorium. In 1999, it dedicated a new building including a 5,000-seat auditorium at 3600 Crenshaw Boulevard. [2] Under Blake's leadership, the church grew from 40 members to over 24,000. [3]
In 2019, it sold its buildings at 3045 Crenshaw Boulevard to fund the construction of a Family Life Center behind the building at 3600 Crenshaw Boulevard. [4]
In 2022, Charles Blake II became senior pastor. [5]
The Church of God in Christ (COGIC) is an international Holiness–Pentecostal Christian denomination, and the largest Pentecostal denomination in the United States. Although an international and multi-ethnic religious organization, it has a predominantly African-American membership based within the United States. The international headquarters is in Memphis, Tennessee. The current Presiding Bishop is Bishop John Drew Sheard Sr., who is the Senior Pastor of the Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ of Detroit, Michigan. He was elected as the denomination's leader on March 27, 2021.
Charles Edward Blake Sr. is an American minister and pastor who served as the Presiding Bishop and leader of the Church of God in Christ, a 6 million-member Holiness Pentecostal denomination, that has now grown to become one of the largest predominantly African American Pentecostal denominations in the United States, from 2007 to 2021. On March 21, 2007, he became the Presiding Bishop of the Church of God in Christ, Inc., as a result of Presiding Bishop Gilbert E. Patterson's death. In a November 2007 special election, he was elected to complete the unexpired term of his predecessor as Presiding Bishop. In November 2008, Bishop Blake was re-elected to serve a four-year term as Presiding Bishop. In November 2012, Bishop Blake was re-elected again to serve a four-year term as the Presiding Bishop. He was reelected to a third term as Presiding Bishop on November 15, 2016. On October 23, 2020, Bishop Blake announced that he would not seek a re-election as Presiding Bishop nor as a member of the General Board and that he would retire from the Office of Presiding Bishop and from the General Board in 2021. He officially retired on March 19, 2021, and was succeeded by Bishop J. Drew Sheard, Sr. as Presiding Bishop on March 20, 2021.
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Charles Price Jones Sr. was an American religious leader and hymnist. He was the founder of the Church of Christ (Holiness) U.S.A.
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Bishop Ted Gera Thomas Sr. was an American cleric with the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) who was consecrated to be the senior bishop of the Historic First Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of Virginia, one of the largest dioceses/jurisdictions of the COGIC in Virginia.
Frederick K. C. Price was an American televangelist and author who was the founder and apostle of Crenshaw Christian Center (CCC), located in South Los Angeles, California. He was known for his Ever Increasing Faith ministries broadcast, which aired weekly on television and radio.
Expo/Crenshaw station is a light rail station in the Los Angeles County Metro Rail system located in the Jefferson Park neighborhood of Los Angeles at the intersection of Crenshaw and Exposition Boulevards. During construction, it was known as the Crenshaw station. The station is the transfer point between the E Line, which stops at two street-level platforms alongside Exposition Boulevard, and the K Line, which has its northern terminus at a single island platform under Crenshaw Boulevard.
The First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles is a megachurch in Los Angeles, California, United States, part of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. It is the oldest church founded by African Americans in Los Angeles, dating to 1872. It has more than 19,000 members.
Crenshaw Manor is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California.
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