FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BISHOP CHARLES BLAKE TAPPED TO SERVE
ON PRESIDENT OBAMA’S NEW COUNCIL
COGIC Leader Appointed to Sit on Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships
(April 7, 2009 – Memphis, TENN) Church Of God In Christ Presiding Bishop Charles E. Blake has accepted a seat on President Barack Obama’s new Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Blake will serve with 25 other national religious and secular figureheads on a one-year term appointment. The office, which was created by President George W. Bush, is meant primarily to support faith-based groups by helping them obtain government funding or access to legal guidance about church-state boundaries. Under President Obama, it has laid out several priorities including interfaith relations, abortion reduction and improving the environment.
“I am extremely honored to serve on this distinguished council to further the agenda of our Nation and God through assisting our civic and church organizations who are working at a grassroots level to improve the quality of life for others. This gives us an excellent opportunity to assist in many areas that plague our communities with proactive strategies that will save lives,” said Blake.
Blake is a pro-life democrat who spoke at the first ever interfaith gathering at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver. In his speech, “Our Sacred Responsibility to Our Youth”, Blake reinforced the commitment this country should have to not only our living children, but the unborn child as well. Blake is also the founder of Save Africa’s Children and the Chairman of COGIC Charities, Inc. Board of Directors.
“Over the past few days and weeks, there has been much talk about what our government’s role should be during this period of economic emergency. That is as it should be – because there is much that government can and must do to help people in need,” said President Obama. “But no matter how much money we invest or how sensibly we design our policies, the change that Americans are looking for will not come from government alone. There is a force for good greater than government. It is an expression of faith, this yearning to give back, this hungering for a purpose larger than our own, that reveals itself not simply in places of worship, but in senior centers and shelters, schools and hospitals, and any place an American decides.”
About Bishop Charles E. Blake
Bishop Charles E. Blake serves as the Seventh Presiding Bishop of the 6.5 million -member Church of God in Christ. He is the pastor of West Angeles Church of God in Christ with a membership of over 24,000. West Angles has been recognized as one of the fastest growing churches in the nation, with extensive ministry and outreach services including television and radio broadcasts. 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. As founder and CEO of Save Africa’s Children, Bishop Blake oversees the support of more than 200,000 children, in 400 orphan care programs, throughout more than 23 nations on the continent of Africa. Blake was a speaker at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado during the first ever Inter-Faith Gathering, where he endorsed President Obama and confirmed his status as a pro-life democrat.
About Church Of God In Christ
The Church Of God In Christ is the fourth-largest Protestant religious denomination in the United States with an estimated membership above 6.5 million members. COGIC headquarters are located at Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee.
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