Charles E. Blake Cleric
Bishop Charles Edward Blake Sr. (born August 5, 1940 in Little Rock, Arkansas) serves as the Presiding Bishop of the Church of God in Christ, Inc., a 6 million-member Pentecostal-Holiness denomination. On March 21, 2007, he became the Presiding Bishop of the Church of God in Christ,(COGIC) 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 BishopBlake is the fifth Presiding Bishop (and seventh leader) of the historically African-American denomination. From 1985 until 2009, he was the Jurisdictional Prelate of the First Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of Southern California, which celebrated its 100th Holy Convocation June 2014, overseeing more than 250 churches that compose the jurisdiction. He was succeeded by Bishop Joe L. Ealy.