Trending
You will be hard-pressed to find a more giving soul in the Ohio Valley than Bishop Darrell Cummings.
He leads his flock at Shiloh Apostolic Faith Assembly in Weirton and Bethlehem Apostolic Temple in Wheeling; he feeds the hungry during the holidays; Christmas for many is made brighter through his works; youngsters go back to school with all the supplies they need thanks to the efforts of Cummings and others; he provides spiritual direction through a regular column on our pages that he's contributed for more than 30 years. He truly is a light that shines upon all that is good in our region.
Now, he will be sharing those talents with residents in South Africa after the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World's Board of Bishops voted him as bishop of Port Elizabeth.
"I'm going to be the American spiritual representative for Port Elizabeth," Cummings said. "I will still be the pastor of the Bethlehem Apostolic Temple, I'm just going to be more dependent on the members here to help me as I'm going to be traveling to South Africa more."
Cummings and his wife, Laitsha Turner-Cummings, have traveled to South Africa annually for the past three years. Those trips started shortly after he had invited former Port Elizabeth Bishop, Gwendolyn Weeks, to Wheeling. Weeks and Cummings formed a strong bond that led to the Bethlehem Apostolic Temple parishioners helping the Port Elizabeth congregation.
That work led to the announcement of Cummings as the new bishop. His appointment marks the first time in more than 100 years that an Ohio Valley spiritual leader has been appointed a Pentecostal bishop.
His formal installation ceremony will take place in July in Baltimore, after which he will split his time between the Ohio Valley and Port Elizabeth.
"I am basically becoming the pastor of that community, just like I am a pastor in Wheeling," said Cummings. "I am trying to do somewhat of the same thing I do here, just taking it from a local area to making it worldwide."
That's excellent news for the folks in Port Elizabeth. Cummings is a tireless worker and a man of the highest integrity. He will bring the same passion and vigor there to following the Golden Rule that he has shown during four decades in the Ohio Valley.
Cummings deserves to be congratulated on his new post.