On Saturday the 8th of November about 600 people flowed to the newly refurbished Grand Station that is known to many in attending as Wolverhampton (Low Level) Station when they came to Wolverhampton from the Island of Jamaica and beyond.
Its refurbishment was very fitting for one of Wolverhampton spiritual gems of the community as well as well as one of the original building blocks for the Church of God of Prophecy UK.
Bishop McCalla represents that generation of Jamaican, that was born in Jamaica that were taught Gods words from infancy, for that reason Bishop McCalla gave his heart and soul to God when he was just 16 years of age.In coming to England as a young man, it was not long before he established himself as a Pastor, and being given the opportunity to be the Senior Pastor at Red Cross Street in 1963.
Under his leadership, the church grew from 27 to 108 members, and in 1965, they purchased the Methodist chapel on Waterloo Road, Wolverhampton.
Bishop McCalla ministry has taken him to Aberdeen Street, Birmingham as well as fulfilling various roles for Church of God of Prophecy, but his greatest joy must be, being an active Minister in Africa, and watching the seeds he helped to plant to be what it is today.
In 2008, Reverend Bishop Theophlilus Augustus McCalla was awarded in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List, by being made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) for his outstanding service to the community and his contributions to the field of social housing. Including is years of leadership ministry within the church; locally, nationally, and internationally.
With all of his Ministry Bishop McCalla was blessed with a large family of children and a very loyal Wife who stood by him, and allowed him to continue with his ministry for these years, so it was sad to see that she could not share in this happy and a milestone for Bishop McCalla, since she is currently unwell as we speak.
The evening was hosted by Mr Earl Lynch a motivational speaker, professional trainer and developer of people in his own right, who guided the evening with various speeches including one from Bishop Wilton R Powell, OBE COGOP National Overseer for the UK and France.
Including some fund raising for one of Bishop McCalla African charity projects. In addition, he also made sure everyone in attended was fed a three-course Caribbean meal, with personal service for each table.
Included in the evening was some musical delivery by some finest voices, with much of the evening with background music by members of the COGOP musical professional live band as well as a Saxophonist who played much of the night.
However, for me the highlight of the night was listening to the Angelic voices of Bishop McCalla 20 plus Grand Children, singing in his honour.
The evening finished off with some personal words from his children and a cutting of a well-decorated cake, for which I am still waiting to taste some of it.
Apart from thanking Angela Denton for being there as always for me, I would like to give a special shout out to Mr Nelson Douglas, one of the West Midlands best known Documentary Photographers, for helping me out on the night, since in his own right he has done a few documentary assignments for Gloucester Street Church, Wolverhampton as well.
(Not all information was at my fingertips when I wrote this blog, so in the future there will be some additional information added for historical purposes)
The Church of God Prophecy(UK)
