News
August 18, 2026
BISHOP ISHMAEL PRINCE CHARLES of St.Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), was elected Assistant Director of World Missions at the Church of God’s 80th International General Assembly, becoming the first minister of African descent to hold the post in the denomination’s 141-year history.
The announcement came July 28, 2026, when Presiding Bishop Dr. Gary Lewis presented Bishop Charles’ name to the International Executive Council, a release from the local office of the New Testament Church of God states.
Moments earlier, the council advanced Dr. David E. Ramirez of Chile to serve as Director of World Missions, the first foreign-born minister ever elected to that role. Both nominations were ratified by the full voting body on Friday, in what Lewis called a historic moment for the church.
Charles was raised by a single teenage mother in Lowmans Windward. After migrating to the British Virgin Islands as a young man, he met Church of God missionary Robert “Bob” Cary in a local convenience store, an encounter he credits with redirecting his life. Cary told him he had a future ahead and took him in as family, planting the seed for a lifetime in World Missions.
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