Wilford A. Alexander: Dedicated Bishop

Bishop Wilford Allen Alexander says he was “born with the calling.” For 62 years, he has answered that summons.

Sitting in his sparse office at the Gospel Light Church of God in Christ in Santa Ana, Alexander, 76, said he has spent a lifetime preaching to congregations from Texas to California.

It began in 1929, at a little church in Hillsboro, Tex. Later, he would established eight churches in that state.

In 1964, he came to Orange County to take over the Santa Ana church with its congregation of fewer than 20 people. Since then, the flock has grown to more than 250.

It’s here that Alexander preaches each Sunday to the tune of a set of red drums and a choir of about 40 singers.

“I love his preaching,” said Gweni Hill, who has known the bishop for about 14 years.

“He knows how to touch everyone, how to reach anyone on any level of communication. You don’t even know he’s a minister. He’s not a person you have to put on a pedestal; if you have a problem, he’s easy to talk to.”

Alexander said of himself, “I’ve always been dedicated to helping the widow, the orphan, the outcasts and the homeless.”

Today, those on the receiving end of his kindness are the families in his congregation with husbands serving in the Persian Gulf. Alexander and his wife of 55 years are taking all 10 wives and their children out for Sunday dinner.

“They need to feel that someone cares about them,” he said. “They need to know they are not alone.”

The youngest of 11 children, Alexander grew up in a rural Texas town, where he shined shoes, picked cotton and painted and papered houses to earn money. It gave him, he said, both a work ethic and a yearning for a more innocent time.

“People were closer-knit in Texas than in California,” he said. “You didn’t have the crime and the drugs you have here. Families were more Christianized and children were reared to respect parents, elders and ministers.”

Now, Alexander said, “too many look for handouts. If a person wants to be somebody, they can always create some kind of job.”

As bishop, Alexander said, one of his jobs at the moment is again renovating the old church on Santa Ana Boulevard. Offices and restrooms have been removed to enlarge the meeting room with its simple chandeliers, stained glass windows and red pews.

The church also has bought the block across the street and started a day-care center there. Someday, Alexander said, he plans not only to move the church to that site but also build a senior citizens’ retirement home there.

Meanwhile, the bishop is working on his flock. “Most people believe they are not loved,” Alexander said. “The world would be better if we had people who believed in self, people who believed they can be whatever they’d like to be.”