A BRIEF OVERVIEW
Can anything good come out of 7th Street in West Oakland? Can a jewel be found in the wilderness? Let’s take a look. There’s an organization that takes up the entire length of the block between Peralta and Henry Street, between the West Oakland BART Station and the main Post Office. There’s always some kind of activity there – and it’s been like that for over thirty years. Pentec
ostal Way of Truth Organizations moved in the nostalgic Wolf’s Furniture Warehouse in 1972, and within its walls has been a quiet but immensely powerful concentration of energies and efforts to create a city of academic, entrepreneurial and spiritual excellence. This was the vision of its founder, Bishop Calvin Davis, Sr. Bishop Calvin Davis walked into Oakland and literally started this organization on a dirt floor in 1964. At its beginning, he ran the services, provided the music and delivered the soul stirring messages that brought in the true believers to his organization, all while supporting the organization and anyone else that needed help, through his hard work. The organization grew and was incorporated in 1972 with three Corporations – Pentecostal Way of Truth Church Corporation, Pentecostal Way of Truth School Academy, which later added the subsidiary, Online Cyberspace Prep School Academy in keeping with the changing times in technology and the now defunct Pilgrims and Strangers Corporation. Bishop Davis sent Bishop Edwards, Minister Edwards at that time, to do the ground work and together they started Jesus Name University of Higher Learning, the first black four year degree granting university in Oakland. Bishop Calvin Davis’ very first member is still with the Pentecostal Way of Truth Church to this day, working and showing the example that he led us all to follow. Any jewel, when first unearthed, is rough and unattractive. Only through careful and tedious work does the beauty and splendor of the stone become apparent. Both the founder and his successor of Pentecostal Way of Truth Organizations, Bishop Leslie Edwards, have worked to bring together the raw material of human potential and the goal of spiritual, educational and entrepreneurial achievement. Students of diverse ages and backgrounds are being nurtured to achieve academic excellence, multiple language and vocational skills, utilizing the most advanced technologies of this age. The students are being taught the ABC’s of user friendly computer literacy advancing to certifiable program writing and choices in vocational training. This organization has taken up the challenge of many a government leader – starting back with Governor Pete Wilson’s challenge, in his State of the State address, to private businesses and the corporate sector to join his efforts in achieving a world class standard of excellence in California education, to work with students and staff to develop a combination of entrepreneurial and academics working hand in hand. Our Academy cadets marched in front of Jerry Brown and lead him to the steps of City Hall during his Inaugural Parade when he first took office as Mayor of Oakland the first time. We like to think it was his appreciation for the discipline and showmanship of our cadets from Pentecostal Way of Truth School Academy, over twenty years old then, that was the inspiration for his academy he later started in Oakland. We have had people from this entrepreneurial program to go on and start businesses of their own, such as Carl Davis, who received his MBA from Jesus Name University of Higher Learning in Business Administration. After working for IBM for 8 years, Carl decided to start his own business, which grew from a typewriter repair service to a full line business supply center and on to a webmaster service with clients from Arkansas to the West Coast. All of this came from the inspiration of these two great men of God, our founder, Bishop Calvin Davis, Sr. and his predecessor, Bishop Leslie Edwards, whose dedication, love and guidance keeps us pressing forward today to keep the light they ignited burning and to pass on their legacy to generation after generation and all generations to come. Since Bishop Edward passed in 2007, our organization has been striving to keep the vision of Bishop Calvin Davis, Sr., and Bishop Leslie Edwards alive. They were always seeking a safer, more positive environment for young people to learn and excel. They developed many programs to ensure that young people succeeded in ways that the youth never thought possible. A couple of the programs that Bishop Edwards felt very passionate about was the music and arts. He developed a special program to study various culture’s history, language, and arts. He envisioned a place where young people could express their creativity in dance, drumming, and other cultural arts. His programs are instrumental in helping young people develop an understanding of the valuable part music and arts play in our culture and others. Many of the young people he inspired have decided to teach the next generation the same valuable lessons and several members of the organization were inspired to create their own business. These businesses include a western African Dance Company, An African Drumming Company, and a Hawaiian dance and performance company. Through Bishop’s programs the students were able to perform at the Seattle World Rhythm Festival in April 2009 and 2010, and have done many events throughout the Bay Area including performing for the Mayor of San Francisco this year. Some of the students were also involved in creation of our organization’s first poetry book “Poetic Inspirations- Peace-Wisdom –and Treasure,” in 2009. These programs have been a huge success in that it helped to keep the young people off the streets, and inspired them to excel with their talents. I hope that you will support our Organization and become a part of keeping the vision of Bishop Davis and Bishop Edwards alive. They envisioned the expansion of our school and creation of a world class culture center in our community where people from all walks of life could have the freedom to express their culture through dance, arts, and language.
