District Elder Charles W. Norris is the Pastor of New Destiny Tabernacle located in Spokane, Washington and Deer Park, Washington. He is a native of Palatka, Florida and is the second oldest of four children born to the late Richard Ashley and Mildred Jean Norris. He has been married to his college sweetheart, Lady Wanda Angela for over thirty eight years and they are the proud parents of three adult children (Ursula, Charles II, and Courtney) and two handsome grandsons (Christian and Antonio).
In November of 1989, under the leadership of Pastor Hal Higgins (United Pentecostal Church International UPCI) in Clovis, New Mexico, District Elder Norris responded to the call to “repent and be baptized … in Jesus’ name” and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost a few months later. For the next seven years he served faithfully with the UPCI both in New Mexico and Misawa, Japan.
District Elder Norris relocated to Spokane, WA in November of 1996 via the United States Air Force, where his wife was a service member. It was during this move that the family joined a local church called “Jesus is the Answer Apostolic” (formerly affiliated with the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc.), under the Leadership of Elder (now Overseer) Shon Davis. In this ministry, District Elder Norris was elevated to the position of an Associate Pastor. Shortly afterwards with much prayer and encouragement from Pastor Davis and the Pacific Northwest District Council Diocesan Bishop Curtis E. Montgomery (now deceased), New Destiny Tabernacle was birthed. The first service was held on September 12, 2004 in Pastor Norris’ home with nine people in attendance. They continued in his home for the first two weeks while awaiting the renovation on their new facility to be completed.
At the heart of District Elder Norris’ ministry is his great passion for the homeless and youth. It was this love that inspired him to embrace the vision of a couple in his congregation and thereby established a community outreach ministry called “Hearts for the Homeless”… feeding the homeless of Spokane each month under the bridge. The Lord has also blessed the ministry to open an Early Learning center (Destiny Kids), where they are licensed to provide quality childcare to up to 94 children between the ages of four weeks and twelve years.
In addition to the ministry, Elder Norris is an Entrepreneur. He formerly owned a local clothing store (Destiny Clothing)…specializingin quality men and women clothing and accessories for church or that special occasion. For over twenty years, Pastor Norris also owned and operated Spokane Sports Officials, where he provided Umpires and Referees for all Intramural sports at both Fairchild AFB and Medical Lake, WA. In April 2018, District Elder Norris finally retired from the United States Postal Services, and all of the other businesses to give himself over to full time ministry.