YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (RNS) Bishop Norman L. Wagner, a world-renowned leader among Pentecostals, died Jan. 30 in Youngstown, Ohio, a couple of weeks after heart surgery. He was 68.
“Bishop Wagner was an icon within Christendom,” said Bishop J. Delano Ellis II of Cleveland’s Pentecostal Church of Christ. “The Pentecostal movement has lost one of its generals.”
“You could not encounter Bishop Wagner without coming away as a better person,” said Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams, raised at Wagner’s church and educated at Wagner’s charter school, Legacy Academy for Leaders and Arts. Williams’ chief of staff is one of the bishop’s assistant pastors.
Wagner pastored Mount Calvary Pentecostal Church, where his mother was a charter member, since 1971, eventually turning it into Calvary Ministries International.
Wagner led nationally. He was a White House guest twice and was named one of the country’s 100 outstanding black clergymen. A singer, composer and arranger, he was nominated twice with his choir for the Stellar Gospel Music Awards. He sometimes sang with Grammy winners Marvin and Vickie Winans.
He was presiding prelate of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World for two terms, 1998 to 2004, overseeing more than 2,000 churches with more than 1.5 million members.
He created “The Power of Pentecost” program, aired on the Praise the Lord and Armed Forces networks.