SYNERGY - Juneteenth 2022

Bishop Christopher Stokes

Story By: Nikki J. Davis

Bishop Christopher Stokes, founder and executive director of the Willie Mae Stokes Community Center, and senior pastor of The New Beginning Christian Worship Center, both in Micanopy, can sum up his life to date in one word: Grateful. Considering what he’s been through, including three battles with two types of cancer, and losing his 17-year-old son in 2017, that one word is a powerful one.

Stokes grew up the seventh out of nine children in Micanopy, raised solely by his mother, Willie Mae Stokes. His mom, he will tell you, is the person he admired most. “She raised nine children and we knew we were loved. Talk about a close knit family,” he said. “And she made life appear so easy and was always involved in the community.”

As part of her involvement in the community, Willie Mae sang in the church, which meant the Stokes children all attended. “Even as a child, I wanted to be a preacher,” Stokes said. “I wanted to be in the church.”

Despite knowing that in his heart, there was a time when he was invited to be a youth speaker in church. He said the pastor was so impressed and informed him he had a calling in life. The prospect scared him to the point that he decided he was going to do anything that would make himself unusable by God.

“I started drinking,” he said. “Living a life that would take me away from ministry.” While still attending Eastside High School, he decided that if he ever got the chance, he would leave his hometown and never look back. So he joined the military in 1984 where he served as a Special Weapons Clerk, and then an Ammunitions Specialist. It was his military career that helped him “grow up”.

“My mom raised us, but the military grew me up. My maturity kicked in when I entered the military,” Stokes said. “And my time in the service taught me leadership. The opportunity to serve provided the ability to lead. You need followers to be a leader. Seeing a need. And need is what pushed me to lead.”

After his military career, Stokes received “The Call.” It came when he was attending a church conference in Orlando in September of 1997. In 2013, Stokes added a permanent place to call his church home, and opened the doors to The New Beginning Christian Worship Center.

All seemed to be going well after his calling, but in 2017, life took a turn. Stokes was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. He underwent surgery to remove his prostate and radiation treatments following.

The surgery appeared successful, and Stokes began to recover. But just when things were looking better, tragedy struck. On July 1, his middle son, Sean, asked to go to a motorcycle party. Stokes’ condition was that Sean had to mow the lawn first, while Stokes and his wife, Dolly, headed to the store to pick up thank you cards.

While standing in the store, Stokes received a phone call that his son had been in an accident. Thinking it was a broken arm or leg, he and Dolly quickly headed to the scene of the accident. Upon arrival, it was clear that it was not a broken arm or leg. It was a broken neck, crushed ribs, a broken back, and bleeding on the brain.

Sean would die the following day, July 2nd. “He lived for three minutes without life support,” Stokes said. “I remember he said to my niece once, ‘I don’t know what I’d do without my dad.’ And now I say, ‘I don’t know what I’ll do without my son.’ I thought losing my mom was hard. She was the first woman I ever fell in love with. The woman I admired most. But this, my heart had just been ripped out of my chest.”

In 2017, Stokes had the vision for the Willie Mae Stokes Community Center. A place that provides adults resources for resume-building and job searches. Residents can come in and use the Wi-Fi, send faxes, or get a document notarized, and much more.

Creating both the Willie Mae Community Center and The New Beginning Christian Worship Center, he said, are his greatest accomplishments, outside of his three sons, Dominique, Sean and Christopher Kenzie.

And if he could help others reach for accomplishments and lead others, Stokes encourages others to, “Be faithful to your call. Whatever your vision or mission is, and not just in the church, but in what you do. Stay faithful. Don’t believe what you see, see what you believe.”