Bishop With Decades Of Service: ‘It’s Not About Me, It’s About The Church’

Long Islander News photo/Janee Law
Bishop Norris Porter has been serving the Huntington community for more than 50 years.

By Janee Law
jlaw@longislandergroup.com

A former Huntington resident, and current bishop with the Christian Charities Deliverance Church, Norris Porter was recently recognized for his over 50 year effort to serve both the church and the Huntington community.

Porter received a proclamations from Huntington councilwomen Susan Berland and Tracy Edwards, and Suffolk Legislator William “Doc” Spencer (D-Centerport), and also a citation from state Assemblyman Chad Lupinacci (R-Huntington Station) during a ceremony held June 10.

“It’s an honor that they thought that much of the service that I’ve done for over 50 years,” Porter, 79, of Islip, said. “But it’s not about me, it’s about the church.”

In the 1940s, Porter moved to Huntington from Florida. He went on to graduate from Walt Whitman High School in 1959, and continued his education at Suffolk County Community College.

Porter said he received a calling from the Lord when he was 24 years old.

As New York State narcotics officer at the time, Porter decided to fully commit to serving God and the community.

In 1968, Porter and his wife, Evangelist Peggy Porter, started having a prayer service in their Islip home. It grew in success and led to the birth in 1974 of Christian Charities Deliverance Church, which is based out of Huntington.

Ordained as bishop in October 1993, Porter’s goal in the community is to work with law enforcement and politicians to bring justice, help increase opportunities for the youth and bring more diversity to the Town of Huntington. With that, Porter is the president of the Huntington Ecumenical Ministerial Alliance and president of the Huntington Clergy Organization.

“He’s always been very encouraging to the youth and on personal note, Bishop Porter would give you the shirt off his back,” said Rev. Jerry Artis, pastor at Love of Christ Fellowship Church in Huntington. “He’s helped many in the community who had needs and they had no one else to help them but he would help them. He’s known like that in any community.”

Porter’s spiritual guidance reached new levels as a radio show host for Deliverance Sounds of Joy and Praise, which he established over 40 years ago and continues today on WGBB 1240 AM. On his program, he caters to the elderly and homebound audience that can’t attend a church service. He plays traditional gospel music and offers prayer for healing and deliverance, with a goal is to own a Christian radio station in the future.

Throughout the years, Porter’s successful ministry stretched beyond New York, establishing two churches in Virginia, and others in Arizona, Florida, Mississippi, Nevada, Puerto Rico, and Texas. He’s also earned many accolades, including an appreciation award in July 2016 from the New York Veteran Police Association for his work and dedication to the members of the New York City Police Department and the Law Enforcement Community.

“Over 50 years, he’s experienced a lot of pride, he saw great prosperity in the community, he saw devastation in the community both economically and culturally but through it all, as we fast forward to today, the same man sees that there’s hope,” Artis, 63, of Huntington, said. “He can see that we can rebuild and we can make a difference for the next generation.”