Church of God of Prophecy Pastor C. Athensa Whittle and her husband Deacon Vecas Michael Whittle. PHOTO PROVIDED

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Pastor C. Athensa Whittle, a longstanding pastor of the Church of God of Prophecy, is retiring at the end of the month, shortly after celebrating her 90th birthday.

Whittle said she is not stepping down, but rather retiring from the work that she constantly does for the Lord as a pastor. She said she is slowing down and wants to take care of her husband, Deacon Vecas Michael Whittle, of 65 years, who is not doing well.

“I will be staying right there with the members. They love me and my family,” she said. “The new pastor, I know they are going to love him.”

The new Pastor, Wantworth Heron, received the call from God while in Jamaica and became a pastor in 1982.

Pastor Wantworth Heron and wife Vinnette. PHOTO PROVIDED

“I listened to the call of God while I was a banker,” he said.

Heron moved to the states on Jan. 3, 1998. He has spent 18 years in Miami Gardens where he was a pastor.

“I’m looking forward to the next level of my journey,” Heron said.

Community is key, he said, as he believes the church should be fully integrated in the community.

“Not just a church that is internal, but finding space outside of the church as well, spiritually and socially. There is a place for the church in the social space and help the community be redeemed,” he said. “I’m not coming to redo the church. I’m carrying on the vision that God started.”

Bishop Horatio Cameron. PHOTO PROVIDED

Heron said he will pick up where Whittle left off and will see what the needs are and where it is best to fill space.

Heron’s first Sunday will be Dec. 5 when he will be installed as the pastor of the church.

He is married to his wife of 40 years and has two adult daughters 36 and 38 years old. His eldest daughter is replacing him as the pastor at the church he will be leaving.

Bishop Horatio Cameron said Whittle is a sweet, very caring woman, who spent time at the hospital when someone was sick. He said caring is such an important quality when in the ministry because if you are not caring you have no business pastoring a church.

“I have been going and coming for the past 15 years, permanently 12 years,” he said of Lehigh Acres, as he was living in New York prior. “It’s a branch of the church I went to in New York.”

Cameron said Whittle will be dearly missed when she retires.

“She will be missed, but like anything else, you hit a certain age, you have to move on,” he said.

Whittle’s call to the Lord has taken her on a journey throughout the years, which included living in England for 18-1/2 years, where she was appointed to a ministry.

“When I got there I was not licensed as a minister yet. After a year, and the pastor saw my performance and how I worked, decided to set me forward with the congregation and make me a licensed minister,” Whittle explained. “Then I worked with different places with the church.”

Those avenues included the Women Ministry, Sunday school teacher and a visitation minster. She was also a counselor and worked with the leadership as a care group leader.

“In Canada I was also working as a district secretary. I go from church to church and boost the work. I encourage them and let them know the different areas in their field and what was expected from them,” Whittle said.

From Canada, she came to Florida with the first stop in Miami where here brother lived. After purchasing a home and living in Miami for three years, Whittle then made her journey to Lehigh Acres, as they had already purchased a piece of land there.

“I loved Lehigh when I came here. We used to visit a friend from New York. My husband really wanted to live here. We decided we would come to live here in Lehigh Acres,” she said, adding that she would never go anywhere unless there was a church. “If there was not a church there, don’t ask me to go there.”

That church was located in Fort Myers on Michigan Avenue. After a situation arose, Whittle said they started a local church in Lehigh Acres, her mission.

What started off as worshiping on her lanai porch, eventually transferred to Sunshine Elementary School where they rented space.

“We knew we couldn’t do a church here. I did not want to stay in the lanai and be a problem,” she said.

Janice Boucher was an inspiration, as she knew they needed a place to worship.

“She began to help. She worked at the hotel and talked to the manager and was very kind to her and to us. She found us a place that we could worship,” Whittle said.

The room inside the hotel, was nice, but to close to the register, she said, adding that when they would start singing “Hallelujah” they would be knocking dishes over.

“He was so humorous and so good,” Whittle said. “They found us a nice place. It was off the hotel building. A lovely place. We stayed there for three years.”

The Church of God of Prophecy also worked together with another church, where they rented a building of theirs in 2004. The congregation remained there for 11 years.

On June 3, 2015, Whittle said the Lord provided them a building of their own, which they purchased and are still occupying. The building they found was spotted by a visiting minister from New York.

Cameron said he helped Whittle with the fundraising, while he was still coming and going to and from New York.

“In New York, we always like to support churches. I was able to get some money from the local church to help this one down here . . . knowing I was moving down here permanently, so I tried to help,” he said.

The building was first occupied by a dialysis company. Whittle said the space was perfect as it already had a Sunday school room, office space and a conference room.

“The Lord has blessed us. We feel honored and blessed by God to have that place that we are worshiping in. God helped us raise the money and made a good down payment and made our mortgage reasonable,” Whittle said. 

The Church of God of Prophecy was blessed with members who helped them reach their fundraising goal to purchase the building.

“The members have all been so kind to us, my husband and I and my family. Because of them we are where we are and because of them we were able to keep the work going onto this day,” Whittle said.

One of the fundraising measures was having fish frys from fresh fish, Whittle and her husband would gather from Miami.

“My husband and I would jump in the car and go down to the bottom of Miami and buy fish for fish frys, rice and whatever the Lord would allow us to,” Whittle said.

As the pastor, she is also proud of how many young people she was able to appoint as ministers.

“I would like to say I have never one day regretted the people that I put forward and the church agreed. We put them forward to the ministry. They were faithful to me and the congregation. God placed it in my heart and I followed it. They have been a blessing. My blessing to the church work and to the community,” Whittle said. “I also send out pastors to different churches and they do their best. They are loved by their congregation. God allowed me to look with spiritual eyes to see they were ready.”

On Nov. 25, “by the grace of God,” Whittle will turn 90 years old.

“I want to thank God for my husband, my children, grandchildren and great grandchildren because they have loved me,” she said.

Whittle said she is thankful for all the times her husband said “Don’t be sorry. I will never stop you from your work, just go” when she had to leave for a few days.

“I really appreciate that,” she said, adding that her children are also there for her.

Whittle is the mother of three daughters, one of whom died in a car accident many years ago. She adopted one of her sons, while her daughter’s mother-in-law adopted the other boy.