Bishop Isaiah Simmeon Williams Jr., D.D., D. Min., Senior Pastor, Founder and CEO of Jesus People Ministries Church International, Inc., was received home to be with the Lord on Thursday, July 2. After a brief time in the hospital, his death was attributed from complications affiliated with Lupus. He was 57 years old.

A "Celebration of the Legacy and Life" of Bishop Williams will take place on Thursday, July 9 at 11 a.m. at King Jesus / El Rey Jesus Ministries International, located at 14100 SW 144th Avenue in Miami, FL. Dr. Creflo Dollar, Senior Pastor, Founder and CEO of World Changers Church International in Atlanta, Georgia, will do the eulogy. A public viewing takes place on Wednesday, July 8 from 4 – 8 p.m. at Jesus People Ministries Church International, located at 4055 N.W. 183rd Street in Miami Gardens. Funeral arrangements are being made through Royal Funeral Home.

Bishop Williams was born and raised in the city of Miami, where he grew up as the great-grandson, grandson and son of founding AME pastors and church stewards. He was the third of six children of the late Isaiah S. Williams Sr., and Agnes Williams. It was at the age of 12 that he met his wife, Dr. Gloria, in secondary school and they were married in June of 1974. Bishop Williams has two daughters, Lori and Richelle.

Bishop Williams excelled as a student and athlete and was awarded a basketball scholarship to John J. Pershing College (Beatrice, NE), where he remained until joining in the United States Navy. In the Navy, he served as a Navy Shipman aboard the USS John F. Kennedy Aircraft Carrier.

Following a successful Navy career, Bishop Williams attended Miami Christian College and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He received a Bible diploma from Dr. Lester Sumrall's World Harvest Bible College. In 1991, he received an Honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree from All Nations of Christ Institute International, a previous affiliate of Oral Roberts University. In 2004, he received an earned a Doctorate of Ministry Degree from Vision International University (Ramona, CA).

In 1983, the call of God was confirmed and set in motion as Bishop Williams started the work of Jesus People Ministries Church International, Inc. The church has grown to over 8,000 members and the ministry has an even larger number of partners throughout Florida, the United States and the world. The heart of Jesus People Ministries Church is one of domestic and foreign missions outreach with an evangelistic thrust.

Bishop Williams taught and proclaimed the truth of the uncompromising Word of God with integrity, fervor and sound character. He operated in the full apostolic offices of the apostle, prophet, pastor and teacher, with the gifts of the Spirit in vivid operation. He is an author and an acclaimed conference speaker as well as overseer of a vast number of affiliate ministers and ministries under the direction of ISWJR Ministries, and Right Connection Ministries, Inc.

Bishop Williams was elevated to the office of Bishop in April 1996, through the Azusa International Fellowship of Christian Churches and Ministries, Inc. (Tulsa, OK), and is presently a member of the Creflo Dollar Ministerial Association (Atlanta, GA).

Bishop Williams has served on several boards of ministries from around the country. He and Dr. Gloria have been frequent hosts of South Florida's "Praise the Lord" television program broadcast on the Trinity Broadcasting Network and on the TBN's nationally televised broadcast. Bishop Williams and Dr. Gloria are the executive producers and hosts of the weekly television broadcast "Right Connection" seen nationally worldwide.

Bishop Williams was also the President and CEO of The Justice, Potential and Motivation (JPM) Centre located in Miami Gardens, Florida. The JPM Centre serves as an oasis for economic and social development in the city of Miami Gardens and its neighboring sectors. As a community development corporation, the Centre will emphasize building cultural diversity, economic stability and moral presence within society; providing elderly housing, housing for at risk youth, enriched cultural and performing arts entertainment, recreation and more.

Bishop Williams added to the community - not only as a spiritual voice - but as a community activist. He served the citizens of Miami as an official sworn Police Chaplain for the Miami Dade Police Department. Under his leadership, Jesus People Ministries Church Int'l has been presented a Key to the City of Miami by the Mayor's office of Dade County; a Key to the City of Opa-Locka, FL and a Key to the City of Rockledge, FL. Bishop Williams has received proclamations from the cities of Miami-Dade County, Florida; Miami, Florida and Opa-Locka, Florida.

Bishop Isaiah S. Williams, Jr. was a dedicated and devoted husband and father whose work in the ministry is family oriented, encompassing the wholeness of God's people. He is survived by his wife of 35 years, Dr. Gloria Williams; his daughters, Lori Clemons and Richelle Wright, his son-in-law, Lawrence Wright III; his grandchildren, Austin Clemons, Lawrence Wright IV and Klassik Wright; his sisters, Louise Wilkerson, Patricia Allen, Rose Williams, Mae Robinson and Bernadette Morris; brother-in-laws, Dewey Wilkerson and Colin Morris; his aunts and uncles, Iva Bell Williams, Ruth and Haskell Sharpe, Grace Morgan and Henry Beecher and Dorothy Williams; his nieces and nephews – Dewey and Valerie Wilkerson, Jr., Sonya and James Gardner, Herbert and Karen Holmes, Angela and Gary Jeter, Oslyn Sullivan Jr., Leon and Roxanne Sullivan, Lacee and John Spain, Charles Robinson, Ronaye Charisse, Rebecca Morris, Stephen Morris; cousin Jewelene "Gobie" and Charles Black, and a host of other cousins, great nieces and nephews, a multitude of spiritual sons and daughters, and ministry family members throughout the world.

Flowers can be sent to Jesus People Ministries Church International, Inc. at 4055 NW 183rd Street in Miami Gardens, FL 33056. For those wishing to make donations, the family requests contributions to be made out to the JPM Centre to continue the ministry vision and work of Bishop Isaiah S. Williams Jr.

For more information, visit Jesus People Ministries Church International, Inc. at www.jesuspeoplemiami.org

MEDIA NOTE: Media interviews and interests are to contact Bernadette Morris of Sonshine Communications at 305-948-8063, ext. 201 or via cell at 305-450-0942.