Norwalk To Rename Street In Honor Of Longtime Local Faith Leader

NORWALK, CT — The city will hold a street naming ceremony Friday to honor longtime local faith leader Bishop Joseph D. Clemmons Sr.

According to a news release provided by the city, Mayor Harry Rilling and Common Council members will join Clemmons, Senior Pastor Dr. Devale Hodge and members of the Miracle Temple Church of God in Christ for the ceremony.

Local leaders will acknowledge Clemmons' contributions to the community by renaming Trinity Place in his honor. The event will be held at 2 Trinity Place beginning at 2 p.m.

Clemmons established the Miracle Temple Church of God in Christ of Norwalk and, for decades, has shared his church with community organizations and start-up churches in need of a place to conduct the mission of their ministries. He has dedicated more than 40 years to pastoral and community service, according to city officials.

Clemmons was also a three-term Connecticut state representative for the 140th district, former Norwalk Common Council member, co-founder of Pivot Ministries, a nonprofit that helps individuals addicted to drugs, co-founder of the Interdenominational Ministers' Fellowship of Norwalk & Vicinity and a Norwalk Fire Department Chaplain, city officials said.

Clemmons also served as a member of the judiciary board of the Church of God in Christ, the largest Black Holiness-Pentecostal Denomination in America, and is the former president of the Hampton Ministers' Conference, which is the primary locality for African-American preaching and pastoral development in the world, city officials said.

In 1988, Clemmons was inducted into the Morehouse College of Preachers. In 1999, Clemmons was appointed to serve as the pastor of the Historic First Church of God in Christ, founded by his father, the late Bishop Frank Clemmons.