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WEST PITTSBURG — “We specialize in the impossible,” says United Pentecostal Church of Pittsburg, Inc. Rev. Jack Edwards.
Who's to argue when you hear the parish history.
Its "miracles" started in early 1957 when Edwards arrived to preach the word of God.
He actually wanted to spread the gospel in Pittsburg but a petition circulated by townsfolk effectively stopped his efforts.
"I even went before the City Council and asked them to give me a permit to preach on a street corner," he says.
No luck.
But it turned into good fortune because the rejection forced him into unincorporated West Pittsburg . . . and a battle with county planners.
They also denied his request to build a parish but their "amen" failed.
"I talked to Supervisor Linscheid about it and he said, 'We can't do God like that,' made a few phone calls, sent me upstairs and they crossed out the 'not approved,' " and wrote in 'approved,' " says the clergyman.
Even then, his job wasn't easy.
To get his congregation started, Edwards began knocking on doors, asking people to come to the new church in an old storefront at Willow Pass Road and Poinsetta Avenue.
“We started our first building fund with 19 cents.”
Approximately 25 people attended services there for five years until the congregation moved into its first self-built church at Alves Lane and Canal Road. The numbers have since doubled.
"We started our first building fund with 19 cents," he says.
Much vim, vigor and a lot of homemade peanut brittle followed.
Men of the parish would go to their regular jobs during the day but show up after work and on weekends to spend hours and energy on the new building.
The women, meanwhile, would bring supper down to the workers and spend other hours cooking up goodies and other items to sell.
"If you saw boxes of peanut brittle it probably was ours," says the pastor.
In 1962, his Pentecostal family moved into its new house of worship, staying until 1974 when a dispute with the Pittsburg Unified School District prompted the opening of their church school.
The disagreement revolved around instructional television in the classroom—the school district advocated its usage, the church did not, and Pentecostal families pulled nearly 50 children out of the Pittsburg public schools.
Several weeks later, interestingly, the school board was voting "yes" for the church children, church officials were attending classes in Texas, studying how to set up and operate a kindergarten through twelfth grade private church school.
When they returned, it was full steam ahead for turning their church into a school and planning a new sanctuary.
"There were no more boutiques, though, because the women became involved in the school. They're all volunteer teachers," he says.
"The school is free (to children of parish families) but it's also open to others. They all get free books and pencils, all they have to do is bring their brains."
To Pastor Edwards, the school is top notch, the "Cadillac" of instructional facilities, turning out many college-level high school graduates.
Just as important to the clergyman are the young men who have left West Pittsburg to establish Pentecostal parishes in Antioch, Benicia, Martinez, Rodeo and Walnut Creek.
The clergyman's own calling to Pentecostal faith came much after his youth though. He says God first called him to preach when he was 6 years old, and a Methodist.
He credits "battlefield inertia" in the South Pacific during World War II, however, as the real impetus for his search for God.
A promise made then to do God's work if he got out of there alive was not broken.
When the Marine returned stateside he tried several faiths including the Methodist, Baptist, and Church of God before selecting Pentecostalism.
Considered a fundamentalist religion, the United Pentecostal Church adheres to a strict interpretation of the Bible. Separation of church and state is also emphasized.
"We follow the Bible as it is written. Our doctrine is the Bible, it is not based on tradition," says Pastor Edwards. "We don't teach the trinity."
Sunday services are held at 9:45 and 11 a.m. and at 7:45 p.m. There is also a Wednesday night prayer meeting and Bible study as well as Friday night youth services.
The lengths of the services are not timed to the clock.
"There's no (schedule) ending," says the pastor. "We can be here until 1 a.m. It's just according to how the Spirit moves us."
Members are born into the church, though not as babies.
Instead, it is a spiritual birth that includes repentance and a plan to follow God's word.
At baptism, which includes total immersion, new members are "filled with the Holy Ghost" and speak fluently in another language," he says.
Though many may belong to the church, only those actively participating, are considered the faithful.
"They are those who support the work of the church," say the pastor. | 
