Pastor Errol Beckford was born in Jamaica where he was raised with his three brothers and eight sisters. At age 19 he began a life of ministry as a student at Jamaica Bible College in Westmoreland, Jamaica, followed by his first ministry assignment at Grace Baptist Church in Spanish Town, Jamaica. In his 20s, Pastor Beckford relocated to the United States to pursue higher education in the State of New York. While there he obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management and a Master’s Degree in business administration. Thereafter he spent 13 years pursuing business endeavors before hearing the call of God on his life to plant a church. In 1997, Pastor Beckford followed this calling to Cocoa, Florida where he planted Celebration Tabernacle Church. Pastor Errol Beckford was first called to this assignment while on a business trip in Las Vegas, Nevada. While there he heard a calling from God to build a church for His honor and glory in the center of Cocoa, Florida where people of every color, culture, and walk of life could worship together. Pastor Beckford was called to raise up a people through the Word of God using three guiding principles in all things: faith, excellence, and understanding. Pastor Beckford’s calling was to minister to a specific set of people; those who were distressed, indebted and discontented. This vision came to him from,
I Samuel 22:1-2 “David departed and escaped to the cave of Adullam, and when his brethren and all his father’s house heard it, they went down to him. And everyone that was in distress, in debt, and discontented, gathered themselves to him. And he became captain over them.”
Under Pastor Beckford’s leadership, Celebration Tabernacle has grown from a handful of hopeful Christians into a sprawling ministry whose presence can be seen up and down the Dixon Boulevard corridor of the City of Cocoa. One key to the ministry’s success is owed to Pastor Beckford’s vision for a “Marketplace Ministry”. Pastor Beckford believed that the church should not only be IN the community, it should be PART OF the community. The Marketplace Ministry was created to allow Celebration Tabernacle Church to make an impact that reached far beyond its church walls. It has allowed the ministry to provide outreach in non-traditional ways by using the world’s economic structure to build the Kingdom of God. The Marketplace Ministry oversees the operation of church-owned businesses and properties that serve the local community. It is designed to expand ministry efforts while simultaneously improving the community environment and its people.