ORLANDO, Fla. (BP) – Marking a first, the National African American Fellowship (NAAF) and other Black diaspora groups will celebrate jointly in a Black Collective Dinner Monday, June 8, in advance of the Southern Baptist Convention 2026 Annual Meeting in Orlando.
NAAF will attend the dinner in place of its annual George Liele Missions Banquet. Haitian, Ghanaian, Caribbean and other Black diaspora fellowships will attend the event at the Orange County Convention Center, NAAF President Gregory Perkins told Baptist Press.
“This is the first time the Black Collective is meeting as one. We’ve never met in a single event before. So that’s historic,” Perkins, lead pastor of The View Church in Menifee, Calif., said. “It’s to demonstrate unity in the SBC family, and to bring focus to our shared kingdom assignment.”
Perkins, completing his final term as president, and Keny Felix, SBC National Haitian Fellowship president and senior pastor of Bethel Evangelical Baptist Church in Miami, will both deliver presidential addresses at the dinner.
The dinner will cap a series of NAAF events in Orlando, including the election of officers at the annual business meeting from 3-4:30 Monday, in 300 Lecture Hall in the convention center’s West Concourse. NAAF’s leadership team will present a slate of officers for approval, recommending Jerome Coleman, lead pastor of First Baptist Church of Crestmont, Willow Grove, Pa., as president; Steven Beckham, senior pastor, First Community Antioch Baptist Church, Lutcher, La., as vice president; David Cox Sr., senior pastor of Temple of Faith Baptist Church in Detroit, as treasurer; James Fisher, pastor, Saint Paul Baptist Church, Greensboro, N.C., as secretary; Dwight McKissic, senior pastor, Cornerstone Baptist Church, Arlington, Texas, as historian; Torion Bridges, pastor, The Commonwealth of Faith Church, Redford Township, Mich., as parliamentarian; in addition to an extensive slate of regional directors.
NAAF’s events kickoff Sunday, June 7, with its annual worship service from 6-7:30 p.m. at Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church, 412 E. Kennedy Blvd., Eatonville, preceded by a reception at the church from 4-5:30 p.m. Perkins will deliver the annual sermon at the event hosted by Macedonia pastor Willie C. Barnes.
The location at the non-SBC church is symbolic, Perkins said, in recognizing the childhood home of late African American author, folklorist and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, most notably known for the novel, “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” A historical marker honoring Hurston is across the street from the church. Eatonville, founded in 1887 and 6 miles north of Orlando, markets itself as the oldest incorporated African American municipality in the nation.
Completing the NAAF events roster is the NAAF First Ladies Network session from 3-4:30 p.m. in Room 305A in the West Concourse of the convention center. All wives of NAAF pastors are invited to attend.
Tickets to the Black Collective Dinner, slated for Rooms 304 E/F/G/H in the convention’s West Concourse, are $75 each and available at naaftogether.org under the donate tab, specifying banquet.
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