“The church is like a fuel station for my soul,” one church member says. “Like a car, whenever I run out of gas, I come here.”
It’s Mother’s Day and the walls of Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church on Douglas Road in the West Grove are rumbling with the thunderous roar of the Rev. Lance B. Bailey Sr.’s passionate sermon.
The soaring melodies of the church choir ricochet off the stained glass windows as the audience, dressed in vivid pinks, reds, and purples, sways in time.
The oldest African-American Baptist Church in Miami, Macedonia Missionary traces its history back to 1895, the year before the City of Miami was incorporated with just a few hundred residents.
“It was once like the city hall of Coconut Grove for African-Americans,” says Miami Herald columnist Bea Hines.
Today the church continues to play a vital role in the life of the West Grove with a congregation that embraces community service. The church’s membership includes dozens of people with deep connections to Coconut Grove.
The Spotlight recently interviewed three of them: Carolyn Donaldson, a principal player in the 2022 lawsuit that successfully overturned Miami’s racially gerrymandered voting districts; Loretta Whittle, a veteran of the civil rights movement; and Octavious Barley, youth football community booster and Florida Memorial University alumnus.
“The church has always been the pulse of the community,” Donaldson says.
Donaldson serves as board secretary and finance officer for the church. She grew up in Coconut Grove and then attended Miami-Dade College, Florida International University and the University of Miami.
“I have two adult kids, one grandchild,” Donaldson said. “Once I retired, I decided to return to my old community and become a community advocate.”
Donaldson is the vice chair of Grove Rights and Community Equity Inc. (GRACE), the named plaintiff in the 2022 voting rights lawsuit against the City of Miami that resulted in a settlement agreement that will reunite Coconut Grove in one voting district.
Donaldson has been attending Macedonia Missionary since she was a child and fully embraces the central role of the church in the community, which she describes as “providing the community with education, social services, mentorship, worship and identifying any needs within the community to provide solutions.”
Loretta Whittle, 86, is a civil rights activist, oral historian and Sunday School superintendent who serves on the church’s board of directors. She is just three generations removed from slavery. “I’ve traced my history back to a seven-year-old boy who was captured in Africa,” Whittle says.
Whittle joined the congregation at Macedonia Missionary in 1962, when she relocated to Coconut Grove after her studies at Morgan State University, an historically Black university (HBCU) in Baltimore.
“The church is like a fuel station for my soul,” Whittle says. “Like a car, whenever I run out of gas, I come here. This is my fuel station. I absorb the messages in the sermon. Then I go from empty to fully charged up to get to my next stop.”
Octavious Barley, 40, is also an active member at Macedonia Missionary.
“My favorite church memory is being able to sit next to the church elders and soak up their wisdom,” he said. In turn, Barley says its important to give today’s youth the same opportunity to learn and grow.
“My life outside of church consists of supporting the local youth football program in Coconut Grove,” he said.
Barley played football and basketball as a youth, so supporting the youth football program means giving back to the community he grew up in. Macedonia Missionary sits near Frances S. Tucker Elementary School and the Barnyard, a community center for children.
“I was taught at Tucker Elementary, then went to Barnyard after school followed by church at Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church,” Barley said.
“It’s important that we show support and love back to the generation coming up because it is the helping hand that grows the village.”
FIU students Stan Beaubrun and Allen Galindo wrote this story as part of a cooperative agreement between FIU’s Lee Caplin School of Journalism & Media and the Spotlight.