Lake Region—On Feb. 17, 2007, the Niles (Mich.) Philadelphia Seventh-day Adventist Church hosted its seventh annual Niles Annual African Heritage Day under the theme “We Must Carry the Torch.” The day’s programming centered on two major themes. First, African-Americans must remember the “way God has led us in the past” as an act of grateful worship. Second, African-Americans must go confidently, with God’s grace, into the future “till victory is won.”

Between Sabbath school and the Divine worship hour, several mini-skits reenacted the well-documented history of the "Underground Railroad" which conducted thousands of slaves to freedom in the North and Canada. The highlight of the worship hour was the Call to Worship during which six young people carried torches of hope, prayer, music education, contribution, and service as a witness against the hopelessness, despair, and dislocation common among some African-American young people.

Throughout the service, the congregation sang traditional African-American spirituals and concluded with “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the National Negro Anthem. Valerie Lee, chair of the English Department at The Ohio State University, delivered the sermon, “God of Our Weary Years.” In the traditional African-American call and response method, she encouraged the congregation to always remember the “God who has brought us this far … will lead us into the light.”

Joseph W. Warren, Niles Philadelphia Seventh-day Adventist Church men's ministry leader