11/11/2025
Louisa County Branch #7085 of the NAACP held their annual Freedom Fund Banquet on November 1 and honored 10 local leaders for their service to the faith community.
Rev. Larry Lewis began with a blessing for the leadership of the NAACP Louisa chapter.
“We pray and ask God that they give the leadership and courage of Nat Turner, the wisdom of Frederick Douglass, the intellect of Chief Justice Thurgood Marshall, the perseverance of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the humility of Mahatma Gandhi, and the integrity of the most highly sovereign God of the universe in Jesus name…we pray that You will use this team for good,” Lewis said.
The theme of the event was “honoring our past, shaping our future.” Lewis Stephens, secretary of the Louisa NAACP, highlighted that local pastors deserve recognition in their fight for civil rights.
“Local churches have been an integral part of the NAACP, even from its beginnings in 1909,” Stephens said. “The NAACP would not have survived without the church.”
The 10 honorees were Reverend Austin Bates (Zion Travelers Baptist Church), Bishop Robert Christmas (First Bible Way Church), Reverend Tracie Daniels (St. Marks Baptist Church), Reverend Fannie Henderson (Divine Baptist Church), Reverend Sherman Hudson (Peach Grove Baptist Church), Reverend Bruce Jones (First Baptist Church), Reverend Donald King (Mt. Gilliam Baptist Church), Bishop Steve Mason (Evergreen Bible Way Church), Reverend Walter Pleasants (Rising Sun Baptist Church), and Reverend Sharon Roberts (St. Thomas Baptist Church).
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