Still Progressive: The Denomination Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Called Home Turns 65
Sixty-five years ago this week, 33 Baptist delegates from 14 states gathered at Zion Baptist Church in Cincinnati, answering a call from its pastor, the Rev. L. Venchael Booth. On November 14 and 15, 1961, they organized the Progressive National Baptist Convention (PNBC) “to give full voice, sterling leadership and active support to the American and world fight for human freedom.” Rev. J. Raymond Henderson of Second Baptist Church of Los Angeles presided over the meeting, and Rev. T. M. Chambers was elected the convention’s first president. The new convention became the denominational home of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who addressed its annual sessions until his death in 1968. Its founding circle included Dr. Gardner C. Taylor, often called the dean of American preaching, along with Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, Rev. Ralph Abernathy and Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker. As PNBC marks its 65th anniversary on Saturday, November 14, 2026, it is celebrating under the theme “Still Progressive,” a reminder that the questions its founders faced in 1961, about the vote, human dignity and the church’s place in public life, are again front and center. “Our founders did not organize a convention to be comfortable. They organized one to be
