Beloved of Zion,
“This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes” (Psalm 118:23). We greet you in the name of Jesus Christ, the Liberator, as we give thanks for the gift of the ballot and for a people who used it.
This spring the Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act, and many believed our voices would be quieted. Instead, our people answered. Black voter turnout rose in four out of five counties across this nation compared to the last midterm, and before Election Day more than one in four Black Southerners had already voted.
History was made. Keisha Lance Bottoms of Georgia became the first Black woman elected governor in the nation’s 250-year history. Juliana Stratton of Illinois will join Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland and Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware, so that for the first time three Black women will serve together in the United States Senate. Byron Donalds became Florida’s first Black governor. Deb Haaland became the first Native American woman elected governor. Gina Hinojosa will be Texas’s first Latina governor. Abdul El-Sayed is set to become the first Muslim United States senator. Hakeem Jeffries now stands positioned to become the first Black Speaker of the House. And a record seventy-two Black women stood for office this year.
The results of this election have proven that voting matters, and Black Votes Matter, indeed! When we organize, mobilize, and galvanize our voices and communities, we can literally change the nation, and ultimately the world!
We extend our congratulations to every son and daughter of Zion who sought public office, whether victorious or not, and to our Zion family members elected to positions at all levels, including the Reverend LaKesha Womack, who has been elected to the US House of Representatives. Your courage honors the Freedom Church.
We congratulate all of Zion on the historic way in which we both organized and mobilized to maximize our votes. We thank every congregation, pastor, and member who taught voter education, registered new voters, protected the vote, served as poll chaplains, and filled the vans for Souls to the Polls. We give special thanks to our Social Justice and Economic Development Committee and to A.M.E. Zion Project 100 for their tireless labor.
May this be our continued prayer and practice, so that we will never again allow this country to sink to the depths of hatred and harm that were produced by a corrupt, chaotic, racist, xenophobic, narcissistic leader. We’re better than this!
So, we say: Thank you, Zion, for voting, but let the Church arise with renewed conviction. The election is not the end of the struggle. The hungry still need bread, the prisoner still needs freedom, and the poor still need justice.
For this is not simply a moment to celebrate what may have changed in Washington. This is a moment to demonstrate what must change in us and through us. To God be the glory for the things He has done, the hope He has restored, and the work He is calling us to do!
“Let us not be weary in well doing” (Galatians 6:9).
In His Service,
The Board of Bishops
The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
This 4th Day of November, in the Year of Our Lord 2026
The Board of Bishops of The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
Bishop Daran H. Mitchell, President
Bishop Darryl B. Starnes, Senior Bishop
Bishop W. Darin Moore
Bishop George D. Crenshaw
Bishop Hilliard Dogbe
Bishop U.U. Effiong
Bishop Brian R. Thompson, Sr.
Bishop Eric L. Leake
Bishop Anthony N. Witherspoon
Bishop Melanie Miller
Bishop Dwayne A. Walker
Bishop Bernardo J. Ngunza
Bishop Seth O. Lartey, Located
Bishop Joseph Johnson, Retired
Bishop Marshall H. Strickland, Retired
Bishop Nathaniel Jarrett, Jr., Retired
Bishop George W. C. Walker, Sr., Retired
Bishop S. Chuka Ekemam, Retired
Bishop Warren M. Brown, Retired
Bishop Kenneth Monroe, Retired
Bishop Dennis V. Proctor, Retired
Bishop Michael A. Frencher, Sr., Retired
