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History

History

Born out of the groundbreaking Let’s Talk Initiative, the National Unity Weekend Summit emerged as a national call to connection, awareness, and service. Designed to mobilize believers across the country, the Summit champions the Bible’s transformative message of racial and ethnic unity—proclaimed from pulpits nationwide and lived out through acts of compassion.

By serving the underserved and building bridges across racial, ethnic, cultural, socio‑economic, and denominational lines, the Summit embodies a simple but powerful truth: our oneness in Christ is both a message to be shared and a movement to be demonstrated.

Summer 2021

Leaders began signing The Statement of Change calling for a change in the deep racial polarization in the church and our nation.

November 2021

Leaders gathered at The Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., for the DC Talks event to build relationships and share personal experiences of racial pain and successes.

January 2022

The Let’s Talk monthly zoom calls began with leaders from across the country talking through and praying for better ways to address the issue.

June 2022

Let’s Talk participants decided it is vital for Christians to lead from the front and become more proactive in tackling our national racial crisis by taking the next bold step called National Unity Weekend.

September 2022

Leaders from across the country gathered at the African American Museum of History & Culture in Washington, D.C.

June 2023

Inaugural National Unity Weekend, uniting 101 churches and 40 organizations across 23 states, Washington, DC, Puerto Rico, India, and Uganda. Through 18 food distribution sites, volunteers delivered 70,000 pounds of food, feeding over 10,000 people with the support of 500+ volunteers. Community Day events served thousands, followed by Unity Sunday messages shared in Virginia, Washington, DC, and Texas.

NUW 2025 Statistics

  • 116 Churches & Organizations involved
  • 3,100 guests
  • Over 500 volunteers
  • 1,400 meals served
  • 3,234 bags of groceries & 1,280 pairs of shoes and socks provided
  • 178 people prayed for, 400 bibles distributed, and 10 salvations

Goals for NUW 2026

  • Expand outreach to top 10 U.S. Cities
  • Mobilize over 10,000 volunteers
  • Serve over 50,000 people
  • Partner with over 500 churches

Carolyn Vines Sapla

Executive Director

Team Structure

Organize participating leaders into teams:

  • Communication Team: Responsible for helping create awareness of the initiative. Team Leads: Damon Davis & Nathalie Davis
  • Leader Support Team: Responsible for helping make necessary resources available to equip churches and leaders to effectively teach on racial unity. Team Lead: Darrell Bock
  • Volunteer Team: Responsible for organizing various campaigns to serve targeted cities and/or counties. Team Lead: Jeff Smith
  • Engagement Team: Responsible for helping recruit churches & ministries to participate in the initiative. Team Lead: Courtney McBath
  • Finance Team: Responsible for ensuring the initia- tive has adequate financial resources and legal guid- ance for its objectives. Team Leads: Frank Santora & Patrick Thomas