By Andrew Skerritt
Florida A&M University alumnus and Tallahassee pastor Quincy D. Griffin, Sr. has been announced as the 2023 Martin Luther King Jr. Convocation speaker.
The event will be held at 10:10 a.m. Friday, January 13 in the Al Lawson Multipurpose Center, 1800 Wahnish Way, Tallahassee.
“Pastor Quincy Griffin is a gifted and charismatic leader who is mindful of the needs of those he serves. His efforts to empower members of his congregation and the larger Tallahassee community reflect Dr. King’s legacy. We are honored to have him address us,” said FAMU President Larry Robinson, Ph.D.
Griffin, who has led Family Worship and Praise Center (FWPC) in Tallahassee since 2013, is a gifted saxophonist, former Marching “100” Band member, playwright, songwriter and entrepreneur. Griffin owns and operates a residential and commercial painting business, Paintworks, as well as Griffin Enterprises, under which he has used his talents to produce, his stage play, “Me Against the World,” which has been well received.
The Charleston, South Carolina native is a former band director at Rickards High School. Since succeeding Cyrus Flanagan as pastor of FWPC, Griffin has sought to expand the congregation’s ministry beyond the church’s four walls. In 2017, under his leadership, FWPC launched Shoes4School, which has distributed more than 14,000 pairs of shoes to students in Tallahassee and the surrounding areas. FWPC also started hosting drive-by fish fries offering free dinner to area residents.
To meet the needs of members of his fast-growing congregation, Griffin in 2016 launched the Triple F program to empower them in their finances, fitness and in the dynamics of fellowship. Recently, FWPC purchased more than 17 acres of land, which has already been a site for feeding the city of Tallahassee through the summer foods program. The congregation is planning to soon break ground to build a new multi-faceted facility that will not only be a worship location but serve the community.
“Preparing to speak at this year’s MLK Convocation is certainly one of the most powerful and cherished invitations of my life thus far,” Griffin said. “My hope and prayer are that the love I have for my alma mater, @famu1887, in conjunction with the respect and honor I have for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., allows my words to leave a spirit of empowerment and esteem like never before. I’m deeply humbled and excited for what I expect to be an awesome experience.”
