About Perrine SDA

Our Story

Our History

The history of our church began in 1981 when the Holy Spirit infused a small group of believers with holy zeal to establish a Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Perrine area. Several Adventist believers had relocated to Perrine and desired a suitable place to worship. This burden rested heavily on the hearts of Brother and Sister Trevor Beckford, Sister Pearl Shelton, Sister Gloria Edwards, and Sister Phyllis Rose. They felt called to establish a mission in this section of the vineyard.

On behalf of the group, Sister Shelton contacted Pastor Roy R. Brown, then pastor of the North Side Seventh-day Adventist Church, along with Elder Herman Mills, to spearhead the effort of beginning a new church.

The charter members included:

Trevor Beckford
Wellesly Edmonds
Owen Richards
Dan Grant
Michel Gregoire
Cecil Raming
Alton Lewis
Pearl Shelton
Cecelyn Beckford
Phyllis Rose
Gloria Edwards
Reva Edmonds
Marie Grant
Millicent Taylor
Lydia Maxi
Melissa Woods
Shirley Coley
Edna Lewis
Ivene Dennis
Kathleen Shippey
Dr. Avril Sampson
Asneth Watt
Candita O'Bryan
Barbara Rock
Myrtle Bentley
Clover Powell
Elizabeth Reid

They never envisioned that this tiny group of believers would one day emerge as the Perrine Seventh-day Adventist Church—a thriving, Spirit-filled congregation.

1981

August 13 | Thirteen persons, including Pastor Brown met in the home of Brother and Sister Beckford to begin the process of establishing a mission in Perrine.
September 13 | Thirty members were in attendance to search for a place to worship.
October | Rev. James Allen of Home Sweet Missionary Baptist church agreed to allow the believers to worship in his church.

1982

January 2 | Under the leadership of Pastor Roy R. Brown, a Seventh-day Adventist mission was established in Perrine, with 82 persons in attendance.
Fall | A parcel of land was purchased at S.W. 168 St. between 99th Avenue and 100th Avenue to erect a church.

1983 - 1984

Pastor Roy Brown was called to serve as Secretary of the Southeastern Conference of Seventh-day Adventist.
He was replaced by Pastor Willie Taylor.
Under the leadership of Pastor Willie Taylor, we were able to burn the mortgage for the land on 168 St.

1985

May | The Executive Committee of the Southeastern Conference voted to establish the mission among the Sisterhood of churches.
Pastor Taylor was called to serve as Youth Leader of the Southeastern Conference of Seventh-day Adventist.
August | Elder Milton M. Young was appointed pastor.

1986

Pastor Young embarked on a stewardship program which raised over $100,000.
The land adjacent to the 168th Street property was bought making it a total of 3½ acres of land.
Sweet Home could no longer accommodate us.
May 3 | Our new place of worship was Palmetto Covenant Church.
The Perrine Allstar Pathfinder Club was established.
The early leaders were Susie Adderly, Lydia Maxi, Carmen Alanzar, Lorraine Lezama and Nonan Leezama.

Palmetto Covenant Church - Our place of worship from 1986

1988

Pastor Young was called to the Northside church. He was succeeded by Pastor Hubert J. Morel.
Pastor Morel continued the stewardship drive with the same urgency as his predecessor.
The Usher's department was installed and became a part of the South Florida Federation of Southeastern Conference; head usher was Sister Juanita Laurent.

1990

October 30 | The property on 9850 East Datura Street was purchased with the intent to remodel the building into a church.
The services of Mr. Wadile, architect, and Mr. Tokynbo Abiose, contractor, as well as skilled builders in the church were engaged to do the task.

1991

The Allstar Pathfinder club competed in two District Five International weekend activities and won trophies for drilling.

1992

August 24 | Palmetto Covenant church was damaged by Hurricane Andrew, so we had to find a new place to worship.
Pastor Morel and his elders recommended that we pitch a tent on the parking lot of our facility at Datura St. We worshipped there for several weeks.
Work on our damaged building continued.

1993

Despite the small membership after Hurricane Andrew, the Perrine Allstar Pathfinder Club gained the trophy for overall performance.
October 1 | The Perrine Seventh-day Adventist church was dedicated to the honor and glory of God.
Pastor Morel was transferred to the Ephesus Seventh-day Adventist church. He was replaced by Pastor David L. Peay Sr.

1994 - 1995

Pastor Peay worked aggressively with the youth of the church.
He engaged them in Bible Bowl in order to play in competitive basketball games.
He engaged the community through tutorial services offered by the Education Department.

1996

June | Pastor Peay and Sister Marion Joseph met with representatives of the Southeastern Conference of Seventh-day Adventist to present the case of starting a school in the North end of Miami-Dade County.
August 19 | The Perrine Seventh-day Adventist School opened its doors with Mrs. Millicent Taylor, Chairperson, Miss Lynda Brown, Principal, Mrs. Velma Wilson, Assistant Teacher, and eleven students.
The school was housed at South Dixie Highway.

1997

Pastor Peay was succeeded by Pastor Milton Sterling Sr.
He continued to enlarge the efforts of the Community Service.
He placed emphasis on providing a hot lunch for visitors every Sabbath.
He was an advocate for Christian Education and sought ways to find a home for the school.

1999

Under the leadership of Brian Kerr, the Pathfinder club competed in the Drill Team at the International Camporee in Oshkosh and placed fourth, first in the Southeastern Conference, and second in the North American Division.

2001 - 2006

Pastor Sterling was transferred to the Bartow and Winter Haven churches in Central Florida.
July | Pastor Maxwell Berkel succeeded Pastor Sterling.
March 2002 | Perrine celebrated 28 years of service.
Pastor Berkel focused on evangelism and technology.
During his tenure the church acquired two pieces of property adjoining the church; one with an aim to expand the church and the other to temporarily house the school.
He engaged the community by offering SAT classes through the Education Department.

2006 - 2012

Pastor Berkel was replaced by Pastor Antwoyn Mells.
He focused on evangelism, outreach, and intense involvement of the young people in the church.
He restructured Sabbath Service music and had four functioning choirs.

2012 - 2016

Pastor Mells ended his tenure at Perrine and was replaced by Dr. Michael K. Owusu.
Perrine celebrated 31 years of service.
Pastor Owusu conducted many evangelistic campaigns bringing in many souls to Christ.
His organizational skills helped move the church in a new direction.
He introduced the Mission Driven idea for the church focusing on nurturing.
He was a devout advocate for Christian Education and encouraged parents to send their children to the school.

2016 - 2023

Pastor Owusu was elected Executive Secretary of the Southeastern Conference. He was replaced by Pastor Canute Brown.
He communicated with his people by making house calls and demonstrated strong listening skills.
He was instrumental in expanding the Pre-School play area and obtained supplies for the school.
During his tenure many souls were brought to the kingdom through evangelism.

2023

Pastor Canute Brown was transferred to serve in Broward County.
Pastor Maxwell Berkel served as interim pastor for five months.
During this time, he conducted three baptisms, adding four new converts to the church, a wedding, a funeral, and a baby blessing.

2023 - 2025

July 8 | Dr. Eddly B. Benoit was installed as pastor.
Pastor places great emphasis on evangelism.
July 2024 | Twenty-eight persons were baptized during "The Grace Encounter" evangelistic series.
March 2025 | Eleven persons were baptized during the "Fullness of God Revealed" evangelistic series.
November 2025 | Twenty-three persons baptized during the "Blessed Hope" evangelistic series.

2024 - 2025

Pastor Timothy Harris was installed as Associate Pastor.
He is a mentor to the boys at Perrine SDA school.
He works closely with the Youth of the church.