Spiritfest Southeast Region

09/30/2026

WHAT A SEPTEMBER. WHAT A NIGHT. WHAT A COMMUNITY.

As September comes to a close, we’re simply grateful.

Grateful for every person who walked through those doors.
Grateful for every artist, volunteer, partner and team member.
Grateful for the worship, the laughter, the celebration and the moments we’ll remember long after the lights went down.

Most of all, we’re grateful for YOU — our SpiritFest community.

SpiritFest is more than one day on the calendar. It’s what happens when faith, music and community come together with purpose.

So we’re not saying goodbye…

We’re simply continuing the journey. ❤️

09/18/2026

THIS WAS SPIRITFEST 2026.

One sound. One Spirit. One community — all under one roof.

From the worship to the joy, the tears, the praise and the moments we’ll never forget… you could feel something special in that room.

Were you somewhere in this crowd?

One Sound. One Spirit. One Community.
Let’s Come Together.

09/18/2026

Your SpiritFest story matters.
Maybe SpiritFest 2026 gave you a moment you will never forget.
Maybe you came with your family, your church, or a group of friends.
Maybe you traveled to Greenville to be there.
Maybe this was your first SpiritFest.
Or maybe SpiritFest has been part of your life for years.
Whatever your story is, we want to hear it.
We are collecting experiences from SpiritFest 2026 attendees to help document the people,
memories, traditions, and moments that continue to shape the SpiritFest legacy.

Share Your SpiritFest Story here:
https://eraypromotions.com/spiritfest/testimonial-request.php

Because SpiritFest’s history is not only found in the number of years it has existed. It is found in
the people who have experienced it.

09/17/2026

This week, SpiritFest 2026 had the honor of celebrating three outstanding award recipients, each nominated by their peers for the difference they continue to make through leadership, service, ministry, and community commitment.

Helen M. Jones — Trailblazer Award
Peggy Baxter — D.E.R. Community Leader Award
B.R.U.H. Mentor — Community Impact Award

Their work continues to inspire, uplift, and strengthen the communities they serve.

Congratulations again to our 2026 SpiritFest Award Recipients. Your impact is seen, valued, and worthy of celebration.

09/16/2026

CELEBRATING IMPACT. HONORING LEGACY. RECOGNIZING SERVICE.

SpiritFest 2026 is proud to recognize three outstanding award recipients, each nominated by their peers for their leadership, service, ministry, and commitment to community.

Throughout this week, we’ll celebrate these deserving recipients and the impact they continue to make in the communities they serve.

Join us as we celebrate the inaugural recipient of the 2026 SpiritFest Community Impact Award!

B.R.U.H. Mentor

B.R.U.H. Mentor — Brothers Restoring Urban Hope, Inc. — is a Spartanburg County nonprofit dedicated to empowering youth through mentorship, leadership development, and community engagement. Founded in 2005 by Antonio Boyd and Victor Durrah, Jr., the organization has spent more than two decades helping young people build confidence, strengthen academic skills, develop leadership, and become responsible citizens.

Through programs such as Connected Scholars, the B.R.U.H. Community Center, and Sports & Mentoring, B.R.U.H. Mentor has impacted more than 20,000 youth and families across the Upstate while engaging more than 300 volunteers.

Congratulations to B.R.U.H. Mentor, the recipient of the 2026 SpiritFest Community Impact Award!

09/15/2026

CELEBRATING IMPACT. HONORING LEGACY. RECOGNIZING SERVICE.

SpiritFest 2026 is proud to recognize three outstanding award recipients, each nominated by their peers for their leadership, service, ministry, and commitment to community.

Throughout this week, we’ll celebrate these deserving recipients and the impact they continue to make in the communities they serve.

Join us as we celebrate the 2026 SpiritFest D.E.R. Community Leader Award Winner

Peggy Baxter

Peggy Baxter is a retired healthcare executive and community leader with more than four decades of service. A native of Upstate South Carolina, she earned degrees from Hampton University and the University of Denver and went on to build a distinguished career in pediatric healthcare, including more than 25 years in administration at Children’s Hospital and Research Center in Oakland, California.

Her service includes more than 40 years with the American Cancer Society, leadership in health advocacy, mission work in South Africa and Haiti, and support of sickle cell initiatives, including advocacy that helped advance Prisma Health’s Sickle Cell Program.

A Deaconess at Long Branch Baptist Church and a Legacy Life Member of the National Council of Negro Women, Ms. Baxter has also been honored through the Peggy L. Baxter Community Service Scholarship, which has awarded more than $8,000 to deserving students.

Her lifelong commitment to healthcare, faith, education, and community service continues to make a lasting impact.

Congratulations to Peggy Baxter, recipient of the 2026 SpiritFest D.E.R. Community Leader Award!

09/15/2026

Congratulations to Dr. Elijah Ray founder and visionary of SpiritFest, one of the premier gospel and community events in the Upstate and throughout the Southeast region, on being featured in ELEV8 Magazine!

This recognition is a well-deserved celebration of the work, the vision, and the legacy behind SpiritFest. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

You don’t have to be famous to shape a region. Sometimes you just have to keep bringing people together.

For 34 years, Dr. Elijah Ray has done exactly that through SpiritFest.

On September 6, thousands gathered again at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville for Gospel music, worship, scholarships, legacy, family, and community. But if you only saw the concert, you missed part of the story.

SpiritFest has become a place where generations meet. Gospel legends share space with young voices. Students receive tangible investment in their futures. Churches, families, community leaders, artists, and people who haven’t seen one another in years find themselves back in the same room.

This year’s theme captured it: “One Sound. One Spirit. One Community. Let’s Come Together.”

There’s something powerful about that word: together.

Especially now.

We talk a lot about what divides communities. SpiritFest gives Greenville an opportunity to experience what happens when people have a reason to gather around something greater than themselves.

And biblically, unity has never been a small thing.

Psalm 133 opens by celebrating how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. By the end of the passage, Scripture makes the connection even stronger: there, God commands the blessing.

Unity isn’t just a nice idea. There’s something God releases when His people come together.

That’s what makes Dr. Ray’s work worth a closer look. He hasn’t simply spent decades producing a Gospel event. He’s helped steward a gathering place where worship, legacy, opportunity, relationship, and community meet.

The music gets people through the doors. What happens when everyone comes together is the bigger story.

That’s why Dr. Elijah Ray is Worth Knowing.

Who’s creating spaces in your community where faith brings people together? We want to know about them.