One local pastor in Orlando is on a crusade to preserve the history of her community before it’s too late.

“There’s a lot of questions I have about the church at my age, a lot of historical things I’m still learning,” said Dana “Action” Jackson, who pastors Black Bottom House of Prayer.

That’s why Jackson, with her granddaughter Queen Baker by her side, said that she’s collecting stories from people with ties to her church, and others who have impacted the Parramore community.

She’s seeking to compile the history by Juneteenth, the federal U.S. holiday which commemorates the emancipation of African-American slaves. Within each chapter in her book, Jackson wants to make historical connections in an effort to not only preserve history, but to help lift up her community and evoke a sense of pride.

“What I’m doing now, is every person over 70 years old, I’m trying to interview them before the Lord calls them home, because that history will be lost,” she said.

In tandem, Jackson said that her church, located off Westmoreland Drive, is awaiting approval of grant money, which would be used as catalyst for a restoration of the building. In 2019, just as it was deemed eligible as a historic landmark in the City Beautiful, the roof caved in.

Since then, Jackson — who said her aspirations of becoming a pastor stretch back to her childhood — has been holding services outside on the church lawn. There, under a large white tent, folding chairs are fanned out in neat rows.

Each day, she and other faithful congregants — from a church elder who was in the place of worship at the time of the collapse, to Jackson’s mother, Mary Jackson, a vision partner for the church — hop on the prayer line.

Sometimes her 6-year-old granddaughter hops on, too, and reads Bible verses. The little girl, who graduated from Rosen Preschool and has a birthday in March, said that she, too, hopes to one day become a pastor and follow in her grandmother’s footsteps.

“I want to be a pastor because it looks like it’s so fun,” Baker said.

Until then, Jackson said that her faith is propelling her to collect the stories of one of the oldest church buildings in Orlando, a place from which “college graduates, Black achievers, judges and police officers” were raised.

“I’m hoping Queen’s generation will see the archives, the roof collapse — they’ll see the tent pitch and we made it through the pandemic,” she said. “We have a story to tell. It’s one chapter — one chapter after the next. She’ll be writing her own book for her generation.”