Roger Green stood in the pulpit as pastor of Lake St. Helen Baptist Church for the first time Aug. 28, 2008. That morning, seven people attended worship and two came to Sunday School. It was not an auspicious beginning for a 50-plus-year-old layman who had just accepted his first pastorate.
Nine months later, worship attendance at Lake St. Helen Baptist is in the 70s. “We’ve had as high as 82” and Sunday School averages in the high 30s, Green pointed out.
“That may not sound like a lot to some people, but instead of a handful of adults meeting in the auditorium and the pastor teaching, we now have five functioning classes,” he said.
On the day this writer visited the St. Helen, Mich., church, Green was working on a room to be used by area youth.
Family Fun Night attracts about 18 young people every Saturday evening. The church serves a full meal and shows a movie. A game room is available and a devotional is shared.
“We want this place to be a refuge for young people,” Green added. “So many times, a kid may have a parent at home or both parents but still be a spiritual orphan. We want them to know the church is available for them.”
Every Saturday morning, Green offers free guitar lessons to anyone interested. A young ladies’ etiquette class is planned. A similar event for young men was recently held.
The church has a goal of reaching 50 children in Vacation Bible School (VBS) this year. Green explained the church will prayer walk each block in its village and then distribute VBS door hangers to each home.
“Our people have really gotten excited about Vacation Bible School,” he said. “We are going all out with our decorations, and when we are through, we will share our stuff with other churches in the association.”
In the past nine months, Green said the church has witnessed “12 or 13 professions of faith.” All of these have been young people between the ages of 8 and 21, he said.
“We are averaging two or three additions every month. This is not just some clique or club. The church has reached people from the county supervisor to a local horse farmer. God is really doing a great thing, and all the credit has to go to Him,” Green declared.
What caused such a major turnaround in a church that had experienced serious difficulty and division?
Green said it was the way God used an Alabama revival team that was part of a revival effort in northeast Michigan in 2008.
Green recalls his shock when Pines Baptist Association Director of Missions Donn Broeker asked if he knew the church was to participate in the revival scheduled a month after he assumed the pastorate. The church had voted earlier to participate, but that commitment had been forgotten in the aftermath of other developments.
“We never thought about canceling,” Green said. Instead he called the scheduled evangelist, and the two agreed to “pray the revival in.” The church scheduled prayer vigils two days each week until the revival began. And Green, the evangelist and the music leader all bathed each service with prayer.
Since that first service, Green said the Holy Spirit of God has not stopped working in the church.
“Our people were rejuvenated. We had a real revival. The people of the church got revived. They got the opportunity to put their faith into action and that is exciting,” Green said.
“As people see the Lord work, their faith is coming back. They are not worried about the past. They are working to see the great things God is doing today,” he added.
Lake St. Helen Baptist is also looking forward to the return of the Alabama revival team this September for another revival effort.
“The church is so excited about their return I believe I would get run off if I did not have them back,” Green joked.
Green and his wife operate a small trucking company, and each drives a truck delivering furniture five nights a week. The rest of the time, Green can be found doing the work of the church.
“Sometimes the fruit of our labor can be seen by others,” Green observed. “But it is important that all the glory go to God. I’m just so happy to be a part of what the Lord is doing here. And it just doesn’t stop. It’s great.”
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