By Rashard Davis
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Although church doors are closed across the nation as pastors, preachers, evangelists and other congregation leaders contend with the deadly coronavirus, Melvin C. Green Jr., senior pastor at the Christian Community Church of God on West Baltimore Street, takes everything in stride.
As he enters the redbrick building on recent Sunday mornings like he’s done for almost 40 years, Green now surveys empty sanctuary pews. Undaunted, he prepares for his sermon that will air on YouTube and Facebook as a livestream worship service to faithful members on the official CCCOG channel. What better time to enhance family values and nurture than now when Gov. Larry Hogan has issued a state emergency, stay-at-home orders and 8 p.m. curfew that force families to constantly socialize.
Green is adjusting to the new normal. His father, Bishop Conway Green started Christian Community Church of God in 1929, the year inventors had just begun to tinker with television. Now, the third-generation preacher has installed televisions with miraculous powers to reach thousands.
Since the 1980s, long before COVID-19, Green has preached over dozens of parishioners throughout the West Baltimore church area. His wife, Idelia, who he has been married to for more than a few decades, daughters, Melody and Cerise, and two grandchildren, Melvin and Melody have been among the listeners.
Green says his message remains the same.
“I hope to inspire people to have a mission, goal and vision in their lives,” says Green, explaining his desire for people to live a wholistic life with their faith and social lives. “And I think when they live like that, it can lead to a less stressed or stress-free life, to do more than one thing, to put some culture in it. Bring a balance of work and play together.”
Green acknowledges that he is preaching at a time when many pastors around the country, especially within the state of Maryland, are trying to modernize their approach to reach more followers of pursuing faith.
And now, shuttering churches to slow the spread of the coronavirus comes at a time when church leaders already worry about a rapid decline in church attendance and increase in dying churches.
“Every year, 4,000 churches close throughout the nation for many reasons, like gentrification and population decline,” Green says. “The climate is also changing within the church. That’s why changes need to be made into the church, but we gotta be careful with our charges within.”
Green says the gospel message he teaches changes lives.
“My biggest inspiration is to see people come to Christ and transform,” he told The Baltimore Watchdog, “off of drugs, off the pole, back home to take care of their families. It’s a reward to see a soul that we saved come back to our church to thank us. That’s one of my biggest joys.”
Going back to his early years, Green says that he had an inkling about participating in the church, but he kept moving away from it.
“It was a divine calling in which I ran away from for years,” he says. “I knew there was a calling, but I thought it would be just to music, because I’ve always loved music, and gospel music in particular.”
He adds, “My father saw it in me, and I just kept rejecting it, until God came down [and] asked why I ran away from the ministry. I was teaching school music and selling insurance until God kept calling me to preach in the ministry.”
Preaching in the ministry involves more than standing in the pulpit.
Green reacts with mercy when asked about former Baltimore City Mayor Catherine Pugh, who was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to charges related to a children’s book fraud scheme. She is scheduled to report to an Alabama facility April 27.
“Mayor Pugh, I knew her before she went into politics,” Green says, “as I met her when her boyfriend at the time was my supervisor at the insurance company. My heart aches for her, the way that she got caught up in that. I pray for her and hope that she can bounce back. I understand the judicial system and the need for consequences, but she is still our friend.”
Members within the church brag about the ways Green has inspired them.
“Seeing his example, seeing his heart, how he has time for others made me wanna do the same with my time and talents,” says Minister Jan Richmond, who once served as a deacon.
As a new member, Richmond says she watched how Green interacted with the parishioners and that pushed her to participate more within the church.
“Seeing how his leadership affected others has influenced me to be with those who have been influenced by them, as a parishioner, as a deacon, and now, as a minister,” she says.
Richmond also says she wants to pass on this inspiration to his kids, saying that, “It’s always worthwhile to help other people while you can. I hope to teach my children that it’s good to give your time and talents for other people, as it also reaps other benefits.”
Green has impacted parishioners like Henrietta Blake and Linda Smith, who teach Sunday School classes for youth and young adults.
“Dr. Green is a man of courage to take over as under shepherd of the congregation,” Blake says. “He’s devoted to the people who he shepherds.”
Smith adds that “He cares for others deeply and lifts them up in prayer. When members are in need of a helping hand, they can always depend on his caring heart. We are blessed that Dr. Melvin C. Green is our pastor and how he touched my life and others.”