Q: Good morning to you Pastor Dave. Can you share the meaning of Bethel?
A: Good morning. Absolutely. Yes. Bethel means House of God.
Q: And how did you, Pastor Dave, become the lead Pastor?
A: Well it’s, (chuckle) for the sake of time I’m going to make a very long story short. But I was originally hired here at Bethel to build a new sanctuary. I’m a general contractor by trade. My father has been ministering here over 25 years and he didn’t want to influence the person who actually built the sanctuary, but it was a suggestion from the current business administrator, “Why don’t you give your son an opportunity to at least bid on the project so I did, and I ended up being the project manager for the sanctuary. So I didn’t start out here on staff as a pastor or minister. I started out as a builder.
Q: Hmm Contractor and builder, how fitting. Have many people made reference of your journey to ministry and the fact that Jesus was a carpenter?
A: (Big smile) Yes, It has happened. I’m in good company.
So that’s how I started out at Bethel and then, uh, through the building process they had other needs that I saw and one was they had nobody leading young adult ministry so I got involved in that, and then I got involved in men’s ministry. I think it was God’s creative way to get me involved in ministry because it just wasn’t a career path or a long term aspiration of mine. I was serving the lord, but I wanted to serve the Lord in business. God had other ideas for me.
Q: How long have you been the lead pastor here?
A: I’ve only been the lead pastor here for only about 2 ½ months. We planted a church in Henrietta called Henrietta Christian Fellowship in which I lead a team of about 40 people. And I pastored there for six years, and I came back to Bethel to serve under my father. It was then I kind of passed the baton to another pastor at Bethel, Pastor Don Bole, and we kind of switched places.
Q: Talk to me about the transition. Was it easy to come in behind the tradition of your father?
A: We have a very close family. We’re very transparent with one another. We’re all very opinionated. And, guess what, we all have different opinions. But we know how to make good compromises in the end, and it’s nice to have work. We’re different in some respects, but my Dad and I, our leadership style is very similar. So it’s made the transition pretty comfortable for us, the staff, and the congregation. Because I’ve been serving here and pastoring and preaching probably for six years, since I came back from Henrietta. So they’re used to having me around, they tolerated me.
- Nicely stated. How large is the congregation here?
A: Including the youth, we probably run about 800 people every Sunday.
Q: Do you have services during the week?
A: Oh yeah, we have mid-week classes which we call our school for the ministry. On Wednesdays we have a worship time that starts at 6:15, and then the classes actually start at 7:00. These are our Equipping Classes.
Q: You mentioned inclusion of the youth. Pastor Dave, being that your church is planted in downtown Rochester, where do these young people come from?
A: They come from all over the place. Our congregation is probably about 60% city-dwellers, probably about 40% suburban dwellers, and some way out toward Wayne County. So that’s what I meant about a diverse congregation, not just ethnically but also geographically from many different places. So it’s diversity in everything, diversity in music, in culture, in food, so we feel like we… there’s probably something for everyone that comes into this place because it is so unique and diverse.
Q: And do you feel that this diversity is the strength of your ministry?
A: Oh yeah! Absolutely. It’s a strength, and it’s not something we intentionally set out to have. But people of all walks who come here they just feel comfortable. We hear such things as, “We came here. It’s such a big place, we thought we’d feel lost, but we were immediately welcomed by greeters at the door and introduced to the Pastors and Ministry Leaders.” We have a guest reception once a month where we meet the people. We are very approachable. And I think that’s what’s created this very welcoming environment.
Q: Pastor Dave, is Bethel Christian Fellowship considered a seeker sensitive church?
A: Yeah, it depends upon how you define it. You know we, we don’t sacrifice or compromise the mission, the gospel, the word, the truth to appease people or make them feel comfortable. We speak the truth but we speak it in love. We preach the whole gospel, and some of that is a little bit painful because, you know, we want to attack sin, we want to deal with that in an individual’s life but we want to do it in a loving way, so are you going to come here and occasionally get offended? Probably, because the truth sometimes is offensive, especially when you don’t want to change your life and change your behavior and submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ. So we won’t compromise that, but seeker-sensitive in the sense that you come to this place, you’ll be loved. And you’ll be cared for, and we meet people where they’re at. They can come as they are.
Q: Pastor Dave, I read somewhere that sometimes the loudest voice in the church is usually the least involved.
A: Well that’s not often the case, but certainly it has happened that the loud someone who is complaining is generally doing so because they’re not in any way involved in serving or joining in with our praise and worship. On the other hand we have a lot of loud voices at Bethel. (Chuckle) If you come here we’re not a quiet congregation. There’s dancing, there’s flagging, and so if you want a quiet place to meditate on the Lord it’s not going to be Bethel on a Sunday morning. Sunday morning is a celebration of what god has been doing through the life of the believers at Bethel through the week. We encourage people to get loud and get involved.
Q: You have shared what a person can expect when coming inside for a church service. But because we know that Jesus was friends with sinners and took his word to the street I’m asking in what way has Bethel taken its ministry to the streets?
A: Well, first, our priority is to raise up ministers. God has called us to raise up disciples. Our mission in Bethel Christian Fellowship is a church body committed to revealing the culture of Heaven on earth. Which means, the culture of Heaven is very different than the culture that’s here on earth. But we believe that His church, not just Bethel, but the CHURCH in Rochester should be revealing the culture of Heaven. Well, what’s the culture of Heaven? Well, it’s love. It’s peace. It’s joy. It’s a place of healing, physically, emotionally, spiritually. It’s all of those things.
We accomplish our mission by approaching every neighborhood as a mission field, by seeing every person as an object of God’s love. This is something which we all need to do because God is coming back for one bride. God is not a polygamist. He’s coming back for one bride which means He’s coming back for one church, and we have to work harder. To be that one church, and because I look at every church not as competition, but with the understanding that every church is kind of a unique facet or characteristic of God. Bethel has always been about that. We have been a church about building bridges with other congregations. We have planted multiple ministries in churches out of this place that are connected relationally but they don’t give financially because we want to see the gospel go out.
Q: Recently in city neighborhoods initiatives like “Clergy on Patrol” have hit the streets again. Do you think these efforts will be sustained?
A: Yes, I think we as churches are in a good place right now because we have a Mayor who has a real heart to connect to the faith community, and I have more hope, quite honestly, with this mayor than I’ve had with many mayors we’ve had in the past. She recognizes the value of the church. We’ve met her and some of her leadership who are godly people who love the Lord and understand that answers for many of the city’s problems may be addressed in the church.
Q: Pastor Dave, I thank you for sharing with us.
A: It’s been a pleasure.
