By Nicole Falco
Batcher Howard helped the church through the process of closing down, but even in its farewell the now defunct church gave something to the novice pastor. Being a minister allowed Batcher Howard the opportunity to reciprocate the help she had received from a number of ministers when she was a parishioner.
In a classic case of opportunity meeting preparedness, Batcher Howard was working as a substitute pastor in churches in New Jersey and Massachusetts after the First Baptist Church closed, and she was looking for a permanent position. Valley Stream's Olivet Baptist Church was without a permanent pastor after the Rev. Charlotte Davis' departure in August 2001.
Batcher Howard, a native of Suffolk County, assumed the pastorate of Olivet the first Sunday in May.
"I love leading people," Batcher Howard said. "Helping them celebrate the good times in their lives as well as leading them through life crises."
Batcher Howard understands first-hand how important a minister can be in a parishioner's life during a crisis. Without elaborating one such experience of her own, Batcher Howard said it left her questioning her faith. Who is God? she wondered. How does God work? Why do bad things happen?
"The beliefs I thought I had before aren't really fitting what I've had in my life," Batcher Howard said. "[Various ministers] helped me not only to heal but grow way beyond where I was as a person. I wanted to bring that to other people."
Graduating from the seminary also fulfilled a girlhood dream dashed by a chauvinist attitude. Batcher Howard was 12 and attending a Bible study camp when she mentioned to a counselor that she might want to pursue pastoral studies.
"I'm sorry, the Bible says you can't do that," was the response to her enthusiasm. Batcher Howard relegated the idea to the back of her mind for 20 years until she made the decision to pursue her goal in the early 1990s.
Today, at 41, Batcher Howard has a lot to learn about the church she now leads or, she might rather say, "facilitates." Olivet is a small church that welcomes perhaps 50 worshippers to its 10 a.m. Sunday services, though its membership roster is higher.
"The church had been without a permanent pastor for almost two years, and that's not always an easy thing," Batcher Howard said. "They'd been able to maintain what they were doing. Hopefully, since I'll be here for a good long while ... we'll be able to get some good stuff going."
James Ratcliffe, a member since 1964 and chairman of Olivet's nine-person pastoral search committee, describes Olivet as small but adds that its membership is ethnically diverse and liberal. He said the search committee thought a young pastor would be good for the church.
As far as Batcher Howard is concerned, the church's character is a perfect fit for hers. She considers herself a liberal pastor, and is excited about the church's diversity and its proximity to Manhattan's broad cultural scene. For now she'll also be commuting between New York and Massachusetts, where her husband, Paul, and their two daughters, Melinda, 10, and Ruth Ellen, 7, live.
"I knew my predecessor, Charlotte Davis, [and] because I had known her a little I thought I might be comfortable working here," Batcher Howard said. "This church prides itself on its diversity ... they don't do things just because this is the way it's always been done."
A new pastor can often bring excitement to a church in need of a little revitalization. Ratcliffe said the congregation hopes that with the search complete, Batcher Howard can help it grow and encourage people in Valley Stream and surrounding communities to come to the Locust Street church.
Though Batcher Howard brings ideas for the future, she is still getting to know her congregation as well as her way around Valley Stream. "I'm still learning who they really are, some of what they've accomplished in the past and some of what the challenges are," she said.
