Evans sees himself as exposed to a diversity of public opinion as a mayor, but covered by God as His servant.
“Character counts. I believe people will read you before they read the Bible. I’ve got to love and serve even those that don’t like me. I learned that in the pastorate,” he said. “Bethlehem got me ready for that. I praise God for giving me a covering, and it is here at Bethlehem.”
Evans doesn’t compromise God’s Word, he said, but upholds the state and U.S. constitutions he’s sworn to uphold as mayor.
“My job (as mayor) is to not allow you to be mistreated or discriminated against because of the way you think. That’s just right to do. I cannot stand by and allow any person to be mistreated,” Evans said. “I believe that the best way to save a person is for the people to see Christ in the (other) person. And they can’t see that with me hating them. …
“[I]n regard to society, you’ve got to know that I’m going to respect your position. I don’t have to accept your position, but I have to respect it and I have to protect it and protect you, because I made a vow to do just that. To do otherwise would be dishonest. I shouldn’t even take the oath if I didn’t mean to be right.”
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He sees integrity as a way of sharing of Gospel.
“You share it by being fair to the parties that come before you,” Evans said. “You share it by loving those who you know hate your guts because you’re Black. You share it by demonstrating condolence when bad things happen in the city. It’s lifestyle evangelism.”
Henderson’s road to elected office included three campaigns before his winning run as city commissioner in November 2020.
“I’m just not a quitter. You don’t stop, my mom always taught us, you don’t stop because you come to a wall,” he said. “You go over the wall, under the wall, around the wall.
“I kept on going because I knew that was what God had for me. Because I believe that in my heart, I kept pressing. If God has called you to it, He’ll bring you through it.”
Today, Henderson is known affectionately as “Pastor Commish.”
Henderson enjoys his public office, particularly frequent opportunities to offer the invocation at public meetings.
“I get an opportunity through my prayer to set the tone or the atmosphere of meetings. If a meeting goes well I feel like it has had something to do with what I prayed and how I asked God’s presence to be in our meetings,” he said. “I get an opportunity to say to our other commissioners or mayor, I feel God is leading me to do this.
“I have an opportunity to be a witness or to be a light in our community. Obviously, I don’t stand on a street corner with a megaphone, but just my presence. People know that I’m a pastor. People know that I’m a preacher. And therefore they call upon me on many cases.”
Henderson leads Washington Street Baptist Church to be active and present in the community. Among its ministries are feeding ministries, outreaches to the elderly, and a warming center with resources for the homeless on cold nights, offering showers, a bed, food and clothing.
“I ask our church often,” he said, “If Washington Street Church were no longer here, would this community know the difference and would they even care?
“I believe that the church has a responsibility to be in the community. We have a responsibility to impact the community. And just being the commissioner gives me an added opportunity to make an impact.”
This article originally appeared at Baptist Press.
