Mount Hermon welcomes 32nd leader, Rev. Henry E. Green, Jr.,

Mount Hermon welcomes 32nd leader, Rev. Henry E.  Green, Jr., 

By Starla Vaughns-Cherin

Welcoming its 32 leader, the 108-year-old Mount Hermon African Methodist Episcopal Church Fort Lauderdale choir rang out All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name, ushering in Reverend Dr. Henry E. Green, Jr. to begin the work of a new era.

Officially installed in October of 2013, Rev. Green comes from a long line of AME. ministers, including his father, Samuel L. Green and four of his brothers. Tall with an easy smile and trusting eyes, Rev. Green has already affected the church’s future with an increase in membership, finances and a new morning conference call prayer line.

“People have to grow spiritually and you grow when you pray,” Green says. “It was been working. Our Morning Prayer line at six a.m. starts our days. We are experiencing an in-crease in worship, prayer meetings and bible study; our church school ministry and our finances have increased 35 percent.”

In a rare move, Rev. Green relinquished his post as the Presiding Elder of the Central District’s Southern Conference to take the post as pastor of Mount Hermon. In the AME Church, the Presiding Elder is a minister who has a successful pastoral ministry for 20 years or more. In Green’s case, it’s more than 30 years.

“In his case, knowing the situation and the various needs and financial state of Mount Hermon, he will make a difference,” Presiding Elder Rev. Vincent F. Mitchell says. So he came out of the management, supervisory and administrative position to do pastoral work. That is a major sacrifice.

“He likes hands on. He has a good working relationship with people. You have to have good human relations skills to go into a church the caliber of Mount Hermon. You have to be on top of your game and he is a human relations giant.”

A little child shall lead

Green pastured Mount Hermon Miami Gardens 14 years, building a new church and founding the Richard Allen Leadership Academy, Florida’s only “all boys” public elementary charter school kindergarten to fifth grade in 2008. The Academy is named in honor of the founder of the AME. Church – Bishop Richard Allen; the denomination’s first elected and consecrated bishop.

“It was one of the high points in my ministry,” Green says. “It’s the first one of its kind.  I saw that boys were being lost in second and third grades because they were in a system that didn’t understand, care or invest in them.

“I didn’t want to keep talking about it; I wanted to do some-thing about it. I met with educators and everyone said it wasn’t possible and Florida would not ratify it because it hadn’t been done before. We have the Rev. Paul R. Wiggins as executive director. Anytime God gives you a vision, you have to pray that it is from God. I have found in my experience God never gives a vision with-out a provision.”

The Academy is a charter member of the National Elementary School Honor Society 11 young men were inducted into the Society in 2009-2010 and eight in 2010-2011. It expanded its science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) curriculum by adding the academic disciplines of Botany (study of plants) and Herpetology (study of amphibians and reptiles). The Academy will soon add the STEM academic discipline of Robotics.

Currently, Green is on the Trustee Board of the Henry Mc-Neal Turner Learning Academy and Richard Allen Young Adult Council of the Central District because he believes in grooming a new generation of believers and doers.

It is a part of one of his goals to increase the youth member-ship of Mount Hermon while keeping in tune with the senior members of the congregation.  “A lot of it has to do with the example the leader provides. Coming from the administration through the church with a clear vision and clear purpose, it means the ministry has to be relevant to persons of all ages.

“Not just for seniors and leaving behind the children we want to relate to young adults, couples and the entire com-munity. Our ministry model is meeting the needs and making an intergenerational bond within the congregation.”

Family Matters

Rev. Green and wife Jennifer married 33 years, met during his first ministry in Live Oak, FL. Their sons who have followed in their father’s steps just as Green followed in his father’s steps. Son the Rev. Henry E. Green pastors the 120-year-old Payne Chapel AME in West Palm Beach and son Phillip Green’S on staff at Mount Hermon AME Miami Gardens as its Young Adult Minister.

Wife, Jennifer, along with other AME missionaries, work in the community with under-served youth and the needy. Recently they provided cribs and baby supplies to young unwed mothers.

“We want the babies to get a decent start in life,” says Mrs. Green. “We want them to under-stand they are welcome at the church and that we care about them. Just like with my children, you have to instill in them there is no giving up. You hit a bump in the road and make a mistake, get up and brush your-self off and try again.”

Born and raised in Orlando, Fla. Green followed his four brothers, one who is an AME Bishop, and their father Samuel Lawrence Green, Sr. Presiding elder and pastor.”He was a very outstanding man and strong spiritually. He raised us in the church, we came to love the church, and we followed in his footsteps. One of the most important things I took from my father was to be a blessing. His greeting and his farewell was always ‘God bless your soul. He understood that we are put here to be a blessing to people.”