Five years can feel quick inside a neighborhood that changes block by block.
At Second Baptist Church of Detroit, five years also lands like a checkpoint. This month, Pastor Lawrence W. Rodgers reaches his fifth anniversary leading the 190-year-old congregation planted a few steps from the entertainment district of Greektown. He arrived during COVID-19, when the church had to protect elders, keep ministries alive, and stay visible in a district shaped by tourism, casinos, and constant redevelopment.
Rodgers calls the church a public resource with a spiritual engine…