If someone were to walk through the doors of St. Bernard Baptist Church in Chalmette, La., it would be completely unrecognizable from what it looked like just two years ago.  

At that time, the church had an average attendance of about six people on a typical Sunday. Since then, St. Bernard has tripled their attendance to more than 20, had several professions of faith and baptized three people.  

Mike Wetzel, associate professor of pastoral ministry and vice president for institutional advancement, has served as a pastor at St. Bernard for just over two years. He said the church has undeniably experienced the transformative power of God.  

“It is so different that night and day is not enough to describe it,” Wetzel said.  

“I don’t have the words to describe it. It’s gone from being a struggling church to a congregation with a strong sense of vibrancy. There’s just a different spirit here. You can certainly feel God’s presence. There is a sweet fellowship among the congregation that can only come from Christ.” 

While the renewal of St. Bernard has been incredible, this exciting season came after a season of intense tragedy.  

The church was previously pastored by Paul Gregoire, former NOBTS registrar, for more than 30 years. Gregoire tragically and suddenly passed away from cancer in March 2023.

Wanting to help, Wetzel (who lives in Chalmette) reached out to offer help with pulpit supply, to which the church quickly agreed.

Although he had been preaching in various settings since moving to New Orleans, Wetzel had not served as the pastor of a congregation in several years.

Over time, Wetzel became the interim pastor, then the transitional pastor and finally the full-time pastor of St. Bernard.

“It was a slow realization that this is what God was leading me to do," he said. "It went from ‘I can help them a little bit as an interim,’ to ‘well let’s make this official and see what we can really do.’”

St. Bernard has experienced amazing growth under Wetzel's leadership, but the journey was not always easy.  

Wetzel said the church was in a season of struggle and decline when he came. They were experiencing deep pain from losing their beloved pastor and were “overcome with grief.” 

Changes needed to be made, but Wetzel did not want to rush the process.  

“For most of them, Paul was the only pastor they had ever known in their life,” he explained. “There was extreme grief and pain. A church that is going through a situation like that, they know that they’re hurting, but they don’t know what to do. They know the church is not healthy, but how on Earth are they going to change it around? 

“Going into a situation like that, I knew that you can’t just go in guns blazing and make changes right away. You have to wait. You have to give people the opportunity to know you and trust you. So, by the time we were ready to actually outline a new vision, they were ready. They trusted us.” 

In Nov. of 2023, Wetzel met with the congregation and outlined a new “vision” for what he believed the future could hold for the church. Much of this new vision included making some big changes, which the congregation agreed were necessary. These changes were both spiritual and physical.  

Various renovations were made around the church building. The church began utilizing the street sign outside the church to display different messages. A cross was built for display outside the church. NOBTS Mission Lab groups assisted with renovations on the property. 

The congregation began to engage in corporate Scripture memory. A monthly fellowship time began to foster community and relationships. Musical instrumentation was added to the church’s corporate worship times.  

All of these changes were fueled by assistance from various NOBTS and Leavell College students Wetzel would recruit to help him at the church. One such student was Noah Collins, an NOBTS student working towards a Master of Divinity degree.

Collins was initially recruited by Wetzel in April 2023 to simply help preach, but he would go on to eventually become an associate pastor at the church.

“Both of us at first were just thinking 'we just want to help this church until they find a pastor,'" Collins said. “But I didn’t think that would be me because I didn’t know what I was doing. I had been around local churches for a long time, but I still didn’t really know what I was doing in pastoral ministry at that point.” 

Collins remembers a specific Sunday that summer when things seemed to turn the corner for the church and his time there.  

There was nothing different about this particular Sunday, except that Collins was horribly sick. 

“I was just trying to make it through the sermon,” he said. “I was really sick and struggling to preach. I was just thinking ‘Lord just help me get through this Sunday please.’ At the end of the service I just gave a clear Gospel presentation and two people came forward to be saved. That was a real benchmark moment that God might actually be doing something here. 

“It was a way that God showed me, through my weakness He is strong. Even though you’re sick, I’m not sick. Even though you don’t feel like preaching this Sunday, the results are not dependent on you, they are dependent on me.” 

Later on in the summer, the two people who made decisions, along with a third person, were baptized by Collins during a service. They were the first baptisms he had ever done.   

Doing baptisms and leading through change have not been the only things Collins has learned during this time of ministry. For his NOBTS preaching practicum, his mentor was Wetzel, someone who just happened to hear him preach in-person on Sundays.  

“I got something I feel like some other students didn’t get in that I got to preach in front of him on Sunday mornings and he would take notes and we would meet in our mentor time and talk about my sermon,” Collins said.  

“To me that was the most helpful thing. To have someone who has preached for many years take specific notes on my sermon and us talk about it after was incredibly helpful. Pairing my classroom experience with this local church experience with someone that I could really trust, those two things paired did the trick. I’ve been able to learn in the classroom and then put it into practice immediately.” 

Collins has an additional personal connection to St. Bernard, as his mother played the piano at the church back when she was an NOBTS student. He understood the painful loss the church went through and has been thrilled to see the revival of the congregation.  

“These people weren’t just losing a pastor,” he said. “Paul cared for and loved these people deeply. He was a very influential person, and he died very suddenly. The church was having a hard time. 

“We’ve since given them a vision of what the future could look like and to see them latch onto that and find their hope in Christ has been awesome. The way they’ve really welcomed us into their family has been something special. There’s a lot more happiness and joy and a real family atmosphere here now. I think Paul would have loved to see the new life that’s entered the building and just the reviving of the church that we’ve seen.” 

For his ministry leadership at St. Bernard, Wetzel received the 2024 Outstanding Faculty Churchman award during the seminary’s end of the year ceremony last spring.

He was honored to receive the award and encouraged other NOBTS students that although your specific assignment may change, your purpose in ministry never will.  

“I was amazed that I was named the churchman of the year,” Wetzel said. “I didn’t even know that people knew I was doing this. I was kind of blown away.

“God’s call on your life is a never-ending call,” he said. “The roles that you have will change, but His call on you will not.   

"God called me to pastor when I was 13, and even though I’m in this role (at the seminary) as my main role, I’m now back where I really feel God’s calling and that’s to pastor. To me, there’s nothing better.”