The Rev. Marcus D. Davidson will become the church’s 12th senior pastor and, at age 34, the youngest in its 91-year history.

The installation ceremony will be held on Sunday, Mar. 21 at New Mount Olive Baptist Church, located at 400 NW 9th Street in Fort Lauderdale. Presiding over the ceremony will be the Rev. Green Davidson III from St. James Missionary Baptist Church in Leighton, Ala. Green Davidson is Marcus Davidson’s father.
“I am both honored and proud to be his father and to serve at his installation service,” said Green Davidson, who has served in the ministry 43 years.

“This is nothing that I did not expect of him. I saw it in him as a child. After his preparation and serving diligently at his former church, I knew that the Lord was going to send him somewhere.”

New Mount Olive’s previous senior pastor, Dr. Mack King Carter, retired last September after 27 years of ministerial service.

Raised in Tuscumbia, Ala., Davidson comes to New Mount Olive from Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, a 200-member church in Courtland, Ala.

“A lot of people question that,” Davidson, who now lives in Fort Lauderdale, said about his ministering to New Mount Olive’s more than 10,000-member congregation.

“But my thing is that God has the man for the moment in ministry, and I believe that it’s not about the size, but about God fitting us for the task. I do not believe that I would be here without God preparing me for this particular setting.”

Davidson also said that he is “careful and humbled that God trusted me enough with his people to lead them, regardless of the number,” adding that he will give the church the same due diligence he gave Pleasant Grove, “and that is everything that I have.”

With 17 years of service in the ministry, Davidson will make New Mount Olive his second church.

In terms of his direction, Davidson said that he does have some ideas for the church, but elected to reserve comment so that “the [church] family can be the first to know.”

But he did share some of his visionary goals.

“I’m trying to develop a strong, loving church community where everyone feels welcome regardless of ethnicity, dialect, skin color, socio-economic status or culture,” he said. “I want this to be a place where everyone feels loved by God, a place that believes in kingdom building.”

Also on Davidson’s agenda is to bring black Christian men together by engaging them in the seven-month workshop he is planning, “Seven Seasons of a Man’s Life.”

Men, Davidson said, face various issues and have a difficult time sharing struggles and difficulties they experience.

“It’s an opportunity to have dialogue, not just a monologue. I don’t want to lecture, but engage.”

His purpose, Davidson added, is to have pastoral engagement with men not just in the church, but in the community.

“African-American men are so afraid of being vulnerable because they are afraid of how people will view them,” he said.

“I want this to be a safe place for men; to know that if they have issues, pain or successes, we ought to be able to share them without being competitive and be able to complement one another.”

Davidson continued, “If we as men, Christian men, bond together, we can make a difference in our homes, personal lives, on our jobs and in our church.  If we connect to this [workshop], it can make a difference in our community.”

Davidson, who grew up in his father’s church, recalls receiving salvation at age six.

“That experience was very serious for me. Our environment shapes us, and my parents were very intentional about us being in Sunday school, the church choir and Bible study.”

At age nine, Davidson said, he went to his father and shared that “I felt as if I had to preach. He told me to go back and pray.”

At age 16 he returned to his father when he “felt the power of God impress upon my life to follow what I knew he was leading me to do.”

Again, Davidson said, his father instructed him to pray.

“But I said that I could not go back this time; that I really needed to accept what God was leading me to do,” the younger Davidson recalled.

“Without a doubt,” he continued, “I believe that God birthed me into this world to lead his people. And it is through this avenue of pastoral ministry that God has allowed me to do that.”

Davidson described his parents as “very spiritual people.”

As children, he said, “we could not party or listen to secular music. They had, and still have, a great impact on my life.”

Green Davidson agrees that he was a strict parent.

“I knew that if they were going to have a future and be productive citizens, it would start at home, that I would have to do my part.”

Davidson earned his Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering technology from Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University in Normal, Ala., his master’s in Biblical Studies from Heritage Bible College in Huntsville, Ala. and his Master of Divinity degree from Beeson Divinity School at Samford University in Birmingham.

He is currently completing his doctorate of ministry degree with an emphasis in black church leadership from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville.

Davidson has been married to Yvokia Jones-Davidson for eight years. The couple has a 4-year-old daughter, Layla Alexandria.

CynthiaRoby@Bellsouth.net

IF YOU GO

What:  Gospel Concert with a special musical presentation by Pastor Marcus D. Davidson.
Where:  New Mount Olive Baptist Church, 400 NW 9th Ave., Fort Lauderdale 33311.
When:  Saturday, March 19 at 7 p.m.
Cost: Free and open to the public.
Contact:  For more information, call 954-463-5126 or visit www.mountolive.org.

What:  The installation of Pastor Marcus D. Davidson, Rev. Green Davidson, III presiding.
Where:  New Mount Olive Baptist Church, 400 NW 9th Ave., Fort Lauderdale 33311.
When:  Sunday, March 21 at 4 p.m.
Cost:  Free and open to the public.
Contact:  For more information, call 954-463-5126 or visit www.mountolive.org.