Team Huddle Spotlight: Meet Andre Rogers

Team Huddle Spotlights feature members of the CMBA ministry team and introduce their area of work and the ways they can support the ministry of our Family of Churches.

Andre Rogers

One Priority Mobilizer

3arogers@gmail.com

Andre Rogers serves as a One Priority Mobilizer working with church revitalization, staffing and spiritual encouragement. A CMBA pastor for more than 20 years, Andre is the senior pastor of Concord Fellowship Baptist Church in Columbia. He has previous experience in youth ministry and refers to himself as a “former musician,” although it’s been said he “plays a mean gospel organ.”

“I love the CMBA. I love the connection and community of churches. I think we are better together and can go farther faster together than we can alone. With right at 100 churches, I think our association is one of the strongest in the state and one of the oldest. From where CMBA started to where it is now, I see God’s hand and favor has been on our association,” Andre says. 

Of his role with CMBA, Andre cites that he “enjoys people. I love encouraging preachers and encouraging churches. Pastors find comfort in talking through their pastoral issues with me.” 

There are several majority black congregations in CMBA’s Family of Churches, and Andre says Covid continues to seriously impact these churches and their ability to regather. 

“Lots of people do not trust getting the vaccine because of things that have happened in the past. Because they aren’t willing to get vaccinated and because of healthcare disparities within the black communities, it’s making it harder and harder to gather,” he explains. 

While Concord Fellowship has regathered, and running at about half of its regular attendance, Andre is available to talk with other churches looking to restart. He says one opportunity that exists for Kingdom impact through CMBA across the Midlands is church planting in predominately black communities. Some areas he identifies as needing more black Baptist church plants include northeast Columbia and around the Highway 378 corridor. Citing current high costs associated with owning property, Andre says church plants that meet in shared spaces like City of Refuge, pastored by JayWill Wison, are wise models to replicate.

“People are hungry for community right now, especially during the pandemic. For tech-savvy people, this is the time to plant a church,” he says. 

Andre and his wife Sylvia have two daughters, Adrianna and Savannah. For questions or direct assistance from Andre, contact him at 803.609.1832. 

While most regularly scheduled events for Midlands black churches are still on hold as of this publishing because of the pandemic, CMBA plans to hold its annual Martin Luther King Day service in January 2022. Stay up to date on related CMBA news, Our Family Stories, podcasts and other communications resources through the CMBA website at www.columbiametro.org and follow “Columbia Metro Baptist Association” on Facebook. 

About the author 

Kyndra Bremer