St. John Memorial Baptist Church: A service church for the people

St. John Memorial Baptist Church, a historical landmark once owned by Quakers, has a pastor whose vow to serve the Gospel was forged in hellfire of the Vietnam War.

Pastor Nathaniel Holder was 24 years-old when he served in South Vietnam for one year starting in 1970. The former combat officer, who did a six-year stint in the U.S. Marine Corps, gave his life to Christ during the treacherous war in Southeast Asia.

Holder recalls making that commitment during a battle with the enemy, promising: “Lord, if you allow me to get back home, I’ll serve you.”

“There was a body bag with my name on it, and I knew I had to get right with God,” he said about his fear of not making it out of Vietnam alive.

After returning home to Baltimore, Holder made his way to Philadelphia as a military officer. He later spent 26 years working for The Philadelphia Free Public Library and was a minister on the side.

In 2004, Holder became the senior pastor at St. John Memorial Baptist Church, which Johnny Odom Sr. established in 1976 at 6th Street and Leigh Avenue in North Philadelphia. Operations have since moved to 2853 Germantown Ave.

“When I came to St John, I replaced Roy Houston. When I retired in 2012, I was replaced by Darryl Dunham. In 2016, the church asked me to return to them as their senior pastor,” he wrote in an email about his time at St. John.

Over the years, that Gospel fire lite during war has intensified since in Holder, as was evident during a recent Sunday sermon in which he used the Gospel of Matthew to encourage his congregation.

During an interview, Holder said he believes St. John was placed in the area for a reason.

“We’re a service church. That’s our primary goal,” he said in explaining how other pastors have played a role in helping the Baptist church to cross religious and cultural lines in reach more people in the richly diverse community.

“We’ve been able to do Bible study and revivals together, cross-gender lines and denominational lines,” Holder added.

St. John was always a place to serve the Lord, but during its early days the former Quaker house of worship also served as a safehouse for slaves escaping through the Underground Railroad network. From the Fair Hill Burial Ground Cemetery, located across the street on Germantown Avenue, slaves would enter and take refuge in the church’s basement.

A lasting reminder of that period in the United States before the total abolition of slavery in the 1860s is the existence of a secret escape door for slaves.

Johnny E. Odom Jr., assistant pastor, said he was called back to the church that his father founded after an evangelist gave him a message from God during a revival at his former church, Tabernacle harvest Church In Pottstown, Pennsylvania.

“She let me know that the Lord told me to tell you that it’s time to get up, you need to shut up and put up so he can take you to your next level,” Odom said during a recent interview.

Odom called the woman a prophet.

Odom, who teaches and helps to preach on occasions, said reaching out to the community and his people’s skills are things his father passed onto him.

“That’s probably a gift that God has given me that was passed on from my dad,” he said. “My dad knew everybody, and he got along with everybody. He loved everybody.”

Holder’s sermon emphasized service to the community, which St. John takes to heart. He later said the church, like many others, was facing challenges during the coronavirus pandemic, as Sunday services have been mostly virtual since the outbreak forced businesses and institutions to limit access beginning in March.

“We have had to suspend in person services, such as rehearsals, children’s activity, Bible studies, prayer services. We’ve also had to stop community worship services with other churches, community block party, community tent revival,” Holder wrote in an email.

“We serve approximately 35 to 40 churches every summer and we have lost a significant amount of revenue as a result of the pandemic,” he added.

But St. John remains committed to helping people during these dire times. The church held its first COVID-19 testing on Dec. 14 in which participants also received free food.