Pastor Roderick Webster came to Good News Baptist Church officially in 2004. He recalls that very early in his life when Pastor Bob Faile was shepherding the flock, he came to Good News with his then pastor, Pastor Cecil Richardson, upon invitation to sing and to preach. From then he remembers the friendliness and warmth of the people of Good News. It is true that Pastor Webster had no intention of pastoring a church. His passion was in Evangelism. He surrendered his life to full time service as an Evangelist; he preached many weeks at Good News Baptist Church as such. During one of his Evangelistic weeks at the church, he remembers a member saying to him, “I am not saying this to impress you, but when you preach here, people really respond.”
When Good News was without a Pastor in 2003, Evangelist Webster was asked to come over weekends to fill in. He was assisted by Brother Cephas Webster. In early 2004, Good News asked Evangelist Webster to consider taking up the role as Pastor of the church. His first reaction was to say “No” because his interest and passion was in Evangelism, not pastoring. But understanding that God’s ways are not our ways, he said he would pray about it. For 10 days he fasted and prayed, but he did not have the peace that that is the road he should take. For another 8 days he fasted and prayed and after that period, he had a peace that God wanted him to travel
this new road. In February 2004, Evangelist Webster wrote to the church accepting their offer to be the Pastor. Because he had preaching commitments in other islands, Pastor Webster told the Church he would take up the pastorship on the first Sunday in April, 2004. Pastor Webster would tell you that the road had not always been easy, but one thing has been certain, the God of the Mountain is God in the valley. His mantra is to utilise God’s word, in season and out, in every situation. Pastor Webster believes that Good news Baptist Church,
fifty years later, is still a work in progress. Growth is evident, but we should never become complacent with God’s work.
In Pastor Webster’s words, “I must say it was and still is a joy to work along with the members of GNBC and with the people of St. Maarten as a whole. It is no doubt that God’s purpose is being lived out. While I had other plans that I thought were giving my best for the Master, God allowed my detour to get me to where he needed.” Since Pastor Webster’s time at Good News, the church has grown significantly and continues to grow. This, he believes, is because the message of the gospel is sweetest and most impactful when people can see Christ in us.