Veteran pastor sees much work to do

It was a calling he answered over three decades ago.

That’s how Senior Pastor and founder of Carpenter’s Shop International Church, the Rev. Dr. Wallace Phillips, describes the road he took to begin to fulfill a ministerial vision.

From a small church in Northampton County to its current location in Ahoskie, Carpenter’s Shop, or CSIC, describes itself in its own words as ‘a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-generational body of believers whose vision is to love all people, win them to Christ, build them in discipleship, and send them out in the world to fulfill their divine destiny.’

This is a vital part of what Phillips describes as the church’s trademark.

“Ahoskie falls right in the middle of this Roanoke-Chowan area of Gates, Bertie, Northampton and Hertford (counties), and here we are in the hub,” Phillips noted sitting in a small office at the church located on Catherine Creek Road.

Phillips feels his congregation mirrors the regional community at large of whites, African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics, young people and kids.

“Psalms 133 (KJV: Behold how good and pleasant it is when brethren dwell together in unity.) is my favorite scripture,” he stated. “This is our life; we worship together. I look at my congregation each week and say, ‘Wow! What a miracle.’”

His roots began in nearby Perquimans County, coming up as a Southern Baptist before he married and accepted his wife’s worship, which was with the Assemblies of God. He says he wants CSIC to represent peoples of all Christian faith.

“This Church is made up of Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Baptists, Methodists, a whole hodgepodge of diverse Christian influence in this house,” Phillips remarked. “But that’s not what we major in, we major in the love of God through Jesus Christ. That’s what forms our motto of ‘Love, Win, Build and Send’.”

Phillips is proud of the young people CSIC has attracted, and they offer a variety of ministries to both engage and support them.

“Younger people are really looking for something (celebratory) like that,” he said with a wry smile. “When you get a platform full of young people who are excited about worship of God then old people are happy. They love to see the reality that young people are engaged in the ministry here; one of them feeds the other.”

Younger worshipers also bring with them the new technology, and it’s not a fad. Pastors continually use these methods to intentionally consider access, inclusivity and outreach — much of it born out of reaction from the COVID pandemic — to shape the present and future life of their churches.

“I think we’re dealing with a culture of young people today who really want the authentic and the ‘real,” he said.”The world is crowded with so many choices and for us to be as successful as we are it’s young people who’re doing the work.”

Gone now are the days of the traditional Bible and hymnal that we always conveniently located in the back of the pew.

“Everything is on (TV) screens for people to see so they can sing along, and we sometimes have re-mixes and upgraded versions of hymns,” Phillips explained. “We want to be fresh and relevant. You can look around Ahoskie and see the influence of this type of worship with new lights, TV’s and sound systems. I think Carpenter’s Shop really has led the way to introduce the churches of this region to a new way of worship.”

Now in its 32nd year of existence, what began as Carpenter’s Shop Church now with so many ‘nations’ represented Phillips’ expansion added the ‘International’ to the name. With the new technology CSIC has truly now developed a world reach.

“There are so many nations that are represented right here in this church,” Phillips observed. “Our ministry is on television in 182 countries. We broadcast over cable and satellite TV, Apple TV, Roku, every platform that’s out there that can receive it. We’ve been covered by two major television networks; we use stations that want to seek us out.”

One thing members and anyone seeking to bond with CSIC need not fear is the coming — for now — of artificial intelligence.

“We use some, but not a lot,” he disclosed. “A-I takes the creativity out of things and the human content so we just use it for the simple things that would never show up. Some ministries use it a lot more than we do, but we have enough creativity in the house that we don’t need a computer showing us a better way.”

Lest an observer deem CSIC as just a church with a youth explosion, Phillips says his senior worshipers are just as equally involved.

“We do have a senior’s ministry and on our Sunday morning worship team there’s an older lady and she also plays keyboard on Wednesday night for worship,” he described. “We’re not going to forsake them, but include them in everything we do. Seniors and younger people are greeters at the door, both groups do teaching and prayer, intercession, and all kinds of things. So both (young and old) are included, it’s not either/or.”

Finally, Phillips wants to lay to rest any notion of departing CSIC before he completes his mission, though he feels it will be the will of a higher authority.

“I believe that we’ve really only scratched the surface of what God really wants us to do here in this town,” he confessed. “I think he wants us to enlarge, to make it more effective and plant more churches.

“We want to multiply and see Carpenter’s Shop Churches in locations in other areas,” he added. “I’m more excited about Carpenter’s Shop than I’ve ever been in my life. I’m going to stay here for as long as I believe my time here is productive; but I certainly don’t want to get in the way of what God wants to do.”