OGDEN -- The bond between pastor and congregation was evident at New Zion Baptist Church Sunday.
"New Zion, I love you!" shouted Senior Pastor Bruce Davis.
"We love you!" came the reply.
"New Zion, I love you!"
"We love you!"
That was how the service celebrating Davis' second anniversary with the church ended. The packed church spent nearly three hours celebrating and praising God as they commemorated the anniversary.
Emma Brown, spokeswoman, said Davis and his wife were an answer to prayer.
"We were praying for a go-getter and he hit the ground running and has made us move," Brown said.
Davis said he didn't fully understand why he was supposed to come to Utah two years ago, but had felt called by God to move from his Mississippi congregation. Even six months after the move, Davis said he still wasn't sure why God had told him to come to Utah.
But as he kept working with the congregation, Davis said he realized he was there because the people shared his and God's vision of what the church could be.
During his two years Davis has racked up a two-page list of organizations he either created or re-energized and achievements he helped bring about.
"The accomplishments are not by Bruce Davis alone," he said, "but by the family of New Zion and God's working with both of us."
The pastor's brother, Rev. O. Wendall Davis, came from Alabama to deliver the anniversary message, which was focused on verses about elders being worthy of double honor if they rule well and labor in doctrine.
"Dr. Davis is not employed by New Zion; he's on the battlefield for our Lord," O.W. Davis said.
The meeting was not only a celebration of Davis' arrival, but a reaffirmation of the church's calling to him.
Davis lives as he preaches and tries to bring the congregation closer to God, said Lillie Holdman, minister and church secretary.
She said the pastor focuses on strengthening his congregation's relationship with God.
Davis said he is excited to keep preaching at New Zion and feels like he is falling in love with the church more and more.
Kenneth Wilder, Deacon Board chairman, summed up the crowd's feelings as he thanked God for their pastor.
"You placed your preacher man in this vineyard and he's planted and watered since," Wilder said.
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