Saginaw pastor, once a soul singer, uses her voice to praise the Lord

SAGINAW, MI - When she faces her congregation, Charlene Washington uses her booming, passionate voice both to sing in worship and read scripture to her faithful.

Washington has used her voice since she was a teenager, when she fronted a soul band in Alabama. Decades later, it remains powerful and resonant as she uses it to channel a new purpose: Leading the Holy Communion Gospel Center, a Saginaw church with a welcoming flock that treats itself like a huge, close-knit family.

The church is now quiet during the novel coronavirus pandemic, waiting the day when it can reopen for services. But just before it closed in March, the congregation celebrated the 65th birthday of its leader.

She fills the church with sound and compassion.

“We have always had a very positive vision for our community, just bringing people together in unity and oneness and what we can accomplish within that,” Washington said. “This is an amazing group of people... We really are a cohesive family.”

Soul serenader

Washington grew up in Florence, Alabama. She started rehearsing with the band that would become Charlene & the Soul Serenaders at age 14. In 1970, at age 15, she recorded with the band as its lead singer.

The group quickly took off after playing gigs in town, hiring a manager and beginning to play shows throughout the south, Washington said. They played weddings, parties, VFW halls and even funerals.

“Every weekend we traveled to sing,” Washington said. “We were gifted young children, young kids... We wanted to play music that moved people, and we did, we were blessed with that.”

A Youtube video posted in 2010 featuring Charlene & The Soul Serenaders’ first single “Love Changes” has more than 400,000 views.

She would later marry the band’s bass player and quit when she became pregnant. She was way too young to be married, she said, and it didn’t last. She decided not to go to college.

“I was ashamed, at that time you couldn’t be pregnant and be okay with it,” Washington said.

Washington now feels for young women, understanding the shame and guilt that comes with teenage pregnancy. However, her family and God loved her through everything, she said, and her first son is now a business owner and pastor in his own right. She looks back on her time with the band fondly.

“We were one big family,” Washington said. “Our community loved us and they embraced us.”

Woman of God

After her first marriage, Washington moved to Saginaw to be with family. There she met Otis Washington, who would become her husband of 40 years until his death in June 2018.

The Washingtons briefly moved to California before returning in 1983. Back in Saginaw, they began to feel called to religious leadership and in 1990 would establish their ministry in the same building where it’s based today.

“My husband had a very strong vision for the community,” Washington said. “Then the Lord called me.”

While she was ordained in 1995, Washington long resisted the pull she felt towards leadership and teaching the scripture, she said.

Washington suffered damaged nerves in her arm after a car accident in 2009, which forced her to retire from a barber shop and boutique she owned, she said. While she couldn’t work the way she used to anymore, she knew from that point on her full attention would be on the church.

“I didn’t accept that call for quite some time,” Washington said. “I was afraid of it, very much afraid of it... but the more I grew in Christ and the more I learned about him, I accepted it.”

At first, Washington didn’t know what capacity God would use her for, she said. She would “sing until Jesus comes” but didn’t want to teach, content to leave leadership to Otis. Slowly, she got more and more comfortable and began teaching sermons on Wednesdays. Then, after her husband began to fall ill, she would help fill in on Sundays.

Holy Communion celebrated 30 years recently, and Washington has been the church’s lead pastor since her husband’s death.

“We have a very strong team today in place,” Washington said. “I absolutely love what I’m doing. I love to sing, I still sing.”

One Big Family

While Washington didn’t always think she’d be able to run the church, the other members have fully embraced her. Melvin Benbow and his wife have been members of the church for 10 years, he said.

“When pastor was alive, he taught all of us how to bring the word of God,” Benbow said. “He said one day he won’t be here, but we’ll be able to carry on. Pastor Charlene has picked right up from the teachings from Pastor Otis.”

Benbow always feels good after he leaves a service at Holy Communion, he said.

“They have really blessed my soul, they have blessed my life,” Benbow said. “She teaches us the Word of God from the Word of God. She lives the Word of God.”

On March 8, the church held a 65th birthday celebration for Washington during the service. Members of the church, including Shadena Shipman, told Washington how much her guidance means to them.

“You are an example of what a woman of God should be,” Shipman said tearfully. “I’m so blessed to be a part of this establishment. I see the difference in me because of your love, because of your understanding. You never judge me, not even in my truth, you just love me, and I am forever grateful for that.”

Shipman has been a part of the church for four years and feels like she could tell Washington anything, she said.

“She’s loving, she’s compassionate, she’s understanding, she’s not judgmental,” Shipman said. “She just sticks to the word and she exemplifies God the way she lives.”

The church has suspended services during the coronavirus shutdown. While she understands the shutdown and is grateful protections are in place, Washington badly misses her congregation, she said.

“There’s nothing that I’d ever gone through in my life without my family or my church family,” Washington said. “The distance, it attacks my heart.”

The church considered holding outside services but decided against it out of caution, she said. There are plans to begin streaming services online while the shutdown persists.

"It's very hard because you want to congregate, that's what Christians do, they come together," Washington said. "We want to come together and love one another and hug one another and make it through this thing."