New Faces Hope to Revitalize an Old Baptist Church

New Faces Hope to Revitalize an Old Baptist Church

By M.J. McAteer

On any given Sunday, Upperville Baptist Church, an imposing neo-Gothic brick edifice on the main street of Upperville, attracts only a handful of congregants, mostly members of the fifth or sixth generation to have worshiped at a church in continuous operation for 189 years.

Recently, though, welcome new blood arrived in the form of two additional worshippers “that tripled the size” of the congregation, quipped Upperville Baptist’s new pastor, Michael Husfelt, exaggerating only slightly.

Michele and Michael Husfelt at Upperville Baptist Church

Photo by M.J. McAteer

Husfelt, 59, is taking over the venerable church’s part-time pastorship from Dr. Louis “Bill” Thigpen, who served in that role for nearly a decade but now has health issues. Husfelt had a 30-year career as an Air Force chaplain, during which he gave spiritual succor to more than 52,000 members of the military and their families.

He and his wife, Michele, and their five children lived in a dozen different places, including California, Ohio and Florida, and, overseas, in Norway and Great Britain. He served in boots-on-the-ground hot spots, too, including Afghanistan and Iraq. Closer to home, the now-retired colonel was the senior chaplain at Arlington Cemetery and the White House Military Office Most recently, he was senior chaplain at the Joint Base McGuire-Dix in New Jersey.

“I see it as the hand of God that we ended up in Upperville,” Husfelt said of what he described as “the next chapter” in his ministry.

With a small congregation, the church can’t offer its new minister much in the way of pay, even though tithing is a strong tradition among Baptists. Husfelt, who will have his military pension for support, said he plans to tithe himself and despite these financial strictures, Upperville Baptist will be sustained “through a lot of grace.”

The church has provided the new pastor and his wife, now empty-nesters, a place to live--a substantial parsonage. It was built in 1869 with bricks from the original church damaged in the Civil War and then demolished. The parsonage sits across Route 50 from the current, 1891 church, and it will be much more than just a home.

The couple envisions it as “a B&B dedicated to faith,” where people can gather for church, interdenominational and civic meetings, meals and social events. As part of that mission, the parsonage will be open to the public this year as part of a local Christmas house tour. “The house will be born again,” Husfelt said. Michele, 58, works for the Northstar Church Network, an association of 180 Northern Virginia congregations based in Manassas. She’ll play a big role in what her husband describes as a “hospitality ministry” that will be reaching out far beyond the church pews and into the community.

“She’s a one-woman chamber of commerce,” her husband said. “People love me a lot more when they know Michele.”

Husfelt said he’d like to explore starting up Spanish language services for the many Hispanic workers on area farms and estates.

After Covid, Husfelt believes that, “People are hungry to get out and have community.” He also has full faith he’ll be finding “lots of possible ways for the church to make a difference.”