The Story of Samaritan’s Heart Mission Church
By George Mitchell
[Green Bay…] At the time of Jerry Bader’s 2018 termination as a prominent Wisconsin radio talk show host, few would have anticipated the path he and his wife Ramona have followed.
In hindsight, there was an early signal. In his public reaction to the firing, Jerry said, “I have always tried to tell what I believed is the truth, and more recently, to comport my behavior, on and off the air, with my Christ-following faith, after I was saved in 2016.”
Just three months later, Jerry was “preaching about once every six weeks at Oakbrook Church” in West De Pere, where he was made a “pastoral intern.” He “heard the call to ministry.”
Jerry received income during this period through work for a political consulting firm. In early 2019 he ended that connection. His decision was in part influenced by an assignment to find negative information about a political candidate’s personal life. While driving to the location of public records involving a divorce, he realized the world of “opposition research” was squarely at odds with his values.
By the end of 2019 — less than two years after his radio career ended — he was ordained.
What next for the Baders? The pastor at Oakbrook Church suggested that Jerry and Ramona explore a property, in the Seymour Park neighborhood, owned by the Green Bay Community Church. Once a print shop, it had served as a church from 2004 until 2017.
GBCC gave Jerry an office in the building “to be a mission to the neighborhoods.” It funded his income for 18 months.
In early 2020, he and Ramona formed the Seymour Park Community Ministries, the precursor to what has become Samaritan’s Heart Mission Church.
The neighborhood demographics include a poverty rate more than twice that of Brown County and Wisconsin as a whole. That did not offer the potential for what might be termed a conventional church. However, it was tailor made for the mission “God had put in our hearts.” In Jerry’s words, “God pointed us to be a ‘dirty feet’ church, referring to the foot washing at the Last Supper; feet other churches don’t necessarily want to see: those in addiction recovery, reentry from incarceration, and the unhoused.”
Before a church was formed, COVID shut down early plans for what Jerry calls a “street attack” of the neighborhood.
The Baders pivoted in response to COVID-related school closure s and disruption of meals those schools provided.
Per Jerry: “We got volunteers from numerous churches and delivered meals for nearly a year. This put the ministry ‘on the map’.” As evidence of that, Wisconsin Public Service (a major public utility in NE Wisconsin) highlighted their role as follows in its 2021 community service awards:
“Thousands of students in the Green Bay Area Public Schools rely on their schools for their meals every day. When the COVID-19 pandemic shut things down…Seymour Park Community Ministries, a faith-based organization, was one of the first to reach out to the school district to partner on ways to get food into the hands of families in need. They worked with churches to get additional volunteers, and immediately began assisting in securing drivers to bring food directly to homes. This model is what shaped the district’s current program, which serves families from all 42 Green Bay area schools.”
Early in 2021, the main tenant of the building that housed Jerry’s office announced it was leaving. Jerry and Ramona offered to rent the property from the Green Bay Community Church.
God had a different plan. GBCC offered to give them the property if they assumed a $68,000 mortgage. On September 1, 2021, they acquired the building. They identified it as Samaritan’s Heart Mission Church, a name is rooted in Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of Luke 10:33, which reads “When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him.”
September 2026 will mark the fourth year as a Sunday morning church and fifth year of ministry by Samaritan’s Heart Mission Church (SHMC).
Its location in the Seymour Park Neighborhood foreshadowed an unconventional mission for a new church. Pastor Jerry Bader explains that the focus is “on those in addiction recovery, reentry from incarceration, and the unhoused.”
“God pointed us” to this calling, says Bader. He and his indispensable partner, Ramona, take seriously a clear message that pervades Scripture. Two examples from Proverbs illustrate:
“Whoever is kind to the needy honors God.”
“Blessed is the one who is kind to the needy.”
Attendance at Sunday services has grown from about ten to several dozen. Fifty-four attended a June baptism of four women, bringing to 18 the number of SHMC baptisms. These are among many powerful stories of church members whose lives have been transformed.
Generous donations enabled Jerry and Ramona to retire the building’s mortgage three years ago. Ongoing expenses are minimal, reflecting volunteer support and an austere personal lifestyle. Greater awareness of their work will lead to increased support and an expanded ministry.
Outreach to the community already takes many forms.
Support for the homeless is a major priority. The church belongs to a coalition of non-profits that partner with public authorities. Street outreach to hidden encampments and area parks has earned Jerry and Ramona credibility among the hundreds who are without housing in Brown County.
Two years ago the Green Bay Public Library downtown branch ceased Sunday operations, effectively ending its presence as a de facto shelter on Sundays during the cold months of November through April.
Samaritan’s Heart Mission Church responded. After months of planning, its Warming in The Heart (WiTH) program was launched in partnership with eight other churches. SHMC hosted 35 guests on the first Sunday afternoon of November, 2024, a number that grew to an average of 100 in early 2025. About 30 of that group arrived early for Sunday morning services.
In addition to Sunday morning services:
- Active church members help lead Wednesday evening services.
- In the Spring of 2025, SHMC undertook PEACE — Parents Empowered After Child Estrangement — a peer support group for parents whose adult children have walked out of their lives.
- A Monday night Bible study attracts members who discuss selected passages.
- A Men’s Saturday Morning Breakfast and Bible Study is held on the second Saturday of each month.
- May 2025: SHMC launches PEACE- Parents Empowered After Child Estrangement, a peer support group for parents whose adult children have walked out of their lives.
- June 2025: a WiTH “lead team” has been formed to plan for the upcoming 2025/26 Sunday afternoon season.
- June 29 2025: Baptism Sunday: 6 regular attendees are baptized. SHMC has baptized 14 people in the 2.5 years since becoming a “Sunday Morning” church.
- November 2025-April 2026, season 2 of WiTH, averaging about 80 guests each Sunday afternoon.
- SHMC is one of four locations participating in “The Fridge,” where donated food is available 24 hours a day.
