Mary Detsch of West Lebanon lived in Mississippi and Florida before moving to New Hampshire and founding the Hanover Church of God. The following is an edited interview.

When I preached down South, the whole place flew apart. Altars were filled, lives were changed, people were crying and filled with the Holy Spirit.

But when I first moved here, it was different. I thought, “God moves in the South, but he sure doesn’t seem to be moving up here.” Even in myself, I felt so bound.

Then the Lord just stopped me and said, “Quit talking like that. If I am the God of the South, then I am the God of the North, too. And if my light shines so bright down there where it’s already light, think how much brighter it will shine up here where it’s dark.”

I believe God is able, and I’m just going to trust that He knows what He’s doing.

I felt that God wanted me to plant a church in Hanover. I felt like that’s what He called me up to New Hampshire to do. I began to walk around town and pray, “Lord, where do you want me to be?”

I knew I wanted to be near the students, but where are you going to plant a church on Dartmouth’s campus, especially a Pentecostal one? This building (Richard W. Black Community Center) kept coming up, and I thought, “Maybe that’s where God wants his church.” We began in October 2007.

I know it’s God’s plan for us to be here. The Pentecost fell on the people that were gathered in the upper room, it wasn’t even a church. It was an upper room, just like we have here.

Now I do nothing but preach Jesus, and I’ll do nothing else from that pulpit. Week after week after week, I bring out that salvation message. God has a plan for you like he had a plan for me. You just have to believe.

Some Christians say, “Where is God anymore?” and I have to say, “Well, where is the Gospel?” In some churches, the Gospel isn’t preached at all. We believe that the Word will never grow obsolete. We believe every word in that Bible, and we believe the blood is running as fresh today as it was 2,000 years ago.

We’re going to start praying and fasting for the people on campus and in the area. It’s a big job, but God is bigger. When God moves, when He sends revival, the people move. I’ve never known it to not happen.