As You Enter The Building –
You can expect that you will receive a warm, friendly greeting. You can also expect to have assistance finding your way around the premises. Please let us know if your expectations are not met. We desire that your experience at Elders Baptist Church be one that is pleasant and stress-free.

In Worship –
You will find our worship services to be very uplifting. Musically, we strive to provide our members and guests with a combination of hymns and choruses which cause them to worship God in spirit and in truth. We also strive to help everyone understand that worship is for God, not for us. Worship is something that we give. We also strive to encourage you through the teaching of God’s Word. You will find that the messages preached by Pastor Jim Edmonson are practical truths, which help us in our everyday lives. Pastor Jim’s messages will challenge you to have a deeper commitment to Christ, and may convict you of sin in your life. We believe that if you have truly worshiped God, you will not leave the same as you entered. At the end of every service, we provide an opportunity for anyone seeking spiritual guidance to speak to the pastor one-on-one.

In Bible Study –
You will find loving and friendly people in every classroom. You will also find that our teachers and facilitators are very well prepared to lead their classes to a deeper commitment to Christ. If you have children, you can expect to find quality Christian teaching, consistent with Southern Baptist doctrine.

Regarding Childcare –
If you have babies or toddlers, you can be assured that your children will be in a safe and nurturing environment. Every teacher and helper is trained annually. Your child’s protection and safety is of utmost importance to us. Background investigations are completed on anyone working with children or youth.

After You Leave –
You can expect to receive a follow-up letter, then a phone call or personal visit (if you have provided us with contact information). Our desire is not to make you join Elders Baptist Church, but to help you find a Bible-believing church and begin serving the Lord. If you feel God leading you to join our family, we would love to have you.

After receiving a Master of Divinity degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Jim and his family moved to Gaston, South Carolina, where he served for six years as Associate Pastor of First Baptist Church. God led the Edmonson family to make another move in August, 1998. Jim accepted the call of Elders Baptist Church to be their Pastor. Relocating to Maryland was especially joyful for Terry, who grew up in the Baltimore area and received her undergraduate degree from Towson University. Brittany and Chelsea are delighted to live near their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

Andy taught elementary school for one year in Knox County, Tennessee. He then felt God’s calling on his life to full-time ministry. Andy served as Minister of Music and Education at Berwyn Baptist Church in College Park, Maryland for four years. In August 2003, Andy began a new life challenge as a stay-at-home dad, caring for his new baby daughter Brooke. Currently, Andy is the Associate Pastor of Music and Discipleship at Elders Baptist Church. Andy has been married to his wife, Michelle, for 20 years. They have a son, Brandon, age 18, who is enrolled in Howard Community College and two daughters, Breana, age 15, who is a sophomore at Howard High School and Brooke, who will be three years old in January. Brooke is a peer student at an early childhood intervention program at Ilchester Elementary School.

Personal note from Andy:
I am honored to be serving the wonderful people of Elders Baptist church. It is my goal to help equip the saints of Elders to do the ministry which God had gifted and called each of them to do. To accomplish this, every member must understand what gifts and talents God has blessed them with and they must be given an opportunity to exercise those gifts. When one person neglects their calling or gift, and fails to use it to the glory of God, there is a great void in the church.

Chad has a Master of Divinity with Christian Education from the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC. He has been in student ministry for 16 years, mostly in Alabama. Chad’s hobbies include basketball, softball, reading, history, computers, and watching movies and cartoons.

Bev has been a Maryland resident since 1981 and a Sykesville resident since 1986. She was employed at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in the Procurement Department from 1983 to 1999.

Bev has three daughters, two grown and married. Her oldest daughter, Jill Callihan (30), resides in Pensacola, Florida, and her second daughter, Crystal Ryan (29), lives in the Federal Hill area of Baltimore, Maryland. Bev and her second husband, Mike, have been married for 19 years. They have a 13-year-old daughter, Jessica, who is in the 8th grade at Oklahoma Road Middle School.

Personal note from Bev:
After 14 years at APL, I felt the Lord leading me to find other employment but didn’t know where He wanted me to serve. After much prayer and seeking the Lord’s guidance for my life for almost three years, I decided to apply to be secretary here at my church, Elders Baptist, a position which had been vacant for a year. God has blessed my family in so many ways as we trust Him to meet our needs, since we knew the change might be financially challenging. God is always faithful in keeping His promises to provide! I thank God for having the opportunity to serve the people of Elders Baptist Church for over six years.

Statements of Direction
We are to encourage and support other members of the ministry and those whom we serve through our gifts. We are committed to being professional in our craft, in the execution of our skills and our relationships with others. We are to submit to each other and to our leadership, out of respect for each other as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. We are responsible, individually and as a team, for our technical and spiritual development through study and commitment. We are to build up one another, and have the responsibility of eliminating any word or action that is not constructive to our ministry. It is the skills that God has given us that allow us to do what we do. It is the Biblical basis and statement of purpose that keeps us focused on how and why we are a part of the A/V Ministry.

Biblical Basis