There's a place for you at Village

Our Story

In 1968, Belair Baptist Church of Bowie, Maryland, began a mission congregation in the southern part of Bowie known as Pointer Ridge. A house at 15725 Pointer Ridge Drive was purchased. On November 17, 1968, the first worship service was conducted with Belair pastor Rev. Richard Brackin presiding. In November of 1969, Dr. Kenneth Bradshaw came as the first full-time pastor of Village Baptist Chapel. The Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and the State Mission Board of the Maryland Baptist Convention supplemented his salary, along with the First Baptist Church of Wylie, Texas. Dr. Bradshaw resigned in 1970 to accept a teaching position with the University of Corpus Christi.

Maury Sweetin chaired the Pulpit Search Committee, which sought his replacement and in 1971, Rev. John Woodall was called to serve as the second pastor. A church constitution was adopted and Village constituted as a church on May 23, 1971, making it autonomous.

In 1974, Rev. Dan Ivins was called as the third pastor and in 1975, four acres on Mitchellville Road were purchased. The first issue of the Village Voice was also printed. In 1978, a Building Committee was established and the members processed into the building on April 20, 1980. The building was dedicated on May 25 of the same year.

On January 1, 1985, Pastor Bruce Salmon was called to serve as Village’s fourth pastor. During his tenure, Rev. Salmon increased the membership’s opportunities for discipleship, fellowship, missions and worship with the addition of a contemporary worship service, monthly fellowship dinners and annual missions projects. After a devastating fire on January 8, 2000, that destroyed the church’s building, Rev. Salmon guided the members through the construction of their present edifice. Rev. Salmon retired in January 2018 after 33 years of exceptional service.

On January 6, 2020, Pastor Emily Holladay took up the role of senior pastor becoming our fifth pastor. Rev. Holladay led Village through the difficult Covid-19 period, pioneering the video streaming of worship and keeping the spirit of the Village family strong until in-person worship services could resume. Village Baptist Church continues to meet the spiritual needs of its members and is used by many community groups as a sacred space for life skills development, self-discovery, healing and recovery.

Purpose and Vision

Our Purpose. We, the members of Village Baptist Church, are joined in the fellowship of the Spirit. We seek to connect people to the love of Christ by serving in love; risking in faith; working in joy; sharing in gratitude; seeking in restlessness and believing in confidence. We do so believing that persons would feel the embrace of God through us.
Our Vision. We, the members of Village Baptist Church envision ourselves as a growing, more active, diverse congregation with high visibility in the community by:

Concentrating on Christ-centered “church-family” ministries
Loving by caring for day-to-day needs
Celebrating the value of everyone
Offering joyous, convenient, participative worship opportunities
Providing generous support to community ministries, with special attention to young people
Building a well-trained leadership corps, with Bible-based learning opportunities for all ages and interests
Operating in a modern, safe, flexible, facility with professional and lay leadership committed to Christ’s mission
Supporting global witnessing programs with resources, and local programs with hands-on, face-to-face sharing
Measuring progress in changed lives

Profile

Brief History
1968 - Village started as a mission, meeting in a house on Pointer Ridge Drive
1971 - Village constituted as an independent church, with John Woodall as pastor
1974 - Dr. Dan Ivins called as pastor
1979 - Groundbreaking for a building at the current location
1980 - Start of services in the new building
1984 - Dr. James Dunn serves as interim pastor after Dr. Ivins resigns to accept a call elsewhere
1985 - Dr. Bruce Salmon becomes pastor
1992 - Contemporary worship service added
1994 - Village joins the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
2000 - Church building burned. Village meets at neighboring church
2002 - Village returns to a new building at the current location
2013 - Village calls Rev. Starlette Thomas as associate pastor
2018 - Dr. Bruce Salmon retires
2020 - Rev. Emily Holladay becomes pastor
2023 - Rev. Joel Hawthorne serves as interim pastor after Rev. Holladay resigns to accepts a call elsewhere
2024 - Rev. Caleb Cooke becomes pastor

Membership
Approximately 150 members, extremely diverse in age, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds, including a significant number of immigrants, particularly from the Caribbean and Africa. A number of members travel significant distances to come to Village (Annapolis, Gambrills, Calvert County, Eastern Shore).

Community
Bowie is a suburban community east of Washington, D.C., in Prince George’s County, which is one of the most affluent African-American-majority counties in the United States. Within 5 miles of Village there are approximately 5000 residential units under construction.

Paid Staff
Full-time pastor
Secretary
Choir director/organist (vacant)
Music leader
Children/Youth Director (Vacant)

Volunteers
Commission & Committee members - Support various activities
Choir members and pianist
Sunday School facilitators - Village runs a variety of classes for all ages during the Sunday School hour.

Polity
Deacons - Village deacons are servants who help the pastor. Village uses the Deacon Family Ministry Plan, in which each deacon has a “flock” of church members to support.
Business Meeting - Village is a democracy, with quarterly business meetings used to make decisions.
Church Council - Heads of the program commissions meet monthly as the Church Council to coordinate church activities.

Meet Some Village Baptist Leaders

Worship Leaders

Rev. Caleb Cooke
Senior Pastor

Caleb, a native of Mount Airy, North Carolina, joined Village Baptist as Senior Pastor in 2024. Caleb’s call to ministry is rooted in the assurance that nothing can separate us from the love of God through Jesus Christ (Romans 8:38–39).

Caleb attended Duke University as a Benjamin Newton Duke Scholar and majored in Religious Studies. In hopes to pursue a career in academia, Caleb decided to stay and completed further coursework in Biblical Studies at Duke Divinity School. During his time at Duke, Caleb presented research at various regional, national, and international conferences such as the Society of Biblical Literature International Meeting in Salzburg, Austria. Caleb graduated with a Master of Theological Studies while serving as Director of Christian Education at First United Methodist Church of Henderson, North Carolina, where he first felt his call to ministry.

After seminary, Caleb spent a year in Columbia, Missouri as Pastoral Resident at First Baptist Church, where he was ordained to the Christian ministry. During his time at Columbia, Caleb was named a CBF Fellow (2024-2026), and he remains highly involved in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

Caleb is married to Rianna, who he considers the second truest display of God’s love (after Jesus). They moved to Maryland with their two dogs, Opie and Luca.

Rev. Cooke may be contacted via e-mail at pastor@villagebaptistbowie.org.

Ms. Linda Smith
Pianist

Linda was raised in the Baptist church in her hometown of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Her father was the choir director and was also a tenor soloist for the church (with Linda occasionally acting as his accompanist). She, along with her mother and brother, sang in the church choir, and her older sister was the church organist for a number of years. Linda began taking piano lessons at age 6 and studied with her hometown teacher until she was 15. During her junior year in high school, she was fortunate enough to be able to go to Sweden for a year as a Rotary Club exchange student. One of the members of the Karlstad Rotary Club was a professional pianist, and provided piano lessons to Linda free of charge for the year that she lived there. From her hometown teacher, Linda learned the basics of playing the piano; under her Swedish teacher, she developed an ability to put feeling into the music. While in college at the University of Pittsburgh, Linda sang with the Women’s Chorale, later becoming their accompanist. During her last semester at Pitt, she also functioned as the accompanist for the Men’s Glee Club, after their pianist graduated mid-year. She sang in the choir at a local church, then became the accompanist for another church near the university. Linda and her husband, Joel, have sung in choirs from the beginning of their marriage. When they moved to Bowie in 1985, they attended a number of churches, trying to find one that felt right. Once they found Village Baptist, they knew they were in the right place. They joined the choir in the fall of 1985, and Linda soon began substituting for then-pianist Jo Reiter. In 1992, Jo retired as pianist and Linda became the full-time pianist. By vocation, Linda is a registered nurse, but her real love is music! Linda and Joel have three daughters and 7 grandchildren. They are avid campers and love to travel, and have been touring the US in their RV.

Ms. Carlynn Thompson
Music Leader

Carlynn grew up in Palestine, Texas, learning music in her home church, where she sang with the choir and as a soloist. Her marriage brought her to Maryland, where she earned a degree in Library Science, leading to an information technology job with the Department of Defense. At Village, she sang in the Adult Choir for many years. She became an enthusiastic supporter of the contemporary worship service that was started at Village, and she found her computer skills valuable in programming the synthesizer and preparing the music slides that are used in Worship services.

Beloved Community Committee Leaders

Dr. Karen Woodson
Co-Chair
Beloved Community Committee

Dr. Karen Woodson has been a member of Village Baptist Church since 2002 and has served in a variety of roles, including deacon, Sunday school teacher, children's church leader, vacation bible school director, worship dancer, and youth leader. Karen is the co-chair of the Beloved Community Committee and serves as moderator for the church business meetings. A 35 year veteran of K-12 public education, Karen served most recently as a district level director and elementary school principal. Her current interests in education center on equity focused leadership, with a specialty in capitalizing on the assets of the multilingual community.

Denise Miles
Co-Chair
Beloved Community Committee

Denise Miles has attended Village since 2009. Denise is the co-chair of the Beloved Community Committee and currently oversees our Children’s Church ministry. She was ordained a deacon in 2014 and has served on various committees and held several positions including- pastor search committee member; Middle/High School Sunday school teacher; fellowship & recreation co-chair; VBS volunteer and music leader. Denise has 15+ years of experience as a public educator with certification in social studies and special education.