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.

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.

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.