Senior Pastor Jerry Wade

First Baptist Church (FBC) welcomes Reverend Gerald M. Wade. Rev. Wade was born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Maryland. He and his wife, Misty, have two children, Kathleen age 13 and Joseph age 11.

Rev. Wade was called as senior pastor on November 5th and began his ministry at FBC on November 26th. He is currently serving as interim Director of Missions for the Baltimore Baptist Association and has previously held positions at several churches in the Baltimore area and in Louisville, Kentucky. He holds several degrees, including a Master of Divinity from The Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, a Bachelor of Science in Economics and a Master of Science in Accounting from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He was licensed and ordained by Redland Baptist Church in Derwood, Maryland.

Rev. Wade describes his family as his “first and greatest ministry”, second only to his relationship with Jesus. He believes the priorities of a Godly man are first, God; second, spouse and children; and third, ministry/work.

Rev. Wade describes his ministry passions as “to make disciples …and then to take them deeper.” His ministry philosophy is that Christians need to come out of their churches and reach out to their communities with the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Rev. Wade states: “Whether in a poor, dangerous, crime-ridden, high-unemployment inner city neighborhood of Louisville...or in an area of Baltimore fraught with racial tension, drugs, alcoholism and the despair and strife that come with urban living...I have observed the power of the Gospel to bring men, women, youth and children to a place of repentance, regeneration and a new life in Jesus Christ. I have witnessed the power of the Word of God to bring blacks and whites together...to reconcile seniors and youth...to enable old and young, affluent and needy, black and white to worship joyfully together.”

To meet the challenges facing today’s churches, Rev. Wade believes that God is raising up a new breed of pastors who are boldly preaching and living the word of God, who see themselves as “change agents” instead of mere chaplains, who are equipping those disciples to engage the culture and to take a stand for righteousness, and who believe that transforming the church into a cutting-edge, Great Commission, disciple-making, Bible-preaching, Christ-honoring church is something worth dying for. Rev. Wade states: “I joyfully include myself in that group!”