Loving, Connecting, Serving in the Foothills
Pleasant Valley Baptist Church sits along Gapland Road in Rohrersville, a small community in the western corner of Washington County, Maryland, where the Appalachian and Blue Ridge foothills meet. Its three-word motto, Loving, Connecting, Serving, appears across the church's banner, its bulletin covers, and its gathering places, and each word points to a different side of life in the congregation. Members describe the church as "a Bible believing, loving, caring fellowship of Believers," with preaching and teaching centered on the Word of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Visitors are welcomed with a clear invitation: come in, sit down, stay a while. Dress ranges across the Sunday morning: jeans and a t-shirt are just as welcome as a shirt and tie, because the only goal is that guests feel comfortable.
The Sunday Service and Its Sound
The Sunday morning service begins at 9:50 am, both in the sanctuary at 3346 Gapland Road and live on Facebook. The blended service mixes contemporary praise and worship music with traditional hymns, and the music ministry puts it this way: great music to lift up a great God can come in different styles. Worship leader Heather Lohr leads a single praise team that rehearses Thursday evenings at 7:00 pm and Sunday mornings at 8:45 am. Neil and Cindy Reazin coordinate the audio and video volunteers who make the livestream possible. Pastor Clayton Clark does most of the preaching, working verse by verse through books of the Bible like 1 Corinthians (a long-running series) and shorter topical series like Seeing the World Through a New Lens. Guest preachers fill the pulpit several times a year, including Randy Norman, Toby Kline, Neil Reazin, Michael DeFreytas, Mike Shanaberger, and Bro. Craig Wurst. Bulletins for recent services are posted online, so anyone who misses a Sunday can still follow along at home.
Life Groups From Sunday Morning to Saturday
Smaller circles of study, called Life Groups, are at the heart of PVBC's midweek rhythm. The week begins on Sunday at 8:45 am with a Pre-Service Life Group led by Toby Kline in a room off the fellowship hall, working through a study of the Ten Commandments. After the service at 11:15 am, a Post-Service Life Group led by Randy Norman gathers in the sanctuary and traces the Ark of the Covenant through Scripture. Together these are the church's Sunday Adult Life Groups.
The week's other rhythms include a Monday Morning Women's Life Group at 10:00 am (currently studying Dr. David Jeremiah's The Holy Spirit You May Not Know, led by Bobbie Bowers); a Wednesday Evening Life Group at 6:00 pm led by Pastor Clayton, which kicks off a new survey of the Old Testament each fall; and a Praise Team rehearsal on Thursday evenings at 7:00 pm. A Saturday Morning Men's Life Group has historically met at 9:00 am for studies through books like James; that group is currently on hiatus until further notice. Throughout the week, a calendar lists any meeting held outside the building, along with the seasonal Bible studies and sermon series underway.
Children's Ministry from Little Blessings to Children's Church
Programs for children are led and supervised by mature, responsible adults and run during the Sunday worship service:
- Little Blessings - a nursery for infants and toddlers up to 3 years old.
- Sprouts - a preschool class for children ages 3 to 5.
- Children's Church - for kindergarten through fifth grade, meeting in the Fellowship Hall. Parents can drop children off before the service and pick them up afterwards in the same room.
- KIDZclub - on the third Sunday of each month, a thematically designed program for preschoolers through youth meets during the worship hour.
All classes are built around age-appropriate Bible lessons, discussion, and hands-on activities. Each summer's Vacation Bible School is a major undertaking for the church and brings children from across the community through the doors of the fellowship hall. As children graduate out of Children's Church they are folded into the youth ministry that serves middle and high school students with Bible study, youth activities, and mission and ministry projects. The church describes its youth program as "in the process of growth and development," with adult leaders actively being invited to walk alongside the teens as role models.
Women's Ministry and Men's Brotherhood
The Women's Ministry seeks to meet the spiritual, physical, and emotional needs of women at PVBC and within the community. Encouragement, friendship, and service flow together in regular Bible studies, an annual women's breakfast, assorted events through the year, and outreach to the surrounding neighborhood. WMU (Women's Missionary Union) is incorporated into this ministry, and the Monday morning Life Group is its weekly anchor study. Cindy Reazin leads the ministry. Each month the women gather for breakfast and study at locations that rotate across the area, and they look forward to annual outings like the ASPIRE women's gathering in Hagerstown as a way of connecting with sisters in Christ beyond Rohrersville. The wider church family shares in a women's movie night and a Secret Sisters prayer-and-encouragement program that runs across the year.
The Men's Ministry exists to encourage men to grow in their relationship with Christ and one another, to reach others with the love and message of Jesus, and to be the hands of Jesus in the church and community. Men of all ages participate. The Saturday morning Men's Life Group has met at 9:00 am for Bible study through books like James; that group is currently on hiatus until further notice. The men of the church also serve the rest of the body in practical ways, like hosting an annual Women's Dinner as a thank-you to the wives and mothers of the congregation. Together the men's and women's ministries make up a healthy share of the church's annual rhythm, alongside an annual church picnic and a Christmas banquet for the whole family.
Music and Media
Worship is led by a single team that rehearses on Thursday evenings at 7:00 and Sunday mornings at 8:45, with team attendance considered mandatory for those who serve. The team welcomes both vocalists and instrumentalists, and the church is always looking for additional volunteers willing to be trained in the audio and video booths. Neil and Cindy Reazin oversee that side of the ministry. Open positions and rehearsal reminders are shared through Heather Lohr, who oversees the music ministry as a whole. The blended contemporary and traditional style of the service reflects the music ministry's conviction that great music in any style can lift up the great God.
Pro-Life Witness and Community Outreach
Pro-life ministry is one of the most visible outworkings of PVBC's faith. Members witness each week in front of the Frederick Planned Parenthood between 9 am and 5 pm, Monday through Friday. Ron Pitts, who helps coordinate the effort, provides transportation, signs, and company to anyone who would like to join the silent witness. The way the church puts it: "you might be the one who helps one tiny heart to have a chance at life."
Within the surrounding community, the church runs a number of recurring touchpoints. PVBC Food for the Needy is a food pantry the church stocks for neighbors in need. Fall Fun Day is an annual community event hosted by the church. Vacation Bible School is a week-long summer outreach with VBS Family Day closing out the week. The Drop-n-Shop Children's Christmas Party is a free holiday program that gives parents a chance to shop while children enjoy the party. Soul II Soul Cafe is a church-run gathering that combines fellowship and outreach. Free Sign Language Classes are offered to the community several times each year. Together, these ministries make the building on Gapland Road a gathering place not only for worship, but for neighbors who need a meal, a class, or simply a smiling face.
Missions Beyond the Valley
PVBC partners financially and prayerfully with several mission efforts beyond Rohrersville. The church supports the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions, both Southern Baptist causes. Each fall, the church participates in Operation Christmas Child through Samaritan's Purse, packing shoeboxes with gifts for children around the world. Locally, the church gives to the Hagerstown Area Pregnancy Clinic, including through the Baby Bottle Campaign. The list of partner organizations also points to Gabriel Network as a resource for women facing crisis pregnancies and to GriefShare as a ministry for people grieving the loss of a loved one.
An Eighteen-Article Statement of Faith
The Bible is set forth as the divinely inspired, completely trustworthy revelation of God, with Christ as its focus. All Scripture is "totally true and trustworthy," a treasure of divine instruction and the supreme standard by which all human conduct and religious opinions should be tried. The church confesses one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, infinite in holiness and perfect in knowledge. God the Father reigns with providential care over His universe. Christ, the eternal Son, was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, died substitutionary on the cross, rose bodily from the dead, ascended to the right hand of God, and will return personally and visibly to judge the world. The Holy Spirit inspired the Scriptures, illuminates truth, convicts of sin, regenerates the believer, and seals believers until the day of final redemption.
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole person and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It includes regeneration (the new birth), justification (God's full acquittal through Christ), sanctification (the believer's growth in grace), and glorification (the final, abiding state of the redeemed). There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ. The church also teaches the eternal security of the believer: those whom God has accepted in Christ will never fall away from the state of grace, even though they may stumble into sin.
The statement defines a New Testament church as an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel, observing the two ordinances of Christ (baptism and the Lord's Supper), and governed by His laws. The scriptural officers are pastors and deacons, and the office of pastor is reserved for men as qualified by Scripture. Christian baptism is practiced by immersion as a symbolic act of obedience pointing to the believer's death to sin and resurrection to new life in Christ. The Lord's Supper is a memorial of the Redeemer's death and an anticipation of His second coming.
The statement also affirms the foundational nature of the family, with marriage as the lifelong union of one man and one woman, and the dignity of every person from conception to natural death. The church holds to the separation of church and state, the believer's stewardship of time, talent, and money, the importance of Christian education, and the duty of every Christian to engage the surrounding society with the principles of righteousness and love. Christians are to oppose racism, greed, and sexual immorality, to care for the orphaned, the needy, the abused, the aged, and the sick, and to speak on behalf of the unborn.
Pastors, Deacons, and Ministry Leaders
Pastor Clayton Clark also serves as the church's Worship Leader and Life Group Administrator. The deacon board includes Neil Reazin, Toby Kline, Jim Bowman, and Bob Miller. Heather Lohr leads worship music. Cindy Reazin leads Women's Ministry. Donna Gregory leads Prayer Ministry. Men's Ministry and Youth Ministry leadership positions are being filled, and the church is actively looking for adults who love middle and high schoolers and want to invest in them. Members and the community can reach any of these leaders through the church number, (301) 432-2621, or by emailing PVBC@MYACTV.NET.
Autonomous and in Friendly Cooperation
PVBC operates as an autonomous Southern Baptist congregation. The church describes itself as "in friendly cooperation" with the Blue Ridge Baptist Association, the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware, and the Southern Baptist Convention, with the freedom to determine its own policies, doctrines, ministries, and finances. Online giving is available, with gifts able to be designated for the General Fund, Food Bank, Children's Ministry, Youth Ministry, Music Ministry, Local Missions, Benevolence, Associational Missions, State Missions, North American Missions, International Missions, or special offerings. A bulletin archive and an extensive sermon archive are organized by preacher, series, topic, and book of the Bible, and a Year at a Glance covers the seasonal rhythms of the church year alongside the rolling weekly schedule.