The BCM/D Annual Meeting is less than a month away, on November 10-11, and messengers will elect a new slate of officers at this time.

Rick Hancock, the pastor of Emmanuel Church, Huntingtown, Md., has nominated Fred Caudle, the pastor of The Church @ St. Charles as the BCM/D president.

CaudIe has been with the BCM/D since 1979 as a youth or adult member and later pastor of The Church @ St. Charles (formerly called First Baptist Church of St. Charles), Waldorf, Md. He has served on the BCM/D General Mission Board as the Potomac Baptist Association (PBA) director of missions (DOM), and he facilitates monthly DOM meetings. His wife, Kay, serves as the PBA administrator.

Fred said, “I have seen many wonderful ministries and work done for the Lord through the leadership and churches working together throughout Maryland/Delaware. I am completely made in the fabric of cooperative work with the Southern Baptist Convention, BCMD, and the Potomac Baptist Association — I am a result of this cooperative work by God’s blessings. I believe our churches in the BCMD have a continued desire to cooperate together for the glory of the Lord.”

Born in Oklahoma, Fred’s parents, through a job transfer, brought the family to Maryland in 1979. He made a confession of faith in 1976 and was called to pastoral ministry at 17. “My mom and dad were faithful in their walk with the Lord, and as I always share, dad taught me how to read and study the Bible and mom taught me how to love and be patient in the Lord. (Still learning from mom’s example as I have not arrived completely with patience yet!)”

Fred shared that as a young man, he drifted from his devotional life and call and said he “fell in love with business in the area of sales, and then management.” He became the CEO of a small non-profit business in Lanham and then the owner of a hardware store in King George, Virginia.

“My wife, Kay, was God’s blessing of witness to me in this renewal back to Him. Her faithfulness impacted my turning back and I am forever grateful for her love and witness.” Fred turned his life over to the Lord at age 30, and at the age of 33, God called him back into ministry.

The Church @ St. Charles gave him the opportunity to preach as pulpit supply and then as interim pastor in 2002, and two years later, they called him as pastor. “I have been blessed to serve the First Baptist Church of St. Charles for 21 years,” Fred said.

He has a passion for discipleship. “Pastors, in particular, have spent hours with me mentoring and spending life together, and this has given me a heart to want to share my life with men who are being called into the pastorate or in leadership to the local church. The fellowship of the church and the foundation of God’s Word in the church is my prayer and passion as a pastor.”

Regarding the BCM/D, Fred said, “We are in difficult times of radical cultural divides and the social fabric is seemingly unwinding day by day. We know this is the result of the brokenness of mankind because of sin, and we hold the greatest news ever brought to mankind – Jesus Christ. Our challenges are not in resources or the size of our churches but in remaining faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ that has set us free from condemnation.

“We have been given the commission to ‘Go’ — go in both sharing the gospel (Mk 16:150) and making disciples (Mt 28:19). Our nation’s culture is opposed to God and His message, and the challenge (dare I say ‘test’) is to remain in Christ and at all costs and risks of personal loss; we must love God, love one another, love our neighbor, and love even those who oppose us and would persecute us because of Christ Jesus in us.

“Our challenge as a convention is unity in the gospel and perseverance in the sharing of the good news and making disciples as we understand the spiritual war all around us manifest in today’s culture. Our battle is not against the flesh and blood in our communities, neighborhoods, and cities; it is the evil spiritual forces. Our victory is in Christ alone. Cooperatively, we know “the one who is in [us] is greater than the one who is in the world.” [1 John 4:4] So, at all costs, we must come together in the BCMD and go forth into our surrounding communities, towns, and cities … even to the ends of the earth, and share the good news. Cooperatively we are stronger together.

“I see the future as a great opportunity to share Christ in our broken world. We have the greatest message ever witnessed!”

Fred and his wife Kay have been married for 31 and Fred said she is a true supporter of his ministry in many ways.

They have two daughters and one son-in-law — Shelby and her husband, Zach Gallegos, and Megan. Fred shared that their granddaughter (parents Shelby and Zach) is Reagan, who was born with a defect in the diaphragm called congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH). “God has wonderfully been providing for her strength and growth,” Fred said. “Our church family, PBA, and many in BCMD have lifted prayers and sent love in so many ways. We are indebted and grateful to everyone. Though Reagan has a long way to go, God is not done with her yet! We rejoice each day to see her progress. God is so good.”

Others nominated to date are the following:
First Vice-President: Ron Blankenship, the Montgomery Baptist Associaton director of missions
Second Vice-President: Anthony Minter, pastor of First Rock Baptist Church
Recording Secretary: Stephanie Greer, Life Coach, The Garden Church, Baltimore
Assistant Recording Secretary: Mike Fillis, pastor of Fenwick Island Baptist Church

Photo by BCM/D Media Specialist Dominic Henry.