Meet The Leaders – Church by the Chesapeake

Church by the Chesapeake

"Where Hope Comes to Life"

We are a church where people

grow in knowledge,

in relationship with GOD

and each other;

where lives are changed for the better.

Although Rick believed in God from an early age, his family dynamic- where alcohol and abusive rage were never in short supply-made it difficult for him to accept that God truly loved him or cared about his welfare. Rick grew up living life on his own terms, with his own abilities. He became arrogant, prideful, and angrier at God with each passing year.

At 23, when he was at the pinnacle of his animosity toward the Lord, he met a person who changed his life; a woman who demonstrated what it meant to love the way Christ loves. He fell hard for her.But, he also felt certain it would not last. He kept waiting for it to unravel. Instead, three years later Tracey married him, adopting his two young children as her own, and together they had two more. However, when their son was born with Down Syndrome, Rick found himself back at the place he feared the most. Was this the “bad thing” he had been expecting for so long?

Yet as Rick watched his family surround his son, love him and nurture him and he saw his son do the things the doctors said would never be possible, he came to understand the depths of God’s abiding love. His eyes were opened and he gave his life to Christ. He no longer fears that “bad things” will happen because his Lord has promised him that He would never leave him or forsake him.

As pastor of CBTC (and chief evangelist of hairlessness), Rick wants to see the church fall deeper in love with Christ, hunger for His Word, desire more to meet with Him in prayer, to fully embrace the Sabbath Day and keep it Holy, and revere God and all of His ways.

Among his ministries, Rick: Leads Prayer Meeting Wednesday nights; conducts pre-marital and marital counseling and one on one mentoring for men; teaches disciple classes Tuesdays and alternating Fridays; helps lead CBTC youth group alternating Fridays; leads God and Family and God and Me classes Thursdays for Cub Scouts Pack 407; serves as Executive Officer for Cub Scout Pack 407 and Boy Scout Troop 347; coaches Special Olympics Basketball from January to March and Special Olympics Softball April to June. He also serves as liaison to the Calvert Soccer Association and the Partners in Care Maryland National Guard.

He retired from the Library of Congress where he supervised a ten-man sheet metal shop and had the privilege of leading several co-workers to faith in Jesus Christ. Oh, and he’s a grandpa too, with 10 wonderful grandkids.