Our History

Originally the church reached our boys and girls, through Pioneer Girl and Christian Service Brigade, with games, socials and Biblical life principles. In the Fall of 1976, we saw the reorganization of the work under the Awana Youth Program. Awana consists of Cubbies (ages 3 & 4) up to the Varsity (up to age 19). The Awana program has been used by the church since that time to minister to the children of Elkridge community and beyond. One highlight occurred in 2004 when the Awana varsity teens took first place nationally in Bible Quizzing. In the past decade the percentage of children and youth from outside the church has grown significantly and has included individuals from many ethnic backgrounds. The international mission field has come to Elkridge through our Awana outreach.

The Lord has blessed along the way with excellent musicians both vocal and instrumental. The Easter and Christmas cantatas have always been a special blessing. Over the years many teens and adults have shared their talents by singing in the choir or accompanying the singing with their instruments, for example, cello, violins, flutes, trumpets, french horn and guitars.

The founding pastor of Faith Bible Church was Rev. Clayton Crooks. He had served FBC faithfully for nearly 24 years when, in 1981, he went home to be with the Lord. Rev. Daniel Peters was called to be senior pastor in 1981 after which Pastor Crooks was the “Pastor Emeritus” until his death.

Rev. Daniel Trayer had been hired as the Faith Bible Church Academy High School Supervisor and church youth director in 1979. Four years later, he became the assistant pastor. When Pastor Peters was called to another ministry in Limerick, Pa., in May of 1988, Reverend Trayer became the interim pastor. He served in this capacity until May of 1990 when Pastor Donald Huffmier became the new senior pastor. Rev. Trayer stayed on as assistant pastor for one year and in 1991 sought the Lord for a new direction. Pastor Huffmier left FBC to go back to Michigan in 1992 and Dr. Sam Fowler supplied pulpit fill for the majority of the next two years as we looked for a new senior pastor. In August of 1994, Rev. Alexander Poindexter became the senior pastor and left in the fall of 1996 to start a new work in the heart of Columbia, Maryland.

At that time a number of church families left the church to assist Rev. Poindexter in the new work. Dan Trayer, who had returned to serve as assistant pastor in 1995, became our interim pastor again until March of 1997, when he was called as the senior pastor of Faith Bible Church. In 2008 Pastor Trayer announced that he would be retiring in September of the following year. A pulpit committee was formed and in 2009, Daniel Fox was made pastor of FBC. In 2014 the pastor’s focus was mentoring men in teaching and leadership. Twelve men were involved in the training and given opportunities to preach or teach. Later that year Pastor Fox’s family had to deal with a serious, time consuming, family issue that impacted the momentum of the church.

In March 2017, Pastor Fox resigned as pastor and a pulpit committee was formed. The Lord used the next twenty months to move many members out of their comfort zone. The Lord moved many men to step up and take on duties they had not been willing in the past. God used these men to read scripture and pray during services and prepare devotions for Sunday or Wednesday evening services. God provided guest speakers for pulpit fill and three regular speakers that encouraged and challenged the congregation by the Word. In November 2018 Sung Cho was unanimously elected as pastor of FBC. Pastor Cho began his ministry in January of 2019.

Not only did the Lord raise up missionaries out of our church but he has led others into full time ministry. Matthew Conrad, who was raised in the church, was hired as assistant to the pastor in 2003 while he prepared for the mission field. He faithfully served until Pastor Matt Conrad served as assistant pastor before transitioning to full-time deputation and then becoming a missionary to Hong Kong in 2011. In 2005 an ordination service was held for member Mark Jones. At the end of that academy school year Mark resigned from his position as principal and senior high teacher to become associate pastor of a church in Perry Hall, MD. Also in 2005, Jim Ghanayem, who grew up in the church, was ordained and took over Mark Jones position, becoming assistant pastor of education. Then in 2007 when the academy closed, Jim Ghanayem left FBC to become pastor of Faith Bible Church in Altoona, PA.

The church has always had a goal to evangelize the surrounding communities. For many years the church has had a weekly tract distribution ministry at the Baltimore-Washington International Airport. From this ministry we have had a number of people from all over the world participate in a correspondence course in the Gospel of John. In recent years the course was translated into Spanish by two members of the church. During the school year the Awana club evangelizes and disciples children from the surrounding areas. Four times a year a group of men from our church conducts a gospel service at the Baltimore Rescue Mission. In years past we have had an “Evangelism Explosion” training and visitation ministry. Evangelism Explosion stresses on the job training to help believers know how to share their faith. In 2011 the church transitioned to the Every Day Evangelism program but when long time director Fred Simonaire stepped down in 2012 the corporate evangelism became sporadic and informal door-to-door evangelism due to the lack of a leader to organize the efforts. In 2016 Pastor Fox held a nine week study on relational evangelism hosted in parsonage. The study helped the attenders to know how to build relationships with neighbors and co-workers with the intent of leading them to Christ. Another form of evangelistic outreach for many years until 2016 was the summer Vacation Bible School (VBS).