6700 Emmaus Church Rd, Providence Forge, VA 23140
Church Office (804) 955-5144
Deacons
Donnie Estes / Vice Chair
Hello my name is Donald Estes, and as a member of Emmaus Baptist Church my desire is to serve my fellow members to the best of my ability. As a new deacon I'm sure I have a lot to learn, so please be patient with me.
My priority is to not only to serve Emmaus Church but also to serve my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to the best of my ability. As most of you already know I have a passion for fishing and hunting and also spending lots of time outdoors. I also feel so blessed to have so many friends and family. Peace be with you and family.
Brenda johnson evans
Jesus is the True Vine, the very source of life, strength and spiritual nourishment. We are the branches that cannot have life apart from Jesus. Our very life comes from Him. The vine and its branches operate as an interconnected system that when working together produce fruit.
John 15 is especially important to me as I began this new Chapter in my life. Jesus is asking not just to be close to Him but to abide in Him. He is asking for a constant and consistent relationship.
3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain.
27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning. He has definitely been with me since the beginning.
I have been in many dangerous situations but God blessed me and kept me safe. Physically God has had me in the right place at the right time with all that I need to save my physical life. God has done the same thing for me spiritually, providing and nurturing me for spiritual life and growth.
I was baptized in October of 1964 at West End Baptist Church in Petersburg. As early as I can remember I prayed, sang and communicated with God as I walked around a
beautiful yard. As I got older, I continued to find constant prayer important but also a special time and place for daily Bible reading, prayer, and meditation. I greatly encourage this quiet time with God.
1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18; Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
I have been a Chaplain for a Woman’s Club and for the Daughters of the American Revolution. I was a Christian Elementary School Teacher and Art Teacher and have done commissions and Art Shows. I’ve worked with Seniors and Handicapped Individuals, formed prayer groups, support groups, started a church pre-school,
worked with Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, and Choir. One of my greatest joys was helping to serve Communion and I look forward to being able to do this again. I’m married to Tommy Evans, have two grown children (a son, Patrick, daughter in law, Heather and a daughter, Lisa and son-in law, Gordon) and 3 granddaughters, Lily,
Rachel, and Annabel.
BETH HARRIS
BETH HARRIS
Deacons
Mike Hughes
CERETA SETZER / secretary
CERETA SETZER / secretary
Hello. My name is Mike Hughes. It’s my honor to serve as a deacon at Emmaus Baptist Church. I look forward to serving every member, visitor, and our community. As this is my first time serving as a deacon, I ask for your patience and prayers as I learn. I am blessed to have Jesus Christ to guide me. I am also blessed to have the support of my church family.
Mark 10:45: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
CERETA SETZER / secretary
CERETA SETZER / secretary
CERETA SETZER / secretary
My name is Cereta Setzer and this is my second term as Deacon for Emmaus Baptist Church.
It is my privilege and honor to serve not only the members of Emmaus Baptist Church but to
also serve the members of our New Kent community and spread the love of Jesus Christ.
charles Stratton / Chair
charles Stratton / Chair
charles Stratton / Chair
My wife Teresa and I moved to New Kent from North Carolina in October of 2024. We knew even before settling in that we would be visiting EBC. After a couple of visits, we knew we would be joining.
We are glad we did.
As a retired Baptist pastor, I know well the importance and value of good deacon ministry. Done well, it advances the church's mission, even as it cares for its members. I have seen and experienced such ministry here at EBC, and I am grateful for it.
I am humbled by the call to serve EBC church as a deacon. And because the specific duties of deacon ministry differ in various churches, I will be looking to our pastor and my fellow deacons during this next year for guidance in the work as it is done here. With their help and the church's prayers and support, I pledge to do my best in this vocation.
Steve Wiley
charles Stratton / Chair
charles Stratton / Chair
I was born in Richmond when my father was Pastor of Sandston Baptist Church. Being a PK (preacher's kid) meant that church was part of my life from the first. While Spurgeon Memorial in Norfolk and Arlington Baptist in Northern Virginia had an impact on my belief and knowledge of God and the Bible, it was in my home and among family that my desire to be God's child was birthed.
Through my childhood it was in church that I learned to sing, and it was at RA Camp Piankatank that I first felt the Call of God to ministry. But as I grew older through high school, my years in the Navy and college, I became adamant that I was not going to be a minister. I was willing to work for God as a layman, singing in choir, working for three summers at Camp Piankatank, active in BSU while in college where I met Sylvia Basye my loving wife, and I even was on staff at two churches working with their youth, but my plan was to be a Social Studies teacher.
Over the years after I graduated from college God closed doors to teaching and opened them to ministry in education in the church. February of 1980 saw us moving to Louisville, KY where I was enrolled in Southern Seminary to prepare to serve God as a Christian Educator. Through those years God allowed me to work my plans waiting until His time was right.
That time was December 1986 when I left ministry as a Christian educator and became pastor of Clover Bottom Baptist Church. I would serve that church for just under 5 years and then Grace Baptist Church for 28 years, until God let Sylvia and I know that it was time to step back from pastoral ministry.
He helped us find a house to make our home in Charles City County. We visited a number of churches and found one that we really liked, but they had an interim pastor. Then Covid hit and we could not go anywhere. When the restrictions lifted we returned to Emmaus Baptist Church and discovered that you had called a new Pastor an. that I had known him for over 30 years. Sylvia and I soon came to believe that this was the church home that God was leading us to be part of in retirement.
Over the years here I have been privileged to serve my church family in a number of capacities. Surely to be called by my Church family to serve them as a Deacon is one of the greatest.