Church Staff
Senior Minister
Rev. Joel S. Hawthorne is the Senior Minister of Montgomery Hills. He has served the Lord here since July of 1998 as Senior Pastor, and also served as Associate Pastor from 1985-1992. Rev. Hawthorne is a graduate of Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. He served the First Baptist Church of Glens Falls, NY and the Briggs Memorial Baptist Church in Bethesda, MD before coming to Montgomery Hills. He is married to Terri, and has two grown sons, Geoffrey and Nathan. Rev. Hawthorne’s passion is that everyone in the church discover and use their God-given gifts in ministry!
Administrative Assistant/Secretary
Terri King joined the Montgomery Hills staff in May of 1987 and has used her pleasant personality and Christian commitment to help the church members in a multitude of activities. She does the layout and preparation of weekly bulletins and monthly newsletters. Terri responds to phone calls and people needing access to the church building during the week. Anticipating and acquiring supplies of all kinds for the church is one of her routine activities. She heads up the Wednesday meals and does the shopping for most of the food.
Terri is a Minnesota Vikings fan who graduated from Bemidji State University which is located in Bemidji, Minnesota. She served as a coach for girls athletic teams and substitute teacher in high school before joining the Christian Service Corps.
She served for two years as a short-term missionary in the United Republic of Cameroon, West Africa and taught in the Saker Baptist College in Limbe, Cameroon. She continued with the Christian Service Corps for five years, in the Silver Spring area, as Placement Director.
In addition to her staff responsibilities, she has used her many talents within the choir/music ministry, as Sunday School teacher, as VBS teacher and as teacher of a Spiritual Gifts class. It is not unusual to see “Takie the Clown” promoting children’s activites at MHBC.
Financial Secretary
Peggy Kullberg has been the financial secretary for 15 years. In this position, she keeps the financial books for the church. She has been a member of Montgomery Hills since 1968. Peggy is the sister of our pastor. She is a teacher by profession and has taught in public and private schools, grades 1-8. Peggy and her family are very active in all aspects of the church. She has worked with the children in the church for almost 30 years! She heads up the nursing home ministry team and volunteers much of her time to this cause. Peggy and her husband, Chuck, have two children ages 12 and 17. They enjoy vacations at the beach in Cape May, New Jersey and walking their two large dogs. When asked what Peggy likes most about her job as financial secretary she said: “I have learned a lot about giving. I believe in tithing and practice it. I recognize that all gifts are equally valuable in God’s sight. The story of the Widow’s Mite is one I have witnessed first hand.”
Director of Music and Christian Education
Cheryl Spell directs the Sanctuary Choir, and oversees the youth and children’s choir ministries of the church. She is responsible for the worship music on Sunday mornings and other gatherings of the church family. Her goal is that each person have at least one moment in which they experience the Presence of God as they worship.
Cheryl has a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Carson Newman College in Tennessee and a Master of Music in Church Music from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Texas. Though a Georgia native, she has lived her adult life in the Silver Spring and Olney areas and has served several churches as music and youth director. She also loves to teach the Bible in small groups.
Organist
Our volunteer organist is Dr. Joseph M. Smith. He is a native of Louisville, KY, and a graduate of the University of Louisville and of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. His organ training was undertaken when he was in high school and college as private study under the tutelage of the late Albert D. Burger, choirmaster of Calvary Lutheran Church in Louisville, KY. Smith served in several campus ministry positions in Kentucky, Maryland, and the District of Columbia before accepting the call to the pastorate of Takoma Park Baptist Church in 1986. In semi-retirement, Dr. Smith is serving in the part-time position of Executive Director of the D. C. Baptist Convention Foundation and as the volunteer Director of the House of Baptist Studies at Wesley Theological Seminary. He and Mrs. Smith have two grown children, two granddaughters and a grandson.
Pianist
Jennifer Wilder, our church pianist since 2000, has been playing the piano since she was 8 years old. Receiving her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music and Psychology, Jennifer graduated from Mary Washington College in Fredricksburg, VA. While she has studied with various piano teachers over the years, she received the bulk of her piano instruction under the guidance of Sandra Skeenes, one of Montgomery Hills Baptist Church’s former music directors. From this teaching, Jennifer began to learn the fine art of interpretative piano playing and how to turn music into something more than notes and rhythms.
Jennifer enjoys playing the piano for fun and relaxation in addition to using her God-given abilities and experience to support the music ministry at Montgomery Hills Baptist Church. Apart from playing the piano, Jennifer enjoys lively intellectual discussions with good friends and reading good books!