Our Ministry Staff
Senior Pastor: Rev. John S. Etcher
Minister of Education: William "Bill" Melton
Director of Music and Creative Ministries: Kathi Hodge
Minister to Students: Rev. Ed Lilley
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Senior Pastor - Rev. John Etcher
Pastor John Etcher graduated from Annapolis Naval Academy and Southwestern Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree. He served one term of duty in the Navy. He and his wife, Philinda, have three grown children: Beth, who lives with her husband and three children in Newport News; Christina, who lives with her husband in New York City; and Ian, who serves as a Marine and lives in Northern Virginia. John served as pastor of Blue Ridge Baptist Church in Hamilton, Texas while in seminary; Centreville Baptist Church in Centreville, Virginia for 19 years; then Redeeming Grace Fellowship in Manassas, Virginia for six years. He has a great heart for people, the lost, and the hurting. He combines sound biblical teaching with gifted leadership skills and a real sense of God's grace.
“Well, that is what’s on my resume, but what it doesn’t say is this: I love the Lord, and I truly care for the people of God. I want everyone to know Jesus, and for those who know Him now, to grow in understanding and application of His love and grace. I am not now, nor have I ever been one who looks for the faults in others. I’m much more interested in encouraging people on their journey of faith with Christ.” PJ (Pastor John)
Email Pastor John at pastorjohn@ivymemorial.org.
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Minister of Education - Bill Melton
Strange little known facts about our Minister of Education
According to his English Professor, Dr. Angel, Bill Melton is one of the few students to graduate from Texas Christian University with a BS in Education and teaching degrees in History and English who could not read, write, or spell. She made him promise to never teach English in the state of Texas before she signed his teaching certification papers. Bill continued his education at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary where he barely passed one of his all time favorite subjects, Biblical Backgrounds. He recently traveled to the Holy Lands with 20 members of Ivy Memorial AND Dr. Tolar, Bill’s Biblical Backgrounds professor. (Fortunately, Dr. Tolar did not give any tests on the trip. If Bill failed the test it would have been especially embarrassing since Bill now teaches at Leland School for Theological Studies.) He did, however, survive seminary and received a Masters Degree in Religious Education. Bill finally got it right in 1988 when he received a Doctorate from Texas A&M University and became a card carrying, joke telling AGGIE.
Bill took a break from the academic setting in 1972 to join the Army Corp of Engineers but tired of that after 22 years of active and reserve service when they would still not let him run the train. (Why else would an AGGIE become an engineer?) As an AGGIE with all those degrees, it was only natural for Bill to become an educator in Civil Service after failing to become a real engineer. It is said, “Those who can’t do it, do real well teaching it.”
Bill and his wife, Lucretia, have four beautiful, smart daughters; three brilliant sons-in-law with good taste (they chose his daughters didn’t they?); four marvelous grandchildren from 22 to 2; and one fantastic, new granddaughter-in-law. He, therefore, has a legitimate reason to go to Walt Disney movies for the rest of his natural life.
Bill deeply loves people but can’t even remember his own name half the time (so, please forgive him when he forgets yours). However, by God’s power, he is able to narrate church dramas with a little Holy Spirit led, on the spot revisions in the script. By God’s power, he has taught, facilitated, and led virtually every kind of church group from infants to senior adults using puppets, chalk talks, video, PowerPoint, and really strange dramas. Times and Bill sure have changed, but he prays the changes all work together to bring him closer to following exactly what the Holy Spirit wants him to do day by day and moment by moment. By the way, that is what he most wants for his children, your children, and you and is willing to do anything he possibly can to assist you in letting the Holy Spirit guide your life too.
Email Bill at William@ivymemorial.org.
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Director of Music and Creative Ministries - Kathi Hodge
Kathi was born and raised in Hampton, Virginia and, in fact, was born and raised into Ivy Memorial Baptist Church. In her upbringing at Ivy, she served faithfully in numerous leadership roles including directing children’s choir, teaching Sunday School and Discipleship Training, as well as serving on various committees. In November of 1997, she became a staff pianist, providing instrumental music for our Sunday services and choir rehearsals. When our Minister of Music at the time gave his resignation in July of 2000, Kathi was approached and asked to serve for four months as Interim Minister of Music “just to get us through Christmas…” The rest is history. God had other plans, and she became the full-time Director of Music and Creative Ministries in 2006.
Kathi has one grown child, Eric, who is married to her “daughter-in-love”, Amanda, and they have blessed her with her first grandchild, Aiden Nicholas, who is the spitting image of his daddy. Two other children grace her household: Ashley, a student at Grafton High School and Timothy, her “mid-life” baby who is only two years older than his nephew, Aiden! In addition to be a mother, minister, and grandmother, Kathi is a student at Moody Bible Institute where she is pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Biblical Studies.
God has instilled in Kathi a passion for worship and discipleship. She believes firmly that discipleship should be woven into worship because knowing Who we worship is critical to worshiping God in “spirit and in truth.” This is the kind of worshipper the Father seeks (John 4:22-24). Interwoven into these passions is the overwhelming desire to see all (that means everyone) who sit in our pews become completely (as in 100%) satisfied with Jesus; that He would become the fiery, unparalleled love of their lives; and they would lead committed, obedient lives to Him and His Word.
“Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you.” (Isaiah 26:8-9 NIV)
Email Kathi at Kathi@ivymemorial.org.
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Minister to Students - Rev. Ed Lilley
"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity." I Timothy 4:12.
My name is Ed Lilley, and I was born and raised in Hampton, Virginia for the first 28 years of my life. God continually blessed me growing up with a wonderful church and youth group experience. My undergraduate degree was in music (voice) at Christopher Newport University, and my seminary studies have been at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in North Carolina. I have been blessed to serve churches in Virginia and Maryland. God has also spoiled me since 1993 with a wonderful wife named Robin and, more recently, a beautiful little boy named Chandler.
That is enough about me; let’s talk about how God is working in the lives of our students. Although the verse listed above is one of many favorites, the student ministry here is based on Acts 2:41-47. I challenge you to read the passage of Scripture and discover what many others have discovered as the purpose of the church's existence. The purposes that are taken from Acts 2:4-7 are fellowship, worship, discipleship, evangelism, and ministry. Often, churches are very good at the fellowship aspect and fail to really provide a balanced and effective ministry in the other areas. It is our goal to maintain a balanced ministry in all five areas, and it is my hope that God will use us to win all of Hampton to Jesus Christ, one person at a time.
Please visit us at www.ivymemorialstudents.com.
Email Ed at mred@ivymemorial.org.