Church welcomes new senior pastor

Poland Village Baptist Church will celebrate an installation service Sunday at 10:30 a.m. for Brian J. Ethridge who recently assumed the ministry as Senior Pastor. A luncheon will be served.

Ethridge, 44, and his wife, Julie, and family come to Poland from Dublin, Ohio, where he was ordained and served as Executive Pastor at Northwest Chapel for the past 12 years. The Ethridges have three children: James, 16, a sophomore at Poland High School; Emily, 13, a seventh-grader at Poland Middle School and Ellen, 7, a first-grader at Poland North Elementary.

Ethridge graduated from Cedarville University in 1989 with a B.A. in Bible Comprehensive and from Grace Theological Seminary in 1996 with a Master of Divinity degree. Ethridge also served as Assistant Pastor at Fellowship Baptist Church in Warsaw, Ind., for six years, in addition to working in various ministries throughout his training.

This is the seventh pastor in the church’s history. Previously serving were Andrew Marsteller (1966-1968), Robert Domokos (1969-1972), Calvin Steiner (1973-1979), Richard Fisher (1980-1988), Peter Armao (1989-1993) and Michael Hooks (1994-2010).