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 Members of The First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, D.C., voted overwhelmingly Oct. 11 to extend a call to the Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Haggray to become the 18th senior pastor of the historic congregation. Haggray, who has been the executive director/minister of the District of Columbia Baptist Convention since 2001, accepted the call. He becomes the first African-American senior pastor in the church’s history, which dates to 1802.
Prior to taking his DCBC post, Haggray has served as pastor of two other Washington congregations as well as churches in New Jersey and Connecticut. He is 46; a native of Savannah, Ga.; and a graduate of the University of Virginia, Yale University Divinity School and Wesley Theological Seminary. His wife, the Rev. Shelby Martin Haggray, is a native of Martinsville, Va., and currently serves as the associate dean for community life at Wesley Seminary. They and their three children (Micah, 10; Martin, 9; and Sophia, 5) reside in the District of Columbia.
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Rev. Deborah Cochran, the Associate Pastor, has been on the FBC staff for 11 years and holds a bachelor degree in Elementary Education from Appalachian State University and a Master of Divinity from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. She has an extensive background in education and mission work. She served for eleven years as a missionary from the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention in the Dominican Republic and Belgium.
She has also taught special education in Wilkes County, North Carolina, second grade in Amelia, Virginia, and taught as an elementary school substitute in West Palm Beach, Florida and Montgomery County, Maryland.
Deborah's dream and prayer for children is for them to begin early to love God and develop a trust relationship with Him that will sustain them throughout life. Her desire is to create a nurturing environment at First Baptist that will enable families to be strengthened by God's love and care to a mature relationship evidenced by witness and service. Rev. Cochran coordinates all of First Baptist's ministries to children and their families and also works with the Director of First Baptist's Child Development Center and staff to nurture our CDC children's spiritual development.
Deborah's husband, Dr. Robert Cochran, is Associate Executive Director of the DC Baptist Convention and has contributed to the starting of many new churches. They have married children Natalie and Craig Stapert, and Kenneth and Julianne Cochran, who live in the area.
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 As Organist-Choirmaster at First Baptist, Lon Schreiber draws from his enormous knowledge of church music to plan and prepare music for worship and direct the church choir. A gifted arranger and composer his last name means "writer" in German and his organ compositions have been published by H.W. Gray, an affiliate of Warner Bros. Lon served National City Christian Church as Minister of Music for 40 years before being coaxed out of retirement to assume his current position.
click here to contact Lon
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