Staff of Cozaddale Baptist Temple

We have seen the senior pastors, the missionaries and the evangelist of Cozaddale, this week we are going to look at the pastoral staff who have served  Cozaddale Baptist Temple over the years. In May of 1980, Pastor Ted  Woody traveled to Baptist Bible College in Springfield, MO to look for someone to fill a need of a growing church in the position of associate pastor. While there he met and interviewed Bro. Roy Keiter. The following January of 1981, Bro. Keiter and his wife Karen moved to Goshen, Ohio and Bro. Keiter became the first full time staff member of the church in addition to that of the pastor. Bro. Keiter's duties as associate pastor were, youth director, overseeing the Junior church, cleaning and maintaining the buildings, he and Bro. Richardson led the choir, Bro. Keiter led the congregational singing and was very instrumental in the building of the present auditorium. Bro. Keiter  had a strong desire to faithfully serve the Lord and he allowed the Lord to use the various  talents He had given him to do so. Bro. Keiter and his wife had two children  (Ryan and Cindy) while at Cozaddale. They faithfully served until the spring of 1990 when they left under the ministry of Bro. Williams.  Bro. and Mrs. Keiter now have four children and he is currently pastor of Gospel Light Baptist Church in Loveland, Ohio where he has served for 22 years. Pictured on the upper right hand corner is  a photo of Bro. Keiter and his wife Karen taken around 1982 or 1983.

The second full time associate was Bro. Rick Sallee. Bro. Sallee began attending  Cozaddale in 1972, when he and his family moved from Cincinnati to the Goshen area. Bro. Sallee was 12 years old when he first came to church. He was saved at the age of 14 under the ministry of Pastor Bill Webb and was very active as a young person around the church. Under the ministry of  Bro. Ted Woody  he went to Baptist Bible College in 1977, where he  met his wife, Lydia.  After college Bro. Sallee served  churches in Texas and Ohio from 1981 till 1987. His hearts desire was always to return and serve the Lord through the ministry of Cozaddale Baptist Temple.  After counseling with  Bro. Woody he returned to Cozaddale in 1987, found a job in a local factory and became busy  in the church ministries while working a secular job. On April 1, 1990, the Cozaddale Baptist Temple under the direction of Pastor Rick Williams extended a call to Bro. Sallee to become  assistant pastor. Bro Sallee accepted. Bro. Sallee and his wife have now been  involved in the ministry of Cozaddale for 22 years . Bro. Sallee and his wife Lydia are pictured on the left. 

     The third full time staff member was Bro. Travis Burke who came in 1994 to organize and be the administrator of Cozaddale Baptist Academy, a ministry he served in faithfully until the church called him to be the senior pastor in 2004. More of his ministry can be seen in the section about pastors of Cozaddale.

     The fourth full time staff member  was Bro. Jordan Green. Bro. Jordan Geen came on staff in 1994 and was a graduate of Ambassador Baptist College in Lattimore, NC.  While serving at Cozaddale Baptist Temple, he was involved in many aspects of the ministry.  He worked in the Christian school, had a bus route, and visited the elderly.  The Lord blessed Bro. Jordan's ministry while he was at Cozaddale by allowing him to meet his wife Bethany Gabbard who was a pastor's daughter from Indiana.  Mrs. Beth faithfullly served along side her husband while they were at Cozaddale until the Lord called them to serve as missionaries in Mexico in 2004.  Picutred on the left is a picture of Bro. Jordan and his wife Behtany. 

     Bro. Lee Carr was the fifth person to be called to serve as an associate in the ministry of Cozaddale. Bro.Carr was raised in a Christian home and surrendered to the ministry during his teen years. Bro. Carr went to Fairhaven Baptist College, where he graduated in 1998 with a Bachelor of Education degree majoring in English.  It was during this time that Bro. Travis Burke was looking for a staff member to fill a spot in Cozadale Baptist Academy which had now grown under his leadership. Bro. Carr had completed his schooling in December of 1997, and would not be graduating unil the next spring. Bro. Carr came to Cozadale Baptist Academy in January of 1998, to work with Bro. Burke  and returned to Fairhaven in the spring to receive his diploma. Upon Bro. Travis Burke's call to the pastorate of the church in 2004, Bro. Carr became the administrator of Cozaddale Baptist Academy where he contimues to serve. Pictured on the right is Bro. Carr with his wife Shanda whom he met while serving at Cozaddale.

In our Baptist Heritage Conference here at Cozaddale Baptist Temple Bro. Henson made a statement to the effect that we need a study in Ohio Baptist History. There has been much written of our early history but as time has elapsed it seems so has our recording of it.  The other day we visited the site of the First Baptist Church in Ohio, (the Columbia Baptist Church 1790) as we walked around the graveyard where  many of the original members were buried we realized the importance of preserving our history for future generations. We are thankful for and encouraged by men like John Clark, Obadiah Holmes, John Gano, Stephen Gano, Shubal Stearns, Isaac McCoy and many others but we see a need to continue to keep a history of other men and churches who God chooses to use to encourage those whom come after us. We see in Deut. 6:4-12 that God teaches the importance of preserving our history from one generation to the next.   The last several months we have considered that idea and have decided to look at Ohio Baptist History. This will be a work in progress and any help would be greatly appreciated.

            We are going to start with our Church, the Cozaddale Baptist Temple. We will look first at our organization in 1967, then at our 45 years of history then we will begin looking back to see our Biblical heritage. Please feel free to help us as we travel back into Cozaddale and Ohio Baptist History.  We were started out of the Loveland Park Baptist Church in Loveland, Ohio. At that time Bro. Clarence York was their pastor. According to the written record on file in our church office on Dec. 3, 1967 Cozaddale Baptist Temple was organized. Bro. Charles Girvin opened the service at 2:30 p.m. by introducing Bro. Roundtree who lead the choir in singing “Send the Light.”  Bro. Bob Spencer then lead in prayer and asked the Lord to “let this be a soul winning church.” The choir from Loveland Park sang two other specials, “Have Faith in God” and “Speak my Lord.” A trio from Queen City Baptist sang “There’s a Rainbow of Love” and Bro. and Sister Roundtree sang “My Home Sweet Home.”  The meeting was called to order by Pastor York, he read from Genesis 1 and told the mission work that this is “your beginning. You are a commencement, churches in Cozaddale are not awake, they are asleep. Let it never be said that your are asleep.” It was then decided that Bro York would moderate the meeting and that Bro. Donald Poole would be the clerk. Bro. Roundtree opened the business meeting in prayer.

            Bro. York then called for a motion to “organize this group of born again believers for the body known as the Cozaddale Baptist Temple.” Bro. Ron Girvin makes the motion, seconded by Bro. Spencer and the vote was unanimous.

            Bro. York read the constitution under which this body is organizing and called for the constitution to be accepted as the constitution of the Cozaddale Baptist Temple. Bro Ron Girvin made the motion, Bro. Spencer seconds; Bro. Ron Girvin made a motion to call Bro. Charles Girvin as pastor, Bro. Spencer seconds. Pastor is elected by secret ballot, 11 votes were cast, all 11 votes were yes and Bro. Girvin was acknowledged as pastor.

            Bro. York presented Bro. Charles Girvin a license to preach and a minister’s manual. These were presented and received by the authority of the Loveland Park Baptist Church. Bro. Roundtree then lead in a hymn “Amazing Grace,” Bro. Girvin acknowledged Bro. York’s kindness and help in the organization.

            Bro. York preached the charge out of II Chronicles 2:1 “Building a House for the Lord My God.” He then read a verse of dedication from Numbers 7:1

            Bro. Roundtree lead the congregation in an invitational hymn “Only trust Him.”

            Bro. Girvin thanked the congregation for the call and the confidence. Bro. Tye offered the benediction.

            The charter members present that day were Charles Girvin, Rosetta Girvin, Ronald Girvin, Charles D. Girvin, Carol Girvin, Sandra Girvin, Patricia Ann Girvin, Charles Justice, Robert Spencer, Lucille Spencer, Jeffery Spencer and Gail Spencer; the charter was left open for six weeks for additional members to come in as charter members.

            Witnesses to this organizational meeting were Bro. John T, Coleman, Pastor of Queen City Baptist Church in Cincinnati, Bro. Harold Tye, Pastor of Liberty Baptist Church in Cincinnati, Pastor Donald Poole, Pastor of Socialville Baptist Church in Mason, Bro. James Ball, Queen City Baptist Mission, Bro. William Anders, deacon of Loveland Park Baptist Church, Bro. Joe Curington and Bro. Francis Curington, deacons of Queen City Baptist Mission in Cincinnati. Bro. Charles Girvin, Pastor of Cozaddale Baptist Mission, and Bro. Clarence York, Pastor of Loveland Park Baptist Church.