Rick Markham has served as our pastor since 1988. He is a native of Providence, North Carolina, not far from Danville. His wife Betty (also a native of Providence) worked for 25 years as an RN in what is now SOVAH. Rick graduated from North Carolina State University with a BS in Science Education and from Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary (Memphis) with a M.Div. He and Betty have three children and six grandchildren. From 1974 until 1985 they worked in association with the Baptist Union of Ireland as church planters, assisting in the establishment of Letterkenny Baptist Church (County Donegal) and then pastoring that church before returning to the U.S.