The foundation of the Potomac Baptist Association reaches back to 1790, when four men from the Ketoctin Baptist Association in Virginia crossed the Potomac River and began preaching in the Nanjemoy area of Southern Maryland.  Three years later, Nanjemoy Baptist Church was constituted and joined the Ketoctin Association.

  

By 1820, the Columbia Association was formed from churches of the Ketoctin and Baltimore Association from both Virginia and Maryland respectively.  The original number of founding churches were 16 and by 1837, the Maryland Baptist Union Association was founded and Nanjemoy was the first church to join after its charter. 

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Over time the cooperative spirit of this Association grouped itself into the eastern, middle, and western districts and eventually through the Baltimore Baptist Association was formed the Northern and Southern District Associations.  In 1934, the Southern District Association was formed at Nanjemoy Baptist Church.  Southern Baptist Churches in Anne Arundel, Charles, and Prince George’s Counties made up the Southern District as Calvert and St. Mary’s Counties did not have any Southern Baptist work at that time. 

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The Potomac Baptist Association (PBA) was formed in 1963, to minister to Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary’s Counties.  Today, PBA continues to minister to these counties including the southern most areas of Prince George’s and Anne Arundel Counties.

 

The first Annual Meeting of the PBA was held October 28, 1963, at the Nanjemoy Baptist Church.  From its inception, the Association was aware of the need for new churches.  In 1967, the PBA called its first Director of Missions, William (Bill) I. Barkley, Jr.   After his retirement in 1991, the Association called Dr. Richard D. Logsdon, who retired in 2015, and the Association called Dr. Keith Corrick who retired in December 2019. In November 2021, the Association called Pastor Fredrick (Fred) Caudle to be Director of Missions and who co-vocationally serves as Senior Pastor at the Church @ St. Charles in Waldorf.

 

Today PBA serves a Southern Maryland area that has dramatically changed since the earliest days.  Population surges, economic growth, and cultural changes have shifted the landscape of the mission field but the cooperative spirit among the local congregations and her good news gospel of Jesus Christ remains the same and remains strong.

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The mission in Southern Maryland is something bigger than any one church can do.  The Potomac Baptist Association was and is Formed by churches and for the churches. Near to PBA’s heart is this: Local churches coming together in Christ who are encouraged to work together because of their common mission, setting, and values.

 

At that first inaugural meeting of the PBA, these words that night were recorded in our history: The challenge is immense. Many do not know Christ, and many Christians are un-enlisted. If the Association is to accomplish its purpose, “to give opportunity to the member churches to be on mission for Christ in their unique setting in a cooperative way,” it must have the strong support of the churches in their prayers, their giving, and their full cooperation in the association’s endeavors. Then the fellowship of churches will be strong, and their outreach will be effective as they work together to reach their parts of the world for Christ.

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We have a strong history, and we believe God has kept a wide-open door for our Association of churches to continue to walk through together glorifying His name.  Together we can do more than we can do separately.