Our ministry team Welcomes you Home to FBC Fairfield! We have a lot of fun serving God and you, our church family and community. Please reach out to one of our team members if you need ministry, prayer, or want help connecting with an opportunity to serve!
___________________________________________________
.
.
.
.
.
Charlene Ward – Director of Finance/Operations
Charlene has been blessed and honored to serve as First Baptist Church’s Director of Finance/Operations for over 16 years. Her love for the Lord, ministering to the people, and passion for accounting was the reason she left the corporate world and followed her call to serve.
Born an Air Force “Brat,” she had the opportunity to travel and see many places in the world including Crete, Greece. While there, she helped her parents lead a church plant and witnessed many come to know Christ.
Upon returning to the states, Charlene graduated high school and married Luke Ward. Today, after 40 years, they have 2 daughters. Randi is a nursing student and Kimberly (who is a first-grade teacher), is married to Jordan Myers. Charlene loves spoiling her two grandsons.
Charlene enjoys looking at budgets and spreadsheets, boating, riding motorcycles, cruising, vacationing and reading the Word. Her favorite scripture is John 3:16 ESV “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Andrew Wroth – Associate Pastor of Youth & Recreation
Born and raised in Houston, Andrew graduated from Sam Houston State University where he met his wife, Ashley. Andrew attended Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary and has served in youth ministry at churches in Ft Worth, the Houston area, and the small community of Bedias. They have been married since 2015 and have a daughter, Violet. He has a passion for seeing youth come to Christ and grow in their relationship with him. For fun he likes to play sports and spend time with friends and family.
Ashley Wroth – Children’s Ministry Coordinator
Linda Upton – Early Childhood Ministry Coordinator
Linda has been an active member of First Baptist Church in Fairfield since 2017. She is passionate about the Lord and children. The Lord burdened her heart for babies and preschoolers to be taught God’s Word in 2010. She is excited to have the opportunity to do just that in service to Her Lord and Savior in accordance with Deuteronomy 6:6-7—“These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.”
Linda has a BS in Elementary and Special Education and a MS in Administration, with Principal Certification. She has lived in Dew with her husband, Jon Ponder, since 2011. She is the published author of two books: Beauty from Ashes, an interactive Bible Study, and Brick by Brick, a testimony of God’s miraculous healing following a near fatal accident.
Linda craves time to dig deep in personal Bible Study and is a member of Bible Study Fellowship. She also enjoys knitting, crochet, cross-stitch, reading and cooking. She covets more time with family, especially her four grandchildren.
Karen Harlow – Receptionist/ Office Assistant
Karen cheerfully serves as our Receptionist/Office Assistant. Part of our team since 2012, she enjoys helping in a variety of ways. She is always happy when she gets to “check things off the list” and especially enjoys working with words.
Karen received a BS in Education from the University of Texas, Austin in 1986, a year after she married Thomas while they were helping plant a church. (It was a very busy year.) They have three grown children, and one amazing granddaughter.
If she stumbles upon any spare time, Karen enjoys spending time with family, reading, watching movies, analyzing human behavior, and dreaming that one day her house might be remodeled.
Her favorite scripture is Psalm 86:11 “Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth. Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.”
Don Thornton – Staff Evangelist
Don is a member of the Texas Baptist Evangelists and Southern Baptist Evangelists conferences. As a member of our ministry team, he is ready to help our church connect with mission and outreach opportunities, he is part of our music ministry and leads our choir and is always busy helping maintain and improve our facilities. Don lives here in Fairfield and you will often see him riding as part of Christian Motorcyclist Association.
“Pete” Rios and his family reside in Corsicana but have partnered with FBC Fairfield for several years to get our ministry to the Spanish speaking community off the ground. Alfa y Omega meets every Sunday morning in the FBC annex building located just beside our main building on the corner of Mount and Bradley Street.
