Staff & Leadership
Rev. Susan Spangenberg
Pocahontas Bassett Baptist Church is nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Bassett, Virginia.
Rev. Susan Spangenberg was born in Waterville, Maine, and has lived in several states along the eastern seaboard.
Read More
At the beginning of her high school years, her family moved to Orlando, Florida. Susan attended the University of Maryland from which she received a BA in Spanish/Secondary Education.
She has been a teacher on all levels, but most of her career has been in ministry with youth, children, and families and she has served churches in several different states. In 2000, she graduated with her husband, Keith, from the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond with a Masters of Divinity.
The next day they were ordained in a service jointly-led by three VA churches. After her graduation from seminary, Susan spent 16 years in ministry at a sister church of ours in Martinsville, Starling Avenue Baptist. In February of 2017, we called Susan as our pastor, so she is beginning her 9th year with us.
Her husband Keith, now retired, was pastor for 18 years of another sister church in Henry County, Villa Heights Baptist.
Mary Helen Cameron
Mary Helen Cameron has served as Minister of Music at Pocahontas Bassett Baptist Church since April 2015.
Prior to that, she served as pianist at churches in Tennessee and Kentucky as well as here in Virginia.
Read More
In addition, Mary Helen has over thirty years of experience teaching private piano. She has a Bachelor of Music from Union University in Jackson, TN, and a Master of Church Music from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY.
She is a member of the Piedmont Music Teachers Association, the local affiliate of the Virginia Music Teachers Association and the Music Teachers National Association. She also sings with the Virginia Baptist Women’s Chorale, a choir comprised of women from all over Virginia who serve in music leadership positions in Baptist churches.
Mary Helen’s husband David is the Minister of Music for two of our sister churches, FBC Martinsville and Chatham Heights Baptist.
Peter Ramsey
Peter A. Ramsey came to Pocahontas Bassett Baptist Church in 2004.
He had moved to this area from Latrobe, PA, where he had worked as a church musician, private teacher and composer for over 30 years.
Read More
Peter was raised in Fairfax County, VA, but his father’s family was from the nearby village of Henry, in Franklin County, and Peter had acquired land from a relative there.
Peter is an accomplished composer. Two of his works, “Crystal Tide and Falling Stars” and “Joy to the World,” were published by Augsburg-Fortress Publishers in 1995. He composes for the organ and the church choir on occasion.
In 1976, he built a Zuckerman virginals, similar to a harpsichord, which he has used to enhance our worship, along with his collection of recorders. “Advent Pipes,” a concert for the Christmas season, and a fall organ concert, are a special part of Peter’s yearly ministry to our congregation and the community.