ABOUT US

WELCOME TO CLIFFORD!

Our worship service is more traditional accompanied by organ and piano. Children (ages 4 – 5th grade) are dismissed during our congregational greeting time to go to Shining Lights or King Jesus Kids. We have a traditional adult choir singing weekly or some other form of special music is provided. The worship service includes songs of worship and a message from our Senior Pastor, Dr. Rev. Michael R. Fitzgerald.

Here’s What You Can Expect!

Service Times

Sundays

9:45 AM // Sunday School
11:00 AM // Sunday Worship Service
9:00 AM // Radio Station WLNI (105.9 fm)

Wednesdays

10:00 AM // Morning Bible Study led by Rev. Clyde Mawyer, Jr. (Associate Pastor) – Held in the Minnie Stinnett Chapel

7:00 PM // Kids Mission Organization Groups, Youth, Young Adults, and Adult Prayer Meeting & Bible Study (main sanctuary)*

*For more on Wednesday nights for each ministry, check out the Ministries menu at the top of the page.

8:15 PM // Adult Choir Practice

8:00 PM-9:20 PM // Wednesday Night Youth Explosion

Location

635 Fletchers Level Rd, Amherst, VA 24521

VIEW MAP

Where do I park?

There are four parking lots for Clifford Baptist Church. The small parking lot in front of the Social Hall Building (the first lot you get to coming from Rt. 151) is a handicap parking lot, the next parking lot entering the main building (main parking lot), parking lot down hill from main parking lot (for those who don’t mind walking) and there is a parking lot across from the church property in which you may use the crosswalk to cross.
Where do I go?
What do I wear?
When do I need to arrive?
Is the church handicap accessible?

Yes. There is reserved parking in the front of the church, behind the church and the full parking lot in front of the Social Hall is reserved for handicap parking. Wheelchair accessible entrances and handicap accessible restrooms are located throughout the building. The sanctuary has areas reserved for wheelchairs and an elevator is available for anyone that has difficulty traveling up and down stairs.
Where do my children go?
For Worship Service, we offer a nursery from infant -2 years, located on the lower level. A pager system is used to give parents the comfort in knowing if they are needed for anything during their time here, they can be paged.

For preschoolers, we have the following childcare:
- Extended Session (Ages 2-3)
- Shining Lights (Ages 4-K)
For older kids, we have the King Jesus Kids Worship Service (Grades 1-5) located in the Minnie Stinnett Chapel

For more information, check out our Kids Ministry page.
Are visitors recognized publicly?

We only ask visitors to fill out a Guest Information Form located inside the bulletin and simply drop it in the offering plate so that we can have a record of your visit and drop you a note of appreciation for your visit. We strive to create a warm, friendly and comfortable atmosphere to make you feel right at home.

What We Believe

As you learn more about the personality of Clifford Baptist Church, we are a church that stands on some firm doctrinal scriptural foundations. These next few paragraphs will give you a thumbnail sketch of the beliefs that hold us together as a church and give us the commission to reach out with the love and good news of Jesus Christ.

There are three basic doctrines that form the core of Clifford Church:

We believe that only faith in Jesus Christ can bring forgiveness of sin and eternal life.

In our imperfection and sin, we human beings cannot produce any work of justice or righteousness that makes us perfect and acceptable before our holy God. Therefore, God did for us what we could not do for ourselves: He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect, sinless human life. In his sinlessness, he went to the cross to bear the punishment for our sin. His death on the cross, then, was God’s act of grace and atonement for our lost condition. Jesus’ literal resurrection from the grave assures that every believer has victory over death.

God’s plan of salvation is very simple. According to Romans 10:9, if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved. Becoming a child of God is accomplished in one way alone – believing that Jesus died for each of us, and is risen again that we may be given eternal forgiveness and life.

With that principle of faith in mind, we realize that every person must come to the point of confessing Jesus as Lord. It is a highly personal decision and choice. When a man or woman, boy or girls accepts Jesus Christ in faith as his/her Lord and Savior, it is at that point that he/she is baptized as a believer.

Our stance on personal faith demands that we baptize only those who have chosen a faith relationship with Jesus. That expression of belief and faith will bring believer’s baptism, which is an outward symbol of inward, saving faith.
We believe in the inspired power of the Word of God.

We believe in the inspired power of the Word of God. The Bible is the only written holy revelation of God’s will for the church and His people. It is our source of divine knowledge and leadership in every area of life and ministry. Every ministry of Clifford Baptist Church must be measured against the Bible. Our preaching, teaching, and outreach remains under the direction we find within God’s Word.
We believe that every Christian has at least one talent or gift to offer to God in service.

The third doctrine that is foundational to Clifford Baptist Church is the Priesthood of the Believer. We believe that every Christian has at least one talent or gift to offer to God in service. As each church member contributes his/her talents, we are bound together so that Jesus forms a unique and well-rounded ministering body.

The doctrine of the Priesthood of Believers states that each talent and each task of ministry – from preaching to teaching to hospitality to witnessing to offering a cup of water in Jesus’ name – is equally important. There is no hierarchy of gifts, and no separation of clergy and laity. Every church member is encouraged to pray and study the Bible, seeking God’s leadership in the development of his/her gifts for ministry. As we contribute our individual talents, God blesses and uses each person’s ministry as a vital and equal part of Clifford Baptist Church’s total ministry.

Within this framework Clifford Baptist Church lives, thrives, and reaches out with the Gospel. We are a loving fellowship that readily welcomes new members who are called to grow in Christ and serve Him within this family.

Download our Constitution and By-Laws

DOWNLOAD HERE

Our Pastoral Leadership

Rev. Dr. Michael Fitzgerald

Senior Pastor

Michael R. Fitzgerald was born and raised in Staunton, VA. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy/Religion from James Madison University in 1979. His seminary degree, Master of Divinity, was earned from Southeastern Baptist Seminary in 1982. That same year, he came as pastor of Clifford Baptist Church . He also earned the Doctor of Ministry degree from Drew University in 1988. He is married to the former Gwendolyn Foster. Mike and Gwen have two married children, CariJoy (Joseph) and Gabriel (Karen) and two grandsons, Noah and James.

Rev. Clyde Mawyer, Jr.

Associate Pastor/Minister of Education

Clyde M. Mawyer, Jr. was born in Charlottesville , VA and lived there until the age of 13. He moved to this area at that time and has been a member of Clifford Baptist Church since 1966. He received an Associate in Applied Science degree in Forestry from Dabney S. Lancaster Community College in 1974; and is currently enrolled in the Bachelor of Science degree in Religion, at Liberty University . He is married to the former Elizabeth Susan Howell.

Rev. Jeffrey Campbell

Youth Pastor

Jeffrey was born in Lynchburg, VA and raised in Amherst, VA. He has been a member of Clifford Baptist Church since 2006. He received an Associate Degree in Machine Operations from Central VA Community College in 2005 and is currently taking the Liberty Home Bible Institute program through Liberty University. Jeffrey is married to the former Terri Bolden and they have two children, Levi and Ethan.

Our Deacons

Ivan Johnson

Chairman

Ed Sale

Ed McCann

Glen Mabrey

Jake Garland

Johnny Eagle

Matt Giles

Wayne Massie

Randy Campbell

Kelly Holmes

John Coots

Fred Cox

Jess Coleman

Buddy Jennings

Our Staff

Dr. Thomas Doss

Minister of Music

Thomas (Tom) W. Doss was born and raised in Lynchburg, VA. He is a graduate of Liberty University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Music Education, Master of Arts in Religion, and a Doctorate in Worship Studies. He has served in a number of churches along the East Coast in the area of music and worship. He is married to the former Joyce Goodwin.Together they have two sons, Jonathan and Phillip.

Kim Morcom

Ministry Assistant

Kim is a native of this area growing up within 4 miles of this church and has attended Clifford Baptist all her life. She left the corporate world as an Administrative Assistant in 1997 to become Cliffords first secretary and was certified through Lifeway as a Ministry Assistant in 2000. She is married to Greg Morcom and they have two children, Randall and Tiffany.

Melinda Padgett

Treasurer

Melinda H. Padgett was born and raised in Fishersville, VA. She recieved a Bachelor of Science degree in Consumer Science with a minor in Business from Bridgewater College in 1997. She has been a member of Clifford Baptist Church since 2010. She is married to Michael S. Padgett and they have two children, McKayla and McKenzie.

Buddy Jennings

Maintenance Coordinator

Kelly Martin

Custodian

Liz Alcock

Parish Nurse

Our Council

Clifford Baptist Church’s Council/Board of Directors are made up of the following people:

Senior Pastor – Rev. Dr. Michael R. Fitzgerald

Deacon Chairman – Ivan Johnson

Sunday School/Christian Education Director Co-Director – Derek Keiser

WMU Director – Glenda Wray Jennings

Treasurer – Melinda Padgett

Clerk – Debbie McCann
Baptist Men’s Director – Fred Cox
Finance Committee Chairman – Melinda Padgett
Nominating Committee Chairman – Kim Bond
Personnel Committee Chairman – Jake Garland

Maintenance Coordinator – Buddy Jennings

Inclement Weather

Wednesday Morning Bible Study with Pastor Clyde

If Amherst Co. Public Schools are on a delay or closed, there will not be Wed. morning Study.

Wednesday Night Bible Study

Will be determined on a case by case basis and if cancelled, it will be posted on our Facebook page, an e-mail notification and text alert sent and submitted to radio station Equip FM and television station WSET.

Sunday Morning Services

We strive to never cancel our 11:00am Worship Service but leave it to the discretion of our congregation if they are comfortable traveling. However, Sunday School is sometimes cancelled. Should Sunday School be cancelled, we will send out an e-mail and text alert, post on our church Facebook page and, submit it to radio station Equip FM and television station WSET.

NOTE:

*NOTE: If parking lots need to be cleaned, the asphalt surfaces of the Social Hall and parking across the road from the church plant will be open.