The pastoral staff of Mount Olive Baptist Church serves alongside Senior Pastor Rev. Dr. Curtis E. Edmonds, Jr. in preaching, teaching, counseling, and ministry leadership. Each brings years of faithful service to God’s people.
Rev. Zolly G. Hawthorne answered the call to preach under the leadership of Rev. G.A. Langhorne at Mount Olive Baptist Church. Before entering the preaching ministry, he served the congregation faithfully as a Deacon, Superintendent of Sunday School, Sunday School teacher, and leader of the Deacon Training and New Members Training classes. On February 21, 1993, after 175 years of church history, Rev. Hawthorne became the first son of Mount Olive Baptist Church to be licensed to preach. He was ordained in May 1998 and went on to serve as Youth Pastor.
Rev. Hawthorne attended the Fredericksburg Bible Institute and Germanna Community College and graduated from the Evans-Smith Institute through Virginia Union University. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his years of volunteer service.
Rev. Hawthorne currently serves as an Assistant Pastor at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Stafford, Virginia, supporting the pastoral ministry through preaching, teaching, and congregational care. He was recognized in the 2018 Virginia House of Delegates resolution honoring MOBC on its 200th anniversary as one of the church’s assistant pastors.
Rev. Linda Hawthorne is the eldest of ten siblings, born to the late Margaret E. and Chester Child, Sr. of Caroline County, Virginia. The values of leadership, responsibility, and love she learned early in life have guided her throughout her spiritual journey. Rev. Hawthorne is the First Daughter of the Mount Olive Baptist Church to be licensed in 2005 and ordained to preach in 2022.
Educated in the Stafford County school system, Rev. Hawthorne pursued theological studies at the Fredericksburg Bible Institute and later graduated from the Evans and Smith Institute through Virginia Union University. She has served Mount Olive faithfully in numerous roles, including Sunday School teacher, assistant church clerk, and chairperson of the Missionary Ministry, Women’s Fellowship Ministry, and the Share Food Ministry. Her dedication to these ministries has strengthened the church’s mission of outreach and discipleship and touched lives across the congregation and community.
Rev. Hawthorne currently serves as an Assistant Pastor at Mount Olive Baptist Church, where she leads the Missionary Ministry and the Women’s Fellowship Ministry. She is married to Reverend Zolly Hawthorne, and together they are blessed with four children and six grandchildren. Her favorite scripture is Colossians 3:23–24: “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.”
Rev. Dr. Donna Jarvis answered the call to ministry in 2004 and entered Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia, to begin formal study. She was licensed to preach by Mount Olive Baptist Church in 2005 and ordained as a Minister of the Gospel by Vision Community Church and the Fredericksburg Area Baptist Association in 2008. Over the years, she has served in ministry as a Sunday School teacher, Bible study teacher, youth pastor, elder, and pastor.
Dr. Jarvis holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (1995) and a Master of Science in Nursing (2000) from George Mason University, a Master of Divinity with an emphasis in preaching and worship from Baptist Theological Seminary (2008), and a Doctorate in Christian Counseling from Andersonville Theological Seminary (2011). She is a member of the National Christian Counselors Association and the American Association of Christian Counselors.
Rev. Dr. Jarvis currently serves as an Assistant Pastor at Mount Olive Baptist Church, where she considers it a privilege to serve in Congregational Care, addressing the needs of body, mind, and soul for congregation members and the wider community. She is the founder of the former Outside the Walls Christian Ministry, an outreach ministry in Stafford that served women, children, and families from 2007 to 2018. Dr. Jarvis has served as a hospice nurse and chaplain for 19 years, providing physical, mental, and spiritual support to patients and their families.
Rev. Jerry Mills answered his call to teach God’s Word while serving on military duty in Bosnia in 1996, though his ministry journey began long before then. Since 1985, he has served faithfully as a deacon, teacher, and preacher, committing his life to caring for God’s people.
Rev. Mills holds a Master of Divinity from the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University and has completed five units of Clinical Pastoral Education. He previously served as a Chaplain Resident at Mary Washington Hospital, offering spiritual care to individuals and families during critical moments of need.
Rev. Mills is honored to serve as an assistant pastor at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Stafford, Virginia. He leads the Christian Education Ministry and provides spiritual counsel to the Millennials of the Mount Ministry.
Rev. Gloria Jackson is a native of South Carolina who grew up in Dania Beach, Florida, where she was educated in the Broward County Public School System. She accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior in the summer of 1975 and has faithfully proclaimed God’s Word for more than 45 years. Rev. Jackson is an ordained minister who has served under multiple pastoral leaders, including Rev. Dr. Eric Shaw, Rev. Dr. E.L. Smiling, Bishop George Quick, and Rev. Dr. Herman Gladney. While stationed overseas with her husband in Livorno, Italy, she served as interim pastor for one year until the arrival of a new chaplain. She was also instrumental in establishing the Fort Belvoir Gospel Service and served as interim pastor there in 1996.
Rev. Jackson holds a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education and pursued studies in Biblical Theology at Shaw University. Her professional career includes service with the federal government as a program manager supervising 30 to 60 employees, as well as leadership roles as a teacher supervisor and family child care director.
Rev. Jackson serves as Assistant Pastor Emeritus at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Stafford, Virginia. Throughout her years at Mount Olive, she has served as an adult Sunday School teacher, children’s church teacher, and Christian Education director. She has been happily married to Deacon James Jackson for more than 45 years, and together they are blessed with a son, Kevin Lamont Jackson, and a grandson, Aamari Lamont Jackson. Her guiding scripture is Psalm 121:1: “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.”