22155 Lougheed Hwy
 Maple Ridge, BC
V2X 5V3
 604 467-9613

Art Birch has been the Senior Pastor of Maple Ridge Baptist Church for 12 years now. His life goal is to pastor an effective, disciple-making church that numbers in the thousands and releases workers and leaders locally and globally.
Growing up on a farm must be part of the reason that Art loves the outdoors so much. He and his wife Rosabelle love walking, hiking, and canoeing, while enjoying God’s beautiful creation together.

Rosabelle has served alongside of Art in 4 pastorates in Saskatoon; Regina; Stratford, Ontario, and Maple Ridge. Together they have raised four sons, now grown.
Art recently received his Masters of Arts in Administration Leadership program at Trinity Western University. He also has degrees in theology and history from Northwest Baptist Theological College and the University of Regina.

MRBC has truly been blessed by the servant leadership of Art. He is a man who loves to encourage people, striving to bring out God’s best in everyone. Lord willing, his life goal will be met here at MRBC!

Gerry Peters is our Senior Associate Pastor. He is Art's right-hand man, and oversees all adult ministries, small groups, the CLASS ministry, and helps Art with the general leadership of MRBC. Gerry is also our webmaster! Gerry began his pastorate ministry in 1977. Early in their marriage, God called Gerry & Heidi to the ministry of evangelism and discipleship. Throughout the years, this has continued to be their passion. They have Pastored in Abbotsford, Kitchener Ontario, Sparwood BC, and Kamloops. Gerry grew up in Matsqui BC, where his parents encouraged him in the Lord. He completed his studies in Ontario, receiving his Bachelor of Theology in 1988.

Jim Zelinski is our new Church Administrator. Jim is a self-described planner, organizer, and sugar-addict. After spending 6 years in the navy and 8 years in the financial world, he is joining us to effectively administrate our church facilities, finances, staff, office, and more. When Jim isn't running triathlons or watching movies he is spending time with his lovely wife Dianne. Jim has a Bachelor of Commerce in Entrepreneurial Management and is finishing off his Master of Arts in Educational Studies. MRBC is truly blessed to have such a professional and personable Administrator.


Rob Schweyer is our ever-creative Pastor of Student Ministries. When Rob isn’t going for 7-eleven runs or tinkering with his computer, he is working with the many teens in our church, helping them to have a blast learning to follow Jesus fully. He passionately dreams up crazy events, trains his leaders for service, and helps our youth reach out to their friends. MRBC is very blessed to have such a dedicated and spiritually passionate pastor for their teens – ask any one of them, and we’re sure they’d agree!

Bernice Fetterly is our Director of Ministry Connections. Her role is to help attenders fully connect into life at MRBC. More specifically, Bernice helps in the areas of our CLASSes, membership, ministry placement, first time visitors, small groups and more. When Bernice isn't at the church working non-stop, she is spending time with her husband Brent, and three beautiful daughters.


Eric Paulsen is our new Worship and Arts Pastor. Eric's wildest accomplishments include the polar bear swim in Finland and working as a dog sledding tour guide! His passion for life comes through as he leads us each Sunday in our morning worship and also leads our Christmas production and Jubilation Choir. His biggest dream is to see more and more people at MRBC encounter the majesty & love of God. When not working towards this goal, he is spending quality time with his angelic wife, Leah.

Marnie Bogdanovich is our Children's Ministry Director. Marnie organizes every detail of our ministry to kids. She prepares schedules, encourages volunteers, oversees our summer interns, teaches in KidSpace and the 2&3 year old class, and much, much more! When not working at MRBC, Marnie, her husband Mark and 2 boys, Jared and Cole are avid BC Lions fans.


Heather Chevrier is our Receptionist and Bookkeeper. Heather handles all things related to the office including supply ordering, Communication Card entering, the front desk and more. She also handles much of our bookkeeping and finances, assisting Jim where necessary.

Tanya Kieneker is our Communications Coordinator. Tanya works on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and creatively handles our weekly bulletin and PowerPoint, maintains the website, is the editor of our newsletter, leads a Promotions Team to help with all church advertising, and oversees all things "communicative!"


Joan Newton is MRBC's ministry assistant. She helps to oversee our membership portfolio, Communion planning, the Jubilation Choir, helps with some of the details of our worship ministry. Joan is generally in the office on Tuesday and Thursday.



Bob Elcheshen is our trusty Senior Custodian. Bob oversees all areas of our building including maintenance, yard work, security, cleaning, set-up and take down for events, and much, much more!


Jack Chambers is our hard-working Custodian. Jack spends many wee hours of the morning getting our building clean and ready for the next days' events. Next time you notice a spotless washroom or vacuumed carpet - you can think of Jack!


Tim Durksen serves as a youth intern to Pastor Rob. Tim is working on his Master's of Religious Education at ACTS and his internship is part of his studies.