First Baptist Church of Herndon

Even as a young teenager, Sean Roberds felt God’s call to ministry. He especially recalls a mission trip to inner-city Chicago with his N.C. church youth group that brought together Southern white teenagers and an urban black community. Sean sensed God’s power at work uniting the seemingly different groups.

So, after more than a dozen years in various ministry positions in mostly small towns in North Carolina, the call to become senior pastor at an increasingly diverse congregation in the ethnic melting pot of Northern Virginia seemed to be just the challenge he was expecting.

Sean accepted the call to First Baptist Church of Herndon in the summer of 2010 and moved his family – wife Cara, his college sweetheart, and sons Cole, now 12, and Eli, now 8 – to Herndon from Chadbourn, NC, a rural community in eastern North Carolina where he was a senior pastor for six years.

In addition to his pastoral experience and easy-going friendliness, Sean, 39, brings to FBC Herndon a strong grounding in youth and children’s ministry and a deep and sincere commitment to church involvement in the community. He has a passion for preaching, teaching, spiritual guidance and pastoral care.

His goals for his third year of ministry at FBC include turning the church’s recently adopted vision statement – be the presence of Christ by sharing the love of God one person at a time -- into reality for each and every believer at First Baptist.

After two years, the Roberds family is firmly transplanted in Herndon. With grace, humor and faith, they have survived the travails of the current housing market (bad in Chadbourn and expensive in Herndon); the academic rigors of transitioning to one of the best public school systems in the nation; and the gastronomic temptations of this area’s many wonderful restaurants. The boys are active in scouting and sports. Sean has taken up running. And Cara, a middle school social studies teacher in North Carolina, last year joined the staff of FBC’s WEEkday Preschool.

Sean grew up in Raleigh,NC, where he began his lifelong passion for the NC State Wolfpack. Cara is from Daytona     Beach, FL. They met at Mars Hill College in Mars Hill, NC. Sean graduated in 1996 with a Bachelor of Arts in Religion; Cara’s degree is in journalism. Sean received his Master of Divinity from Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond in May 2000.

In addition to his six years as pastor at Chadbourn Baptist Church, Sean was an associate pastor at First Baptist Church in Taylorsville, NC for five years. Before that, he was youth minister at Weatherford Memorial Baptist Church in Richmond and at Mars Hill Baptist Church in Mars Hill, NC.

Throughout his ministry career, Sean has emphasized using programs and fellowship events to bring together his congregation and the local African American community. He promises that effort to unite superficially different communities will continue in Herndon, though with a more international flavor reflecting his family’s new hometown.