Leadership
Reverend William A. Coates
On July 13, 2019, with an anointing on his life, Reverend Coates became the 9th Pastor of the 112-year-old Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church located in Marbury, Maryland. Pastor Coates, a son of Pleasant Grove and great-grandson of its founder Addie E. Thomas, preached his initial sermon on October 5, 2013. On April 13, 2018, Reverend Coates was set apart publicly and ordained to the work of the Gospel Ministry under the direction of Pastor Emeritus Carl V. Messiah and Reverend Arthur J. Patterson.
Prior to becoming Pastor, Reverend Coates served the church in many capacities: Assistant Superintendent of Sunday Schools, facilitator of the Thursday Night Prayer Line, Spiritual Advisor to the Youth Department and Young Soldiers for Christ, Adult and Teen Sunday School Teacher, Vice President of the Pleasant Grove Black History Auxiliary, and founder and manager of the gospel group “Deacon and the Boyz”. Pastor Coates is a father figure to many children in the church and the community and has been a teen mentor for numerous years.
A native of Prince Georges County, Maryland, Pastor Coates, the youngest of three children born to Russell and Annette Coates. Pastor Coates resides in Rison, Maryland with his wife, First Lady Jamel Coates. They have five adult sons Joshua, Jahrod, Jairus, Dylon, Dvante and ten grandchildren.
First Lady Jamel W. Coates
Yoked together with Pastor Coates for a lifetime in which to do God's work, First Lady Jamel too shares a faithful love for the members she and the Pastor serve. A student of God in her own right, this intelligent, educated, motherly, and empowered First Lady embraces all that a Pastor's Wife must endure. Jamel serves as the anchor to many and is actively involved in the Clerk’s Office, the Youth, Addie E. Dent Thomas and Flower Club Ministries, and to top it all off, has the voice of an Angel!
