Our Pastor

In 1980, Pastor Anker was saved while serving active duty in the U. S. Navy at Whidbey Island, Washington. His wife, Lorna, was saved four months later. After their salvation, they began attending Bible Baptist Church in Oak Harbor, Washington and within a year, Pastor Anker began training for the ministry through his church's Bible Institute.

After twenty one years of continual active duty, he retired from the Navy and went into full-time ministry as the Administrator/Principal of Independent Baptist Academy, a Christian school ministry of Independent Baptist Church in Clinton, Maryland. After two years of successful ministry, he was called to pastor South Hill Baptist Church of Spokane, Washington. The church was started in a Grange Hall on Spokane's South Hill and as it grew, the church was able to purchase their own building. Three years later, they outgrew this building and purchased a large facility in the Spokane Valley. At the same time, the name of the church was changed to Independent Baptist Church and to this day, it remains actively serving the Lord.

After eighteen years of pastoring in Spokane, Pastor Anker had to step down from pastoring to address and deal with some health concerns. To the praise of the Lord, his health has improved and he accepted the pastorate of Tabernacle Baptist Church in December of 2016.