Elders

Joseph O. Anderson was born and raised in Gary, Indiana. Joseph came to Washington, DC in 1986 to attend Howard University where he studied chemistry. He met his wife, Maria in 1993. They were married in 1996 at the Schrader Lane church in Nashville, TN. Joseph was baptized into Christ in 1995 at the Southeast church, and later attended the Beltway and Prince George’s congregations where he served as teacher and director of educational programs. The family came to Silver Spring congregation in 2009. Joseph served as a deacon from 2011 to 2015 and has worked very closely with the Youth and Adult Development ministries. Joseph’s professional career includes supporting the US Department of Defense in areas of Emergency Preparedness and Counter-Terrorism. He currently works on medical countermeasures to prevent, mitigate, and respond to chemical warfare exposure. The Andersons have two daughters, Cameron and Chloe.

Jackie R. Gill grew up in Washington, D.C. and earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from George Washington University and a M.S. in Engineering Management from Catholic University. He’s married to Eleanor and they have one daughter, India. They came to Silver Spring in 1989. Jackie serves in worship leadership, information technology for the church and is chairman of the missions committee. He participated in many mission trips to Houlton, ME, Kentville, Nova Scotia, Nags Head, NC, Albania and Thailand. He has oversight for the church office, benevolence, missions, and finances. Jackie retired from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in January 2014. He served 36 years in the federal government (Department of Navy (28 years), Department of Veterans Affairs (3 years) and NASA (5 years) and two years in the private sector (Westinghouse).

Cristobal Portillo is in the construction industry. He and his wife Rosa, are natives of El Salvador and have three children Wendy, Jairo, and Romeo. Cristobal has served as a deacon at Silver Spring since 1995 and is a board member of Camp WaMaVa.