Assistant Pastor

Joe Klawitter

I was born and raised in Greater Cincinnati, which is where I've made my home for most of my life. Being raised in a divorced home, my brother and I moved back and forth between my mom and dad's house many times. At the age of 11, my mom began attending Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Harrison, Ohio. This was a significant change because my brother and I were born and raised Catholic. During a Wednesday evening service, Mount Calvary showed the movie, "A Thief in the Night." It depicted the events that would occur after the rapture. That night, for the first time, I understood what it meant to be "lost." It was then that I realized I needed to accept Christ as my Savior in order to go to Heaven. On February 18th, 1987, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior. My brother and I were baptized together a few months later. 

After graduating from Colerain High School in 1994, I attended the University of Cincinnati. Not really knowing what I was going to do with my life, I took general courses at U.C. hoping I would find something that would interest me. It wasn't until a recruiter from the Marine Corps came to our house to speak with my brother that I found something which really interested me. Instead of my brother signing up, I decided to enlist. In January of 1996 I went to boot camp in Parris Island, SC. Upon graduating from Marine Corps boot camp and finishing 4 months of additional training, I moved back to Cincinnati. Two years later I met my wife-to-be (Minde Doyle) at Friendship Baptist Church. Minde was saved on June 25th, 1989, at the age of 9. We were married on September 25th, 1999.  The Lord has blessed us with three children: Lily, Caleb, and Abigail. 

My time in Youth Ministry began in the year 2000 at Friendship Baptist Church. Minde and I started and built the youth ministry for the teenagers who came to church through our bus ministry. It was a great learning experience for me. We were blessed to see God work in many lives as we went from zero high school teens up to an average of over 20 students in the high school class and 30 in the junior high class. During that same time, I also worked in Children's church, the Bus ministry, and was the coordinator of numerous Back Yard Bible Clubs. 

After God called me to preach, Minde and I moved to Louisville, KY in 2004 to attend Shawnee Baptist College. While in Bible College, I worked with young people of all ages through Children's church, the bus ministry, youth ministry, teen church, and Back Yard Bible Clubs. Minde and I attended Shawnee for two years until we believed God was calling us back home to help start Bible Baptist Church. I graduated from Shawnee in 2010. 

From 2006 through 2017, Minde and I started and built the youth ministry at BBC. We were blessed to see growth year after year as we tried to reach young people in the area. In 2006 we started with 4 teenagers; but when we finished our time in the youth ministry, our last summer trip had nearly 50 teens in attendance. From 2017 through 2024, Minde and I transitioned from the youth ministry to begin a new ministry at BBC - the college and career ministry (for young people ages 18 to 26). We were blessed to start and build this new class at church with just a handful of young adults. Over the years we would see many of the same teens we ministered to in the youth ministry eventually join us in the college ministry. When we finished our time in the college class, we regularly had 20 to 25 young adults attending. After almost 25 years ministering to young people, in September of 2024 Minde and I again transitioned to begin a new adult Sunday school class. We look forward to this new chapter in our lives.  

Through the years of marriage, children, and ministry, God has been good to us. He has been faithful to us. We count it an honor to serve the Lord at Bible Baptist Church. Please let us know if we can serve you in any way.