Dr. Edward L. Payne has been a member of the Mount Hope Baptist Church for 29 years. He has served for 21 years as an associate minister under the divine leadership and pastorate of Rev. Dr. H. Donald Bates. 

Dr. Payne was licensed and preached his initial sermon in 1996; in 2007 elevated to the position of Elder.  

Dr. Payne holds an earned doctor of ministry degree received in 2000 from Family Bible College and Seminary and also holds an earned Master of Divinity and a Bachelor of Theology Degree.   Dr. Payne currently served as president of the New Life Ministry, President of the Male Chorus and member of the Voices of Mount Hope choir. 

Dr. Payne is often heard saying I’m just a nobody trying to tell everybody about somebody who can save anybody and he believes this whole heartedly.  

Minister Keon Hayes, a Native of Baltimore is the youngest member of the Ministerial Staff and serves as the Minister of Music and Arts. Educated in the Baltimore City Public School System, he was groomed in music at the Baltimore School for the Arts and privately instructed by three world renowned musicians in the areas of Low Brass (Tuba) Classical and Jazz Piano, and Orchestral Performance. Called to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in his teens and experiencing the pressures of society during the technology renaissance of the 90's gives him a unique perspective on Socio-Christian expectations and this perspective is heard in his animated style of expository preaching.

Min. Hayes has a degree in Mortuary Science (CCBC Catonsville) and currently attending Liberty University seeking to earn a Masters of Divinity and will further his education with a Doctor of Practical Theology.