who are dedicated to teaching, learning, and living Biblical truth.
We are an Elder led congregation of Christians. In keeping with the pattern of Scripture, we refer to all of our Elders as "Pastor," even if they also labor in secular employment. The church is further served by a Deacon Board of qualified and godly men, who oversee the church's financial, material, and benevolence needs. In addition to these men who hold the biblical office of Elder or Deacon, the church employs various ministry support staff as well.
Pastor Jamie has been a member of GBC for over 30 years and has served for much of that times a full time member of the pastoral staff. He and Lydia have been blessed with three children. Jamie is passionate about preaching and teaching the word of God and applying the gospel to everyday life through his counseling ministry. He has completed the study courses in Biblical Counseling offered by CCEF and serves as a full-time staff Pastor for GBC.
I love the Lord, I love my family, I love my church family.
The Lord saw fit to save me as a child in south Florida. I moved to Greenville for college, and married my dear wife Becky after my junior year. When I graduated from college I had a job in town, so Greenville has become our home.
The Lord brought my wife and I to GBC over twenty years ago, and GBC is our church family. We’re delighted that our three children have grown up in the church. We’re blessed to be a part of this church body.
A member at Grace for over 10 years, Scott has served this body as an elder, worship leader, and Sunday School teacher. Scott met his wife Marsha working at the Wilds Christian Camp. Together they raised six children, and now enjoy spending time with their six grandkids.
Scott attended Bob Jones University, as well as Trinity Ministerial Acadamy, has served as a youth pastor and pastor in the past, and has over 30 years of experience as a professional cabinet maker. His passion is to see the saints built up in faith as they worship the living God and disciple the nations to the glory of Jesus Christ.
Rich and his family have been a part of GBC since 2013. Rich serves part-time as the coordinator of GBC worship services, including leading the congregation in worship during both Sunday services. Outside of GBC, Rich works in the area of foster care and social services.
We work at making our worship simple, yet profound; saturated with historic truth, yet culturally accessible.
It is designed for the people of God, to stimulate their praises and to feed their souls. Yet the Gospel is so woven into every part that anyone can understand and respond to the call of an ever gracious Savior who loves to forgive sins and transform lives.
Our preaching is expository, mainly working through entire books of the Bible in a verse-by-verse series. Our goal is that the point of the passage be the point of the sermon, asking God to set the agenda for what is preached and trusting Him to work through HIs Word.
Our music is a blend of contemporary and traditional, taken from a full range of styles. We endeavor to love each other through the variety of musical tastes as we join together in exalting our Triune God.
We exist to make disciples. That means that we strive to see people encounter the gospel of Jesus Christ and be saved by his grace, but it also means that we care about the ongoing growth of all God's people. Our discipleship strategy prioritizes communal worship as a shaping influence in the life of the Christian, as well as a combination of small group and one-on-one ministry.
Our relationships with partner ministries such as Reformed Baptist Seminary, as well as the specific training of our leadership team, means that we can provide discipleship ranging from Seminary level instruction for future leaders to the basics of the Christian life for those just starting to follow Jesus.
Pastor Jamie Howell is active in pastoral counseling according to the principles of the Christian Counseling and Education Federation.
We work to foster a deep sense of community and belonging within the church. True fellowship exists when the Spirit draws us together in the love of Christ, to the glory of God. To stimulate community and provide avenues for making connection with one another, the church gathers regularly for Community Groups and Prayer Meeting, as well as many other seasonal and annual gatherings. We also focus on stage of life ministries like Youth Group, Senior Citizens (Prime Timers), and Young Adult.
We love children and long to see them confess faith in Jesus! We provide nursery care to infants and toddlers, Children's Church as an option for those under age K6, and an integrated curriculum throughout the weekly gatherings that teach the Christ-centered storyline of the entire Bible for children up to Youth Group age.
Our children's ministry team priorities child safety and biblical instruction in the context of a structured yet welcoming format.
As a Reformed Baptist congregation, we hold to biblical Christianity as expressed in our confession of faith, the 1689 Baptist Confession. Being confessional means that we are unafraid to clearly state what we believe the Bible teaches, to join together with many others who have confessed the same faith in Christ, and to minister and serve out of a set of convictions that are openly and freely affirmed.
1. We believe in the one true and living God, in three Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, who is invisible, personal, omnipresent, eternal, dependent on none, unchanging, truthful, trustworthy, almighty, sovereign, omniscient, righteous, holy, good, loving, merciful, long-suffering and gracious.
2. We believe that Almighty God has revealed all that is necessary to life and salvation in the sixty-six books of Holy Scripture, which are the Word of God. All Scripture was given by inspiration of God, is infallible and inerrant, and is the final authority over all areas of faith and practice. Its authority is derived from its Author and not from the opinions of men. We believe the “sign gifts” given to the Apostles were a temporary provision for revealing God’s truth and are therefore no longer being given by the Holy Spirit to His people since the Scriptures are now complete and are fully sufficient for all things.
3. We believe that God made our first father Adam perfect, holy and upright. He was appointed representative and head of the human race thereby exposing all his offspring to the effects of his obedience or disobedience to God’s commands.
4. We believe that Adam fell from his original righteousness into sin and brought upon himself and all his offspring death, condemnation and slavery to sin.
5. We believe it to be utterly beyond the power of fallen man to love God, to keep His laws, to understand the Gospel, to repent of sin or trust in Christ.
6. We believe that God, before the foundation of the world, and for his own glory, did elect a great host of men and women that cannot be counted to eternal life as an act of free and sovereign grace. This election was in no way dependent upon his foresight of human faith, decision, works or merit.
7. We believe that God sent his Son into the world, conceived of the virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit, unchangeably sinless, both God and man, born under the Law, to live a perfect life of righteousness, on behalf of his elect people.
8. We believe that God’s Son died at Calvary as a sacrifice to satisfy the wrath of God and bring about reconciliation, redemption and atonement for his elect people. God bore testimony to his acceptance of his Son’s work by raising him from the dead.
9. We believe that God’s Son ascended to the right hand of his Father and is enthroned in glory, where he intercedes on behalf of his people and rules over all things for their sake.
10. We believe that God the Son has poured out the Holy Spirit to work alongside the preached word. The Spirit of God regenerates the elect sinner and draws him irresistibly to repentance towards God and faith in Christ the Savior.
11. We believe the elect, who are called by grace, are justified in the sight of God on account of the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ alone. This righteousness is received by faith alone.
12. We believe that all who are regenerated, called and justified shall persevere in holiness and never finally fall away.
13. We believe that the moral law of God is summarized in the Ten Commandments and that all continue today to be the standard of righteousness which every child of God ought to love and obey.
14. We believe all believers are duty-bound to join a local church as a member whenever possible, bringing themselves under church government and discipline. We also believe that baptism and the Lord’s Supper are gospel ordinances belonging only to regenerated believers and are to be practiced in the context of such local churches.
15. We believe that our corporate worship must be regulated by the Scriptures alone and that we are not free to impose extra elements into our worship before God. We believe that the Scriptures teach that only men – biblically qualified men – are to hold the only two offices Christ has given to the Church, that being elder and deacon.
16. We believe that the local church is under the authority of Christ alone. The communion of saints, however, requires recognition of, accountability to, and fellowship with other churches (26:14,15).
17. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ shall come again to raise the dead, both righteous and unrighteous, and that the righteous shall enjoy everlasting life and the wicked shall endure everlasting punishment.