In August of 2000 the Lord began to burden several families to go deeper in their devotion to Him. After much prayer they contacted Denton Bible Church, who began to train these families in doctrine, theology, and what it would take to be a Christ-honoring church. In the summer of 2003 a rotation of pastors came from DBC to minister to the congregation, among them were Garrett Kell, Brandon Buie, and Dennis Omondi.

In the January of 2004, the young church called Garrett and Brandon to serve as co-pastors. Over the next several years the Lord continued to bless the church and bring new families to GBC.

In March of 2005 Brandon led 18 people on the church’s first mission trip to Iquitos, Peru. By that time the church was growing very quickly, so the elders brought youth pastor Clint Ivy on as part of the ministry team. In the May of 2005, Garrett Kell moved to Graham to serve full time as the Teaching Pastor.

In 2006 GBC bought an old roller-skating rink and began remodeling it to help accommodate the growth of the church. During this time, Brandon stepped down as Missions Pastor to focus on seminary and a training program for overseas pastors and missionaries.

After meeting for several months at the National Theatre, the church began holding services in the new building. Since that time, God has done much deepening and purifying of His flock at GBC. In the summer of 2007 Garrett was burned badly in an accident, two elders transitioned out of leadership, Clint Ivy was led to another ministry opportunity, and the church struggled greatly. By His mercies, the Lord remained faithful to the flock of GBC and helped her to regroup and grow in a way she never could have apart from its struggles.

In January of 2008 GBC welcomed Kyle as youth and missions pastor. Kyle’s passion for God’s glory and proclaiming the Gospel was used to help develop our missions vision and deepen the maturity of GBC’s student population.

In 2008, we also added a new elder, Dean Hufstedler. Dean is a wonderful gift to this local part of Christ’s body. His passion for truth coupled with a strong example of servant leadership has given our flock a godly example of what it means to follow after our Lord.

Soon after this, the Lord answered a long-standing prayer of our congregation by sending us Chris Disch to serve as our music minister. Music had been a challenge for our congregation for many reasons, but primarily because we never had a shepherd who was committed to leading us in this area. The Lord uniquely uses Chris to lift people’s minds and hearts to His throne in worship. The Lord also gave our church an added blessing in July of 2009 by bringing Rebekah to serve alongside Chris as his wife and ministry partner.

Near the end of 2008, the Lord confirmed that he was raising up Reagan Kelley to join our staff as our family and children’s pastor. Reagan has long been a faithful member of our flock and our Lord used discipleship under Garrett and intense personal study to prepare Reagan for this new role.

In January of 2010, Kyle’s passion for missions led him to follow the Lord’s calling to be a full-time missionary in South East Asia (Kyle’s blog). We knew that Kyle would only be with us for a season when he joined us and we are delighted to partner with he, Misty, and their two sons (Elijah and Josiah) as they take the Gospel to a place of danger and opportunity.

Though Kyle’s departure was sad for us, the Lord used this time of transition to confirm that He was indeed raising up Reagan Kelley to join the team of elders. Reagan has long been a faithful servant of the Lord and his official place as an elder has changed little about the way he serves our body, now he just has a title.

In November of 2009, Garrett announced that he was considering a ministry opportunity that would require him to leave Graham Bible Church. After much prayer, fasting, and seeking counsel, Garrett and the elders announced that in October of 2010, Garrett would be stepping down as the senior pastor to join the pastoral staff of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington D.C. and serve alongside Dr. Mark Dever.

Garrett has committed to join with the other elders in seeking the Lord for his replacement. The hope is that God will provide his man in time for he and Garrett to work together for a season before the final transition in October. Please join us in prayer as we move into a new time of trusting our chief Shepherd to lead us in the way that most pleases Him.