Our church was envisioned around 1942-1943 by two men who were missionaries. They met in the American Legion Hall in downtown Brentwood. The church was officially founded on September 3, 1944, as the First Missionary Baptist Church of Brentwood. The church met in the old Masonic Lodge where Cap’s Restaurant is now located. The current property was purchased around 1950. The first building is just off the smaller parking lot and is frequently referred to as the “Red Room” (due to the original red carpet). There was a parsonage where the main sanctuary now stands. The church met in the basement of the smaller building for more than five years and had some events on the roof of the basement. We were sometimes jokingly called the “Basement Baptists”. The finishing touches were put on the rest of the chapel building in the late 1950s. A fellowship hall and kitchen were built out of cement building blocks behind the parsonage. Today’s nursery and 3-5s classroom are part of this building. You can still see the original building blocks as you approach the nursery and classroom. The name of the church was changed to First Baptist Church in the early 1970s, and we became an independent Baptist church. Around 1974 the parsonage was torn down, and the present sanctuary was built. The people of the church worked together to build much of the new sanctuary saving almost half the construction costs. In 1985 the church underwent a doctrinal shift from a “free will” gospel to a gospel of “sovereign grace”. In September of 1988 we officially became Grace Bible Fellowship. At around the same time a change in our leadership structure took place. Moving from a traditional model with a senior pastor we moved to the biblical model of leadership with elders who share equally in the church’s decision-making process and who place themselves under the leadership of the Chief Pastor, Jesus Christ.

Grace Bible Fellowship is a non-denominational church. Being non-denominational does not mean that we don’t associate with or see other churches and ministries as vital to what we do. In fact, because the church is called the “body of Christ”, we work hard at making sure we are in association with other churches. We hold that the local church is autonomous but not solitary. We stand together with other Christ exalting churches and ministries.

These churches include:

Here are some of the key relationships that are important to Grace Bible Fellowship Church:

The Cornerstone Bible College and Seminary TCBS cultivates four ministry commitments across its curriculum through a trained professorate who not only understand the importance of a rich quality content for each class, but who also understand the value of peer collaboration and the ministry experiences that each student brings to the classroom. For this reason, TCBS seeks to develop a student body that intentionally penetrates across generational and cultural divides and that is reflective of the diversity of the body of Christ as a whole.

We also find significant affinity and fellowship with many ministries including:

Desiring God Ministries has influenced Grace Fellowship Church primarily through the writing and preaching of Pastor John Piper. Though we are not in formal affiliation with Desiring God, we share John Piper’s convictions about the Bible’s teaching on God’s sovereignty, salvation, mission, suffering, and the way one should live the Christian life.

9Marks Ministries, founded by Pastor Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC, has been formative in our understanding of how a church is to be governed.

The Gospel Coalition is a group of pastors and churches that exist to promote gospel-centered ministry and biblically faithful resources for the church. Grace Fellowship Church shares the doctrinal convictions and theological vision for ministry as outlined in their Foundation Documents.

Grace To You As believers committed to God and walking in obedience to Him, we affirm the purpose of Grace to You, which is to teach biblical truth with clarity, taking advantage of various means of mass communications to expand the sphere of John MacArthur’s teaching ministry.