GBC Beginnings

Grace Baptist Church began with, what in those days was called, an open-air meeting.  Brother A.L. Meares conducted a series of services on a vacant lot near the old Bradenton Laundry in the summer of 1947.

From those meetings on Sept 9^th, 1947 a group of six baptized believers having petitioned the Main Street Baptist Church of Lakeland, Florida, J.M. Parrish, Pastor & the Mount Zion Baptist Church of Webster, Florida, R.C. Davidson, Pastor, were Scripturally organized as an independent New Testament Baptist Church.

The founding members, Brother A.L. Meares, pastor and his wife; Brother Alton Keene and his wife, Juanita; Mary Williams, & Charles Meares, began meeting in the Odd Fellows Hall on 9^th Street West.  In January of 1949 Brother Meares resigned as pastor and Brother W.B. Davidson, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Tampa suggested that Brother J.E. Pierce of the First Baptist Church of Sydney, Florida, be considered as the young church’s Pastor.

Brother Pierce was called by Grace Baptist Church on February 9^th, 1949 and was officially installed as pastor upon receipt the letter of recommendation from the First Baptist Church of Sydney.

Not long after this an army barracks came available at Drew Field in Tampa, now Tampa International Airport, but during WWII an Army Air Corp training facility.  The church paid $200 for the building and Brother Pierce dismantled it and hauled the materials on model A flat bed trucks on loan from the Domino Fruit Packing Company.  The men of the church resurrected the old barracks where it stands today.

Although the years have seen numerous additions and improvements, both structural and cosmetic, the old barrack’s still lies at the core of the church house.  Like the church and her message: simple, solid, and enduring.

The church’s original deacons were Brother Dallas Cumbie and Brother Hoyt Taylor.  They were both ordained on May 12, 1956 and served until the Lord called them home to hear, we are certain, “Well done thou good and faithful servant.”  Dallas served for 32 years and Hoyt for 49 years.  In the words of Brother Pierce, “no pastor ever had deacons more faithful to their church or their pastor than these men.

But as Brother Pierce said during Brother Burnham's ordination as deacon in 1989, to fill the vacancy left by Brother Dallas, “princes fall, the flesh fails, but the holy office remains and the work continues…”  And so, when Brother Hoyt was called home in 2005 and the church had called on Brother Burnham to become to move from associate pastor to head Pastor, the church, according to the Lord’s lot chose Brother Jimmie Skinner and Brother Roger Cumbie as her new deacons and these faithful men were ordained on August 14^th, 2005.  And Brother Burnham has said no more regarding these two men, than what Brother Pierce said of those that went before: “no pastor ever had deacons more faithful to their church or their pastor than these men.”

Brother Pierce served as pastor of Grace Baptist Church for 66 years…being called home to be with the Lord he faithfully served July 15, 2017.  He said in some old notes from a much earlier anniversary, “I came here as a boy, driving a two-toned green ’41 Buick, now I drive an ’84 Buick which the church bought for me.  When I came here I thought Florsheim was something you polish floors with…now I’m wearing a pair.”

He continued: “We have lived, learned, labored, loved, longed, and looked for His appearing.  We have climbed mountains together and breathed the thin air of God’s rich blessings.  We have walked slowly through the valleys of Baca…the valley of tears.  We huddled together for strength.  We have stumbled, we have staggered, we have fallen…BUT we struggled to our feet again, never surrendering either our Sword or our Shield….The Lord hath done GREAT things for us.”(ps 126:3)   He then pointed out that the word, “great” in the Hebrew means to twist or weave the strands together…and so He has now for 76 years.

There is so much that could be said about the history of GBC…but perhaps it could be summed up by sharing with you a response Brother Burnham wrote to an arrogant preacher who visited with us one Sunday morning a few years ago in response to his sarcastic criticism sent by email shortly after the service.  To give you a bit of the tenor of his critique, here's a brief sample:

“In today’s theological environment, I was more than a bit surprised that your church body incorporated the New Hampshire Confession instead of publishing their own.  While I am familiar with it and have studied it, the linguistic tenor needs a serious update and, I suspect that to be one of the primary reasons most evangelical churches reject it.  In fairness, the KJV only churches which tend to be very small independent Baptist churches appear to be locked into it.  It feels 18th century to us and maybe that is the style your church and you prefer.  Further, when we heard that the previous pastor served for more than 60 years and the attendance is still (rather small), what are we supposed to think?  Something is very wrong with that picture to us.  Finally, the women wearing hats bespeaks of a theological position quite similar to historic legalism which is both untenable and not historically defensible.  Honestly, it blew us away without being too dramatic about our response….As a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, I use my greek almost every day and I enjoyed following your presentation from your selected text.  On point, do you make use of a literal hermeneutic and exegesis in your sermon development or a more subjective, non-exegetical approach in your understanding of hermeneutics?   By the way, where did you go to school for your theological training?”

My response: “What are you supposed to think about our relative handful?  That the population of a church is an accurate measure of her value to the Lord?  The Lord whose sheep we pastor said to His disciples, “Fear not little flock, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.”   He also said, “where two or three are gathered together in my name, there will I be in the midst of them.”  Why did he say that?   What are you supposed to think?  You really have no knowledge of what has gone on over the past seven decades in this little New Testament Church.  You know nothing of those born into untoward circumstances that the Lord has placed in the care of this church while He transformed those lives into trophies of His amazing grace.  You have no knowledge of what God has done here at all.  I was saved in this church in 1977 and ultimately called to the ministry here 20 years ago.  My three girls came to know Christ here as did several of my grandchildren.  Several families have seen 4 and 5 generations saved in this little church.  You know nothing of the decades long radio ministry, the missionaries supported, the sermons that are being heard all over the world through Sermon Audio, the revivals, edifying Bible conferences hosted, Biblical counseling, widow’s ministry, nursing home ministry.  God has touched and is still touching countless lives through this little New Testament Church.  What are you to think?  That something is wrong with this picture?  I wouldn’t think so.

Ps 126:3  The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.

Not that it matters all that much, but the numbers on the board are Sunday School numbers only.  Our average Sunday morning attendance has ranged from 50 or 60 to well to 130 or more over the years.  Currently it is on the lower end of that spectrum following a bit of turmoil a few years back.  Better is a handful where love is.

As to hats, I firmly believe that 1 Cor 11 clearly sets forth this doctrine.  It is discussed as a definitive symbol of submission to the authority of Scripture regarding the order of the sexes, something that is very much out of fashion in our present day.   Paul’s final word, however, would seem to be decisive and authoritative for any New Testament Church, “If any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.”   To this point, I was interested in a story relayed to me by a Bob Jones graduate a few years ago.  His Greek professor made the statement that the Greek text clearly teaches that a woman is to be covered.  One of the students predictably asked, “then why don’t churches adhere to it?”  His response was simply, “that’s a good question.”  And it is.  Like church size, popularity is not an accurate gauge of truth.